Good Friday April 2 2021 Knox Bayfield
Prelude
Meditation Be still and know that I am God (3x)
Call To Worship
The grace of Jesus Christ be with you And also with you
Prayer
Lord Jesus, Savior of the world, we pray for your mercy upon us. We have come together at the foot of the Cross to remember the events of suffering and death of Jesus the Christ. We come together to meditate on the mystery of His passion and its meaning for all. We recognize our part with inflicting and the bearing of suffering and in the mercy of God, shown in Christ.
Holy God, we pray your forgiveness, a new awareness of your love, and a fresh zeal for your mission in the world. We seek this through him who suffered, died, and rose again, Jesus Christ our Lord. Have mercy on us, we humbly pray. Amen
Hymn # 206 Jesus, remember me
The Cross
During Holy Week, we are on a journey of contrast. We journey through the stories of the exuberant hosannas of Palm Sunday, the solemn last supper, the prayers of grief, and the contrast of betrayals, denials, loyalty, faith, crucifixion and resurrection. What do we see when we look at the cross? Suffering, pain, loss? All of this is part of the crucifixion. Yet, there is more. If today is only a day of suffering and brutality, a day to re-enact the execution of Jesus, then it makes no sense to see this as good.
When Good Friday becomes only the suffering of the crucifixion then we are put at risk of a thin understanding of the cross? This thin story could leave us with an angry God seeking payment for sin. Is that the good news of Jesus the Christ?
When we read and study the stories of the crucifixion … we discover the story does not only focus on the betrayals or the brutality and violence of the cross. The violence is there but it is not the whole story. In the gospels, Jesus does not have a singular focus on suffering and death. His focus is on love. Perhaps this is why Jesus can give himself to the cross. He doesn’t look at the cross, he sees through it. Death is not the end. Jesus trusts God’s love more than he fears his own death.
When we experience only the sorrow and pain … life is reduced to a thin story.
Can we also see and experience love? The love of God and the love of one another? The deeper, richer part of life’s story. Could it be that this is what makes Friday good? The love of Christ is stronger and more than death. The love of Jesus does more than pull us together in suffering and dying. The love of Jesus is with us through every aspect of life. God’s love defeats sin and death.
Each day we decide whether we can trust in God’s love. This decision creates our perspective, our view of our life and the world. The decision of whether we trust in God’s love will guide our relationships and affect how we approach our lives. This decision will guide how we experience God. Good Friday offers the challenge and the hope of trusting in God’s love.
Praise be to God.
Prayer for Illumination
Holy God, as we bow our heads beneath the cross pour out your Holy Spirit to testify to the truth so that we may believe. We pray through Jesus Christ – your Word made flesh. Amen.
Reading Mark 15
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.
… silent reflection
Hymn #206 Jesus, remember me
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.
… silent reflection
Hymn #231 When I survey the wondrous cross
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[j] 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.
… silent reflection
Hymn #233 Were You There?
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[l] 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.
… silent reflection
Hymn #240 Rock of ages, cleft for me
Drape cloth over pulpit and communion table.
# 206 Jesus, remember me
Jesus, remember me, when you come into your kingdom.
Jesus, remember me, when you come into your kingdom. [repeat]
# 231 When I survey the wondrous cross
When I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of glory died,
my richest gain I count but loss, and pour contempt on all my pride.
Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast save in the death of Christ, my God!
All the vain things that charm me most, I sacrifice them through his blood.
See, from his head, his hands, his feet, sorrow and love flow mingled down.
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet, or thorns compose so rich a crown?
Were the whole realm of nature mine, that were a present far too small.
Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.
Were You There? # 233
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Oh! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they nailed Him to the tree?
Were you there when they nailed Him to the tree?
Oh! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they nailed Him to the tree?
Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb?
Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb?
Oh! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb?
#240 Rock of ages, cleft for me
Rock of ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in thee;
Let the water and the blood, From thy riven side which flowed,
Be of sin the double cure: Cleanse me from its guilt and power.
Not the labours of my hands Can fulfil thy law’s demands;
Could my zeal no respite know, Could my tears forever flow,
All for sin could not atone; Thou must save, and thou alone.
Nothing in my hand I bring, Simply to thy cross I cling:
Naked, come to thee for dress; Helpless, look on thee for grace;
Foul, I to the fountain fly; Wash me, Saviour, or I die.
While I draw this fleeting breath, When my eyelids close in death,
When I soar through tracts unknown, See thee on thy judgement throne,
Rock of ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in thee.