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A Good Friday Service
This service was compiled by Rev Dr Jim Cunningham when he was in Brooklyn Parish. Please feel free to adapt it for your parish’s needs.
Greeting
The lord is with you all.
And also with you.
Call to worship
The light came
But we preferred the darkness.
They tried to extinguish the light
They crucified Jesus of Nazareth
This is the day of darkness
Let us live it with remorse
Let us stand in the shadow of the Cross.
Hymn
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Prayer
God in Christ,
You travel with us in faith
Towards the hard places in our lives.
You know the agony of pain and grief,
Guilt and hurt deep within us.
You know our own frightened faces,
Often hidden from ourselves.
You know the violence
Sometimes hurled in anger
Because we feel powerless to take
The smallest step to freedom.
You know the grief
Sometimes lying there
Embalmed and perfumed
By our resolve to remain victims for ever.
There are stumbling blocks along our paths.
There are stumbling blocks within ourselves.
Help us to see clearly who we are.
Help us to accept ourselves as you accept us.
Amen.
Readings
Isaiah 52:13-53:12 - The suffering servant
Psalm 22:1-18
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from helping me,
From the words of my groaning?
O My God, I cry by day, but you do not answer:
And by night, but find no rest.
Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel.
In you our ancestors trusted:
They trusted, and you delivered them.
To you they cried, and were saved;
In you they trusted, and were not put to shame.
But I am a worm, and not human;
Scorned by others, and despised by the people.
All who see me mock at me;
They make mouths at me, they shake their heads;
“Commit your cause to the Lord; let him deliver-
let him rescue the one in whom he delights!”
Yet it was you who took me from the womb;
You kept me safe on my mother’s breast.
On you I was cast from my birth,
And since my mother bore me you have been my God.
Do not be far from me,
For trouble is near and there is no one to help.
Many bulls encircle me,
Strong bulls of Bashan surround me;
They open wide their mouths at me,
Like ravening and roaring lions.
I am poured out like water,
And all my bones are out of joint;
My heart is like wax;
It is melted within my breast;
My mouth is dried up like a potsherd,
And my tongue sticks to my jaws;
You lay me in the dust of death.
For dogs are all around me’
A company of evildoers encircles me.
My hands and my feet have shriveled;
I can count all my bones.
They stare and gloat over me;
They divide my clothes among themselves,
And for my clothing they cast lots.
Gospel Luke 23:26-48
Music
KYRIE from MASS for double choir by Frank Martin
Hymn
O Sacred Head Sore Wounded
Prayers
Let us retrace the steps of Jesus to Calvary;
Lord we come to the Upper Room
And confess that we miss the point
We come to Gethsemane
And confess the rejection of your will
We come to Caiaphas’ house
And confess our distortion of the truth
We come to Pilate’s house
And confess our compromise for convenience
We come to Herod’s house
And confess our mockery of our Master
We come to Calvary
And confess our crucifixion of Christ today.
Solo
Broken the body hanging on the Cross (Words by Shirley Murray and music by Jillian Bray)
Prayer
Eternal and Loving God
Through Jesus you have given us your Light.
Through us it should radiate with dazzling splendour
Throughout the world,
As the revelation of your life-giving power, your salvation.
But we hold it carelessly,
And spread darkness rather than light in our world.
For the weakening and disabling of your Light,
O God forgive us and set us free.
Lord, have mercy
Christ, have mercy
Lord, have mercy
The Assurance of Pardon
The Lord’s Prayer
Call to service (Standing)
May the Christ who walks on wounded feet
Walk with us to the end of our road.
May the Christ who serves us with wounded hands
Help us each to serve one another.
May the Christ who loves with a wounded heart
Empower us with his love.
When you go from here may you experience
The life of Christ in those you meet.
And may they experience his life
In our words, our touch, our actions.
Closing Hymn
My song is love unknown (CP 128)