A Service for Good Friday

Call to Worship
And this is the judgement, that the light has come into the world
And we loved darkness rather than the light.
God sent Jesus into the world,
not to condemn the world,
But that the world, that we,
might be saved through him.
Come let us worship God our Creator and Christ our Savior through the Holy Spirit and in truth.

O Sacred Head Now Wounded
O sacred head now wounded,
with grief and shame weighed down,
now scornfully surrounded
with thorns thine only crown:
how pale thou art with anguish,
with sore abuse and scorn!
How does that visage languish
which once was bright as morn.

What thou, my Lord, hast suffered
was all for sinners gain.
Mine, mine was the transgression,
but thine the deadly pain.
Lo, here I fall, my Savior!
‘Tis I deserve thy place;
look on me with thy favor,
vouchsafe to me thy grace.

What language shall I borrow
to thank thee dearest friend,
for this thy dying sorrow,
thy pity without end.
O make me thine forever;
and should I fainting be,
Lord, let me never, never
outlive my love to thee.

A Reading from Isaiah 53

Unison Prayer
Gracious and Holy God, on this night we gather to remember with love and tears the suffering and death of Jesus.
We believe that this despised and rejected man of sorrows has borne our griefs and has been wounded for our transgressions.
We come in deep repentance for our sins,
seeking your face and spirit while it may be found.
Almighty God, graciously behold this your family,
for whom our Lord Jesus Christ was willing to be betrayed
into the hands of sinners,
and to suffer death upon the cross;
have mercy upon us, most merciful God,
for it is in Christ’s name we pray. Amen

A Reading from Psalm 22

Ah, Holy Jesus
Ah, holy Jesus, how hast thou offended,
that we to judge thee
have in hate pretended?
By foes derided, by thine own rejected,
O most afflicted!

Who was the guilty?
Who brought this upon thee?
Alas, my treason,
Jesus, hath undone thee!
‘Twas I, Lord Jesus, I it was denied thee;
I crucified thee.

Lo, the Good Shepherd
for the sheep is offered;
the slave hath sin-ned,
and the Son hath suffered.
For our atonement,
while we nothing heeded,
God interceded.

For me, kind Jesus, was thy incarnation,
thy mortal sorrow, and thy life’s oblation;
thy death of anguish and thy bitter passion,
for my salvation.

Therefore, kind Jesus,
since I cannot pay thee,
I do adore thee, and will ever pray thee,
think on thy pity
and thy love unswerving,
not my deserving.

A Reading from Hebrews 10:16-25

Response: He Will Walk with Wonder and Stare (Sing Wonder and Stare between sections of He Will Walk)
(From resources by the Iona Community)

Wonder and stare, fear and beware,
heaven and hell are close at hand,
God’s living word, Jesus the Lord,
follows where faith and love demand.

He will walk a little in front of us towards Jerusalem.
He will not be scared even though we are apprehensive.
If we try to discourage him he will recognize the devil in our voice,
and he will tell us so in no uncertain terms,
and he will go on again in faith towards Jerusalem.

He will walk a little in front of us into controversy.
He will not be scared though we are apprehensive.
He will argue with the intelligent, contradict the self assured,
embrace the untouchable,
upset bank balances by his outlandish behavior in the sanctuary and weep in public.
Then he will go again in faith towards a garden.


He will walk a little in front of us into Gethsemane.
He will not be scared though we are apprehensive.
He will sweat blood and ask God if there is another way,
and when God says no, he will take the traitor’s kiss, the soldier’s spit,
the bile and venom from the princes of religion,
and he will go on again in faith towards the cross.


He will walk a little in front of us towards Calvary.
He will not be scared; no, he will not be scared.
He will feel the pain of wood and nails.
But more than this he will feel the weight of all the evil,
all the malice, all the pettiness, all the sin of the world heaped on his shoulders.
He will not throw off that weight though he could.
He will not give back evil for evil, return malice for malice,
take revenge on the petty minded,
obscuring hate on all who have despised and rejected him.
He will not give back the sin of the world.
He will take the weight into death, into hell,
so that he can lead us into heaven.
Then he will go on in faith towards what lies ahead.


He will walk a little behind us through the graveyard.
He will wait until we are sure he has died and admit our complicity in his life’s ending.
and he will come up behind us and say our name so that we can say his forever.

Go to Dark Gethsemane - Verse 1
Go to dark Gethsemane,
ye that feel the tempter’s power;
your Redeemer’s conflict see,
watch with him one bitter hour.
Turn not from his griefs away;
learn of Jesus Christ to pray.

A Reading from John 18:1-27

Go to Dark Gethsemane - Verse 2
See him at the judgment hall,
beaten, bound, reviled, arraigned;
O the wormwood and the gall!
O the pangs his soul sustained!
Shun not suffering, shame, or loss;
learn of Christ to bear the cross.

A Reading from John 18:28-19:16a

Go to Dark Gethsemane - Verse 3
Calvary’s mournful mountain climb;
there, adoring at his feet,
mark that miracle of time,
God’s own sacrifice complete.
“It is finished!” hear him cry;
learn of Jesus Christ to die.

A Reading from John 19:16b-42

A Time of Silent Reflection

Closing - O Love Divine, What Hast Thou Done . . . Pastor Will
O Love divine, what hast thou done!
The immortal God hath died for me!
The Father’s co-eternal Son
Bore all my sins upon the tree.
Th’immortal God for me hath died:
My Lord, my Love, is crucified!

Is crucified for me and you,
To bring us rebels back to God.
Believe, believe the record true,
Ye all are bought with Jesus’ blood.
Pardon for all flows from His side:
My Lord, my Love, is crucified!

Behold and love, ye that pass by,
The bleeding Prince of life and peace!
Come, sinners, see your Savior die,
And say, “Was ever grief like His?”
Come, feel with me His blood applied:
My Lord, my Love, is crucified!

Then let us sit beneath His cross,
And gladly catch the healing stream:
All things for Him account but loss,
And give up all our hearts to Him:
Of nothing think or speak beside,
My Lord, my Love, is crucified!

Silent Meditation and Prayer

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Note: There will be no benediction; no postlude. With the death of Christ, there
is nothing more to be said until Easter. The congregation will please remain seated until the back lights are turned on. Those wishing to remain in prayer and meditation are encouraged to do so, while those who leave are asked to depart in silence.

A PRAYER OF SUPPLICATION
by William Barclay
God of love, we remember today all that our blessed Lord endured for us.
Let us remember how Jesus was betrayed,
and given up into the hands of wicked men …

Lord Jesus, we remember today that it was one of
Your own familiar friends who betrayed You,
and we know that there is nothing that so breaks the heart as the disloyalty of one whom we call friend.
Grant that we may not betray You.

Save us:
From the cowardice that would disown You when it is hard to be true to You;
From the disloyalty that betrays You in the hour
when You need some one to stand by You;
From the fickleness that blows hot and cold in its devotion;
From the fair-weather friendship that,
when things are difficult or dangerous,
makes us ashamed to show whose we are and whom we serve.

Let us remember how Jesus suffered death upon the Cross …
Lord Jesus, help us to remember the lengths
to which Your love was ready to go;
That having loved Your own You loved them to the very end;
The love than which none can be greater,
The love that lays down its life for its friends;
That it was while people were yet enemies that You died for them.

Let us remember how Jesus now lives and reigns …
Help us to remember,
That the crucified Lord is the Risen Lord;
That the cross has become the Crown.

So grant unto us,
to trust in His love and to live in His presence;
that we may share in His glory.
This we ask for Your love’s sake. Amen.