Good Friday , April 3, 2015 (full size gallery)
The bulletin is here. The description of Holy Friday with the Bible readings and commentaries is here.
This service continued our worship through the Triduum, the last three days of Holy Week. It was the day of the execution of Jesus . This service begins and ends in silence. Since the fourth century, Christians have commemorated the crucifixion of our Lord and Savior on this day.
We had 17 people on an overcast day but warm in the 70’s. There was a "Good Friday" type of mood in the air – somewhat introspective thinking about what happened. Somewhat forboding looking outside. A severe storm was predicted but did not occur. In the midst of the gloom, spring is developing – the dogwoods are out, daffodils, hyacinths. The magnolia tree may be in full bloom at Easter.
The Good Friday service is under the section in the Prayer Book "Proper Liturgies
for Special Days" which contain key services in Lent – Ash Wednesday, Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, the Great Vigil. Good Friday is good because the death of Christ, as terrible as it was, led to the Resurrection on Easter Sunday, which brought new life to those who believe.
The service has an entrance in silence, readings which include the John 18:1-19:42 Passion reading, the Solemn Collects, The Entrance of the Cross, the Veneration of the Cross, Musical Meditations and conclusion.
David Lose writes the following today "We are used to thinking of Good Friday as a day of solemnity, even of grief, as we ponder the sacrifice Jesus makes for us with his death on the cross.
The hymn we sang "O love, how deep" contains phrases of the loss we experience:
"For us baptized, for us
For us he prayed; for us he taught;
for us his daily works he wrought
For us to evil power betrayed,
scourged, mocked, in purple robe arrayed,
he bore the shameful cross and death;
for us gave up his dying breat
For us he rose from death again;
for us he went on high to reign;"
Lose continues "But have you ever thought of it as a day for celebration? If you take care in reading John’s Gospel – the Passion narrative appointed for Good Friday (the Synoptic accounts are read on Palm/Passion Sunday) – you’ll realize quickly that celebration is probably more the mood John invites then solemn grief. Because, according to John, Jesus’ death is no tragic accident but rather the culmination of Jesus’ earthly mission to rescue a fallen humanity from the power of sin, death, and a world captive to evil and draw them to God’s abundant life. Jesus, in other words, goes to the cross not just willingly but eagerly, for the cross is actually his throne, the place where he will be lifted up and from which he will draw all persons to himself (Jn. 12:32)."
There are moments of bright light in the Good Friday story as Justin Taylor and Andreas Kostenberger point out – "A bright irony on this darkest of days is that the men who step forward to claim the corpse of the Christ for burial are not family members or disciples. They are members of the Sanhedrin: Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. It is one more unexpected thread of grace woven into this tapestry of redemption. They quickly wrap Jesus’s body in a sheet and lay it in a nearby tomb. Evening is falling and they don’t have time to fully dress it with spices."
The Solemn Collects in the Prayer Book provide this theme of an active Christ and his mission alive – "Our heavenly Father sent his Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved; that all who believe in him might be delivered from the power of sin and death, and become heirs with him of everlasting life."
David Lose continues "In the descriptions of this scene provided by the other evangelists, there is always a moment of agonizing self-doubt when Jesus asks, even begs, his heavenly Father to remove from him this cup of suffering and then comes through this moment of grievous testing and doubt by affirming, “not my will, but yours, be done” (Mk. 14:36, Mt.26:39, Lk. 22:42). There is no such moment of trial in John… The second scene, this one from the crucifixion, follows suit. For Jesus utters no cry of despair from the cross in John but instead fulfills prophecy, gives orders to his followers, and finally dies saying, “It is finished.”
The last hymn "Jesus Keep Me Near the Cross" written by Fanny Crosby provides a challenge to us with its verse "Near the cross! O Lamb of God, Bring its scenes before me; Help me walk from day to day, With its shadow o’er me." The cross is not just a sign of our redemption, a sign of our forgiveness in the future but one that provides the motivation to improve our world here and now. The radical love of God in Christ transforms us to transform others.
After the sermon was the veneration of the cross, the dramatic entrance of the cross. It is slow but dramatic as it is raised and placed on the altar. Then a chance for prayer and to put a taper in the sand in the front and a rose in the vase. By the end there were 14 candles and many prayers said.