The bulletin is here. The description of Holy Friday with the Bible readings and commentaries is here. A photogallery is included here.
Appropriately, Good Friday began with dark clouds surrounding St. Peter’s. By 6:30pm clearing had begun and the change of the colors and the sun hitting St. Peter’s was striking. There were signs of new life around today – daffodils on George Turner’s grave up, a blooming pear tree in the back and finally Osprey flying all around the church looking for nesting. One did perch on our nest in the front sycamore.
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.
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 6 parts 1. an entrance in silence, 2. readings which include the John 18:1-19:42 Passion reading, 3 the Solemn Collects, 4 The Entrance of the Cross, the Veneration of the Cross,5 Musical Meditations and 6 conclusion.
Marilyn read the first readings from Isaiah, the ever present Psalm 22, and Hebrews. Then 3 readers, Catherine, Mike and Helmut tackled the long John Passion Gospel reading
David Lose writes of Good Friday "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.
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."
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 death is portrayed as an exaltation; it’s the way of his return, of his circuit back to the father from whom he had come. The phrase is constantly used "that the scripture might be fulfilled."
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."
The Solemn Collects are prayers for all – "We pray, therefore, for people everywhere according to their needs" – the church, world, the governments and people, and those who have died
The sermon was on the subject "It is finished". Jesus life was finished but God’s work in us and correspondingly in the world is not. The beauty of the day is that God continues to fashion us for mission since we were made in His image.
After the sermon was the veneration of the cross, the dramatic entrance of the cross. The raising of the cross is slow but dramatic as it is raised and placed on the altar.
The Veneration are three readings about the cross with anthem interludes about the cross. 1. "May God be merciful to us and bless us,’ 2 "If we have died with him, we shall also live with him;" 3. Thankfulness "O Savior of the world, who by thy cross and precious blood hast redeemed us."
The last hymn in the Veneration of the Cross "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 veneration was the Musical Interlude with music from Buxtehude. This was a chance for prayer and to put a taper in the sand in the front in the vase. By the end there were just under 20 candles and many prayers said. Thus a sign of torture, the cross becomes much more – a symbol of victory, triumph and salvation.
The concluding hymn was "There is a green hill far away" which provided an appropriate summary of the service:
"There is a green hill far away,
outside a city wall,
where our dear Lord was crucified
who died to save us all.
We may not know, we cannot tell,
what pains he had to bear,
but we believe it was for us
he hung and suffered there.
He died that we might be forgiven,
he died to make us good,
that we might go at last to heaven,
saved by his precious blood.
There was no other good enough
to pay the price of sin,
he only could unlock the gate
of heaven and let us in…"
The service concluded with the Lord’s Prayer and Concluding Prayer – "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, we pray you to set your passion, cross, and death between your judgment and our souls, now and in the hour of our death. Give mercy and grace to the living; pardon and rest to the dead; to your holy Church peace and concord; and to us sinners everlasting life and glory; for with the Father and the Holy Spirit you live and reign, one God, now and for ever. Amen."