Good Friday Service & Notes

The Good Friday Final Hour - 10th April 2020

They shouted "Crucify him crucify him!" Pilate asked "Shall I crucify your King ?" The chief priests answered, "We have no king but the emperor." Then he handed him over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus; and carrying the cross by himself, he went out to The Place of the Skull here they crucified him and with him two others, one on either side, with Jesus between them. Pilate also had an inscription written and put on the cross. It read "Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews."

Ours were the sorrows he carried

ISAIAH 52: 13-53:9,11b,12

See, my servant shall prosper; he shall be exalted and lifted up, and shall be very high. Just as there were many who were astonished at him - so marred was his appearance, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of mortals- so he shall startle many nations; kings shall shut their mouths because of him; for that which had not been told them they shall see, and that which they had not heard they shall contemplate.

Who has believed what we have heard? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground;

he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

He was despised and rejected by others; a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity; and as one from whom others hide their faces he was despised, and we held him of no account.

Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted.

But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed.

We like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned to our own way, and the Lord has laid on

him the sin and failures of us all.

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.

By a perversion of justice he was taken away. Who could have imagined his future?

For he was cut off from the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people.

They made his grave with the wicked and his tomb with the rich, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.

The righteous one, my servant, shall make many righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.

Therefore I will allot him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he poured out himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors;

yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

(silent reflection)

Hymn

Listen to the hymn: Praise To The Holiest In The Height (YouTube)

Prayer

Gracious God, on this day we gather to remember the suffering death of Jesus. He was despised and rejected, oppressed and afflicted, yet he was prepared to be wounded for our transgressions.

We come overwhelmed by the depth of Jesus' love for us, and his commitment to defeat evil, even when that meant his own suffering and his own death.

In his willingness to make us righteous, he poured himself out to death , even death on a cross, and so, in response to such love and sacrifice, we commit ourselves as his disciples to overcome evil with good, suffering with wholeness, and oppression with justice. In Jesus' name, we pray.

Amen

The Arrest

JOHN 18: 1-12

Followed by a time of silence

Lord Jesus Christ, wounded and crushed;

You gave your life that we might live.

The Interrogation

JOHN 18: 13-27

Followed by a time of silence

Hymn Just as I Am.

Lord Jesus Christ, wounded and crushed;

You gave your life that we might live.

Hymn

Listen to the hymn: Just As I Am (YouTube)

The Trial

JOHN 18:28 - 19:16a

Followed by a time of silence

Lord Jesus Christ, wounded and crushed;

You gave your life that we might live.

Prayer

Almighty God, in Jesus Christ, we see the fulfillment of your humanity.

A vision where all people live together in harmony and freedom.

He lived with love and compassion, forgiveness and healing, inscribed on his heart, and revealed in all his actions.

May your Spirit be strong to sustain these qualities in us so that we can confront the evil in human hearts and in the world around us.

Lord Jesus Christ, despised and rejected, Man of Sorrows and acquainted with grief;

be present with all those, young and old, who bear the pain of the world.

Strengthen them and uplift them with the knowledge that you were prepared to die to overcome evil with a love that will never die. Amen

Hymn : Jesus Remember Me

Jesus remember me, When you come into your kingdom

Hymn

Listen to the hymn: Jesus Remember Me (YouTube)

The Crucifixion

JOHN 19: 16b - 37

Followed by a time of silence

Lord Jesus Christ, wounded and crushed;

You gave your life that we might live.

Prayer

As Jesus said "It is finished", we give thanks for his life of love and his painful death for us and for our world.

Even at the point of death, he cared about others.

O God, give us like minds and as deep a care for others, as we commit ourselves and all those dear to us, into your hands.

We especially uphold before you those who are sick and suffering, those for whom we have special concern.

May they know that neither death nor life nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

Hymn: Were You There When they Crucified My Lord?

Hymn

Listen to the hymn: Were You There When they Crucified My Lord? (YouTube)

Extinguish the candle

The Burial

JOHN 19: 38-42

Followed by a time of silence

Lord Jesus Christ, wounded and crushed;

You gave your life that we might live.

Concluding prayer:

We give thanks, O God, for the amazing love of Jesus Christ -

the love that was wounded for our transgressions;

The love that was tortured that we might know peace.

The love that was crucified that we might live forever.

The love that rightly demands our souls, our lives, our all.

Let us go into the world revealing that love in all its fullness. Amen

Hymn

Listen to the hymn: The Lord's My Shepherd (YouTube)

Benediction

Go, blessed by the great love of God,

Embraced by the sacrificial love of Jesus Christ, sustained by the empowering love of the Holy Spirit.

All depart in silence.

Reading: Good Friday - The Final Hour

A reading by Rev Philip Biggs

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