Sunday Worship • Lenten Worship • Lenten Resources • Easter Services
Worship Leaders • Rites of the Church • Questions about Worship

 

GOOD FRIDAY

March 21, 2008

 

OPENING PRAYER

Lord, by shedding his blood for us your son, Jesus Christ, established the paschal mystery.  In your goodness, make us holy and watch over us always.  Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

READING I:  1 Peter 1:10-20

The prophets who prophesied of the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired about this salvation; they inquired what person or time was indicated by the Spirit of Christ within them when predicting the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glory.  It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things which have now been announced to you by those who preached the good news to you through the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.

    Therefore gird up your minds, be sober, set you hope fully upon the grace that is coming to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.  As obedient children, do no be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct; since it is written, "You shall be holy, for I am holy."  And if you invoke as Father him who judges each one impartially according to his deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile.  You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your father, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.  He was destined before the foundation of the world but was made manifest at the end of the times for your sake.

 

READING II: St. Mark 15:1-47

As soon as it was morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders

and scribes and the whole council. They bound Jesus, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate. Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” He answered him, “You say so.” Then the chief priests accused him of many things. Pilate asked him again, “Have you no answer? See how many charges they bring against you.” But Jesus made no further reply, so that Pilate was amazed.

        Now at the festival he used to release a prisoner for them, anyone for whom they asked. Now a man called Barabbas was in prison with the rebels who had committed murder during the insurrection. So the crowd came and began to ask Pilate to do  for them according to his custom. Then he answered them, “Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?” For he realized that it was out of jealousy that  the chief priests had handed him over. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release Barabbas for them instead. Pilate spoke to them again, “Then what do you wish me to do with the man you call the King of the Jews?” They shouted back, “Crucify him!” Pilate asked them, “Why, what evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Crucify him!” So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released Barabbas for them; and after flogging Jesus, he handed him over to be crucified.

        Then the soldiers led him into the courtyard of the palace (that is, the governor’s headquarters); and they called together the whole cohort. And they clothed him in a purple cloak; and after twisting some thorns into a crown, they put it on him. And they began saluting him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” They struck his head with a reed, spat upon him, and knelt down in homage to him. After mocking him, they  stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.

They compelled a passer-by, who was coming in from the country, to carry his cross; it was Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus. Then they brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means the place of a skull). And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh; but he did not take it. And they crucified him, and divided his clothes among them, casting lots to decide what each should take.

It was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified him. The inscription of the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews.” And with him they crucified two bandits, one on his right and one on his left. Those who passed by derided him, shaking their heads and saying, “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself, and come down from the cross!” In the same way the chief priests, along with the scribes, were also mocking him among themselves and saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. Let the Messiah, the King of Israel, come down from the cross now, so that we may see and believe.” Those who were crucified with him also taunted him.

          When it was noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. At three o”clock Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” When some of the bystanders heard it, they said, “Listen, he is calling for Elijah.” And someone ran, filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a stick, and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.” Then Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. Now when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was God’s Son!”

         There were also women looking on from a distance; among them were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. These used to follow him and provided for him when he was in Galilee; and there were many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem.

          When evening had come, and since it was the day of Preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself waiting expectantly for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate wondered if he were already dead; and summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he had been dead for some time. When he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he granted the body to Joseph. Then Joseph bought a linen cloth, and taking down the body, wrapped it in the linen cloth, and laid it in a tomb that had been hewn out of the rock. He then rolled a stone against the door of the tomb. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where the body was laid.

 

READING III:  Anonymous

He was born in an obscure village,

    the child of a peasant woman.

He grew up in still another village, where he worked

    in a carpenter shop until he was thirty.

Then for three years he was an intinerant preacher.

He never wrote a book.  He never held an office.

He never had a family or owned a house.  He didn't

    go to college.  He never visited a big city.

He never traveled two hundred miles from the place

    where he was born.  He did none of the things

    one usually associates with greatness.

He had no credentials but himself.  He was only

    thirty-three when the tide of public opinion

    turned against him.  His friends ran away.  He was

    turned over to his enemies and went through

    the mockery of a trial.  He was nailed to a cross

    between two thieves.  While he was dying,

    his executioners gambled for his clothing,

    the only property he had on earth.

When he was dead, he was laid in a borrowed grave

    through the pity of a friend.

Nineteen centuries have come and gone, and today

    he is the central figure of the human race

    and the leader of mankind's progress.

All the armies that ever marched, all the navies

    that ever sailed, all the parliaments that ever sat,

    all the kings that ever reigned, put together,

    have not affected the life of man

    on this earth as much as that

    ONE SOLITARY LIFE.

 

CLOSING PRAYER

O sacred head, now wounded

    With grief and shame weighed down,

Now scornfully surrounded

    With thorns, your only crown.

O sacred head, what glory

    and bliss did once combine;

Though now despised and gory,

    I joy to call you mine?

What language can I borrow

    To thank you, dearest friend,

For this your dying sorrow,

    Your mercy without end?

Bind me to you forever,

    Give courage from above;

Let not my weakness sever

    Your bond of lasting love.  Amen.

        Paul Gerhardt  (1607 - 1676)