Good Friday Group Service

Good Friday

October 7, 2019 

As we approach worship, please prepare your hearts and minds in silent meditation.

[Leaders are sitting silently in their seats]

Gathering

[Leaders sing acapella]

Song                       Were You There?                         GTG 228

Were you there when they crucified my Lord? (Were you there?) 

Were you there when they crucified my Lord?

O! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.

Were you there when they crucified my Lord? (Were you there?)

Were you there when they nailed him to the tree? … 

Were you there when they pierced him in the side? … 

Were you there when the sun refused to shine? … 

Were you there when they laid him in the tomb? … 

[Ófe lights candle during last verse]

Gathering Liturgy        “The Day He Wore Our Crown” by Sue Smith  [read by Gina]

                                                (adapted from Isaiah 52:1-6, NIV)

[Gina stands] “On this second day of the Triduum [TRID-u-um], let us continue in worship.” 

Leader:	Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him.
All:	He was despised and rejected by man, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Leader:	Like one from whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.
All:	He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows.
Leader:	Yet we considered Him stricken by God, smitten by Him, and afflicted.
All:	But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him and by His wounds we are healed.
Leader:	We all, like sheep, have gone astray; each of us has turned to His own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

Poem                “The Courtyard Scene” by Ann Weems    [read by Macy]

[Macy stands]

Over and over again

we sit in our courtyards 

our mouths speaking what our hearts are full of …

    WE  DO  NOT  KNOW  HIM.

DONOTDONOTDONOT

KNOWHIMKNOWHIMKNOWHIM echoes loudly

    emphatically

    filling time and space

    heaven and earth;

and yet

    the saddest part is

when the cock crows

    we don’t have the ears to hear

TOHEARTOHEARTOHEAR

At least Peter had the ears to hear

    and the heart to weep.

Confession                                       [led by Natalie]

[Natalie stands]

Leader:    Please join us in the confession.

All:           Holy God, Holy and mighty, Holy immortal One, have mercy upon us. 

                    (repeated three times)

Proclamation

Prayer for Illumination                                [by Jin]

[Jin stands]

Jesus’ longing for you has come down to the world with tears

Jesus cried for you in the manger

Jesus cried for you in the wilderness for forty days and forty nights

Jesus cried for you in the grave of the dead Lazarus

Jesus cried for you in Jerusalem who lost the peace

Jesus cried for you in Gethsemane where he was sweating like drops of blood falling to the ground.

Jesus cried for you on the cross that was abandoned and died.

Jesus’ tears toward you, like the dew of the Holy Spirit, are in your heart.

Jesus’ love for you has poured out into the world as blood

Jesus loves you with the blood from the crown of thorns

Jesus loves you with the blood from the whip of Pontius Pilate

Jesus loves you with the blood from his feet on the Golgotha

Jesus loves you with the blood from his hands that nailed on the cross

Jesus loves you with the blood from his feet that nailed on the cross

Jesus loves you with the blood from his pierced side that bringing a sudden flow of blood and water.

Jesus’ blood for you is in your heart as a water of the Holy Spirit

Merciful God, Your Son was lifted up on the cross to draw all people to himself. Grant that we who have been born out of his wounded side may at all times find mercy in him, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever, Amen

“A reading from _____. … This is the word of the Lord/Word of God/etc.”

Scripture and Sermons

Gethsemane (Matthew 26:36-46)                                                                    [Jin]

Peter’s Denial (Mark 14:66-72)                                                                       [Macy]

Crucifixion (Luke 23:33-34)                                                                             [Natalie]
Jesus’ death (Matthew 27:45-52, 54-56)   Creation’s Response (click)          [Gina]

Burial (Luke 23:50-51, 53)                                                                               [Ófe]

At the close of each homily each reader declares:  “Oh Lord have mercy on us”.

[After each person is done reading, we rotate counter-clockwise to the next seat (or pulpit).]

Responding

The Unsupper                                    [led by Ófe]

(adapted from the Book of Common Worship)

[at the end of the sermon, team members are to join at the four corners of the table, once all are present and at their stations, they are to motion to the congregation to also come to the table]

On the night before he met with death, 

Jesus came to the table with those he loved.

He took bread

and praised God of all creation.

He broke the bread among his disciples 

and said: Take this, all of you, and eat it. 

This is my body, given for you.

When the supper was ended, 

he took a cup of wine

and gave thanks to God of all creation.

He passed the cup among his disciples

and said: Take this, all of you, and drink from it.

This is the cup of the new covenant sealed in my blood 

for the forgiveness of sin.

Do this in remembrance of me

[the cup is turned on its side and a cloth is produced from under the table. Ófe will pass one corner of the cloth to another team member who passes the other corner to the next until all members have a corner. In unison, the cloth is draped over the table covering the elements]

Today, we do not eat of the bread or drink of the cup, but we wait in anticipation for what tomorrow will bring. The sabbath is approaching, so let us go and rest, and let us return tomorrow to witness what God is doing.

[Blow out candle] It is finished. 

Sending

Please exit silently at the conclusion of the service.