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Holy Week, including Good Friday
V Rev Lawrie Hampton
For most of my parish ministry years, we had a service at 7 pm each evening in Holy Week including Saturday (Easter Eve), but not on Good Friday, when we had a morning service.
These were short services – strictly not more than 30 minutes. We never had great crowds attending, but those who did come often expressed warm appreciation. Services comprised two hymns, one or more readings, brief prayers, and a reflection. Often the theme for the service would be determined by the events of that particular day in our Lord’s last week on earth (see table below). There are other possibilities: one year I took one of the characters from the Gospel narratives and each evening told some of the events of the week as seen by that person, and in their “own” words – so Peter, Pilate, Nicodemus, Mary Magdalene, a Roman Centurion told us about what they had seen, heard, and felt. You need to use some imagination, but it’s also important to keep close to what is told us in the Gospel narratives.
In 1935 The Church of Scotland published Prayers for the Christian Year, which includes a service for each day in Holy Week. My edition was published in 1954, and I suppose other ageing ministers have a copy on their shelves, although no doubt the book is long out of print. The language of worship in it is, of course, hopelessly outdated; but the ideas of the prayers can be adapted to contemporary use. The limited lectionary included is still useful, and the outline of events of Holy Week is valuable. The table below is abstracted from Prayers for the Christian Year.
Monday Our Lord returned from Bethany to Jerusalem, cursed the barren fig tree, went into the temple and cleansed its courts.
Tuesday He spoke the parables of the two sons, the wicked tenants, the marriage feast, the ten virgins, and the talents. He answered the questions of the Pharisees Sadducees and a lawyer. He foretold the destruction of Jerusalem and the last judgement.
Wednesday Jesus remained at Bethany, while Judas was bargaining with the chief priests to betray him.
Thursday He went to Jerusalem. In the evening he in the upstairs room he washed the feet of the disciples, instituted the sacrament of his body and blood, spoke words of peace and strength, promised the coming of the Holy Spirit, and prayed for the unity of his people. In the garden of Gethsemane he endured agony. He was betrayed by Judas and arrested and taken away.
Good Friday Jesus was tried, whipped, mocked and condemned to death. He was led out to Calvary and crucified. He spoke from the cross the seven “words”, and died/
Saturday Joseph of Arimathea has Jesus laid in his own new tomb, and a guard is posted.
Good Friday
Below is the Good Friday service we used in St Stephen’s, Hamilton South, three years ago. This is the whole service – there was no spoken introduction, no sermon or “reflection”. We set up the lectern at the back of the church, behind the congregation, and asked one of our best readers to do all the readings. The congregation could not see her. So the first words of the service were “After Jesus had spoken these words, he went out with his disciples across the Kidron Valley to a place where there was a garden…. (John 18:1 etc)
I have included the words of introduction that were in the printed order of service, because they were the only indication to the congregation of the form of the service. As minister for the day, I led the prayers.
A SERVICE OF DEVOTION FOR GOOD FRIDAY
*Welcome to this quiet time of remembering.
This morning, we are there as they crucify our Lord.
This experience may, as the song says, make us tremble.
It may also lift our hearts in renewed gratitude, love and devotion to our Lord.
*In this service we follow the narrative of our Lord’s suffering and death
as it is written chapters 18 and 19 of the Gospel according to John.
Hymns, readings and prayers will not be announced.
Please stand for the hymns as soon as the music begins.
*In the quiet time before the service begins, you can make your own prayers.
This prayer may be a guide for you:
Here this morning may we in faith behold Jesus, Son of God,
in the mystery of his suffering.
May his wounds be our healing;
may his death bring us life;
may his cross be our glory;
and may we share in the victory of his resurrection,
for your glory, eternal God.
Reading John 18: 1-27 Jesus and his followers
Prayer
Who are we to sit in judgement on these followers of Jesus?
How stands our commitment to Christ? . . .
our willingness to go with him at all costs? . . .
our dedication to his service? . . .
our love for all his people, friend and foe alike?
Too often, Lord Christ, we are your people in name,
but not in the deep places of our lives. not in the strength of our love,
not in unselfish generosity, not in self-denial and steadfast loyalty.
Betrayed .. deserted .. denied … by his friends.
God of grace and mercy, forgive our disloyal words,
our fickle inconstancy,
and the way we betray the trust that you put in us.
Forgive us, and grant us your peace,
in the name of Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen.
Hymn He came singing love
Reading John 18: 28 to 19:16a On trial before Pilate
Prayer
King Jesus,
you stood alone before church and world,
proclaiming that your kingdom is not like the kingdoms of this world:
King who made yourself as nothing,
humbled yourself to be obedient,
obedient even to the point of death, death on a cross.
Lord God, we acknowledge that often we are attracted and captivated by what the world calls greatness:
by power and authority, wealth and security,
by success and status, ease and comfort.
We see you now, with no power except your love,
no possessions to call your own, facing evident failure, not success,
sentenced to be humiliated, and to endure the agony of crucifixion.
We pray to you for the world’s defenceless ones:
people who are accused of evils they have not done;
people persecuted for beliefs sincerely held;
people lifting lone voices against injustice and intolerance;
people who must live always with poverty, hunger, illness, disability.
May they find in you their hope. And give to them, and to us, your peace. Amen.
Hymn My song is love unknown
Reading John 19: 16b-30
Prayer
We see you, Jesus our Lord, alone, abandoned, racked by pain on your cross.
We ask you to be near those who today suffer pain or sorrow,
are troubled with anxiety and fear, or are lonely and bereft.
By your presence with them, may they find strength in their sorrows,
relief from their pain, assurance in their anxiety, and courage to face their fears.
Lord Jesus Christ:
for our sake you endured darkness and shame and pain on the cross.
By your Spirit bring light and love to our own life,
and to the life of our nation,
so that we are ready to sacrifice our own comfort
for the good of all humankind.
God of grace and goodness,
grant to us, and to all your people, pardon and peace,
empowering us by your Spirit to serve you with a quiet mind,
through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Hymn When I survey the wondrous cross
Reading John 19: 23-42 The burial
Eternal and holy God, maker and lover of all,
we have been contemplating again this sacred story
in which our Lord was betrayed, tried, suffered, and died.
May it be not the chronicle of this day alone that fascinates us.
May it be not the terrible pathos of the story alone that grips us.
Grant, gracious God, that our inner spirit will be gripped
by what our minds can never quite grasp:
that this was all for us.
And so, Lord God, may we be all for you.
In the name of Jesus Christ, our Saviour and our Lord. Amen.
Hymn Lift high the cross (Number 87 in Alleluia Aotearoa)
The Blessing