(Here’s the excellent Good Friday Service some of us attended after Dawn Rowan’s Vigil. More on Dawn – http://dawnrowansaga.blogspot.com/ ).

*****

Good Friday – 10 April 2009

Welcome and Call to Worship

Jesus challenged the system, and the system amassed its powers against him.

Jesus challenged the political leaders, and they used their wiles to defeat him.

Jesus gathered his followers, but their fear led them to abandon him.

The forces gathered declared their final word, and that word was ‘crucify’!

Reading – Psalm 22 (The Message)

1-2 God, God…my God! Why did you dump me

miles from nowhere?

Doubled up with pain, I call to God

all the day long. No answer. Nothing.

I keep at it all night, tossing and turning.

3-5 And you! Are you indifferent, above it all,

leaning back on the cushions of Israel’s praise?

We know you were there for our parents:

they cried for your help and you gave it;

they trusted and lived a good life.

6-8 And here I am, a nothing-an earthworm,

something to step on, to squash.

Everyone pokes fun at me;

they make faces at me, they shake their heads:

“Let’s see how God handles this one;

since God likes him so much, let him help him!”

Song Amazing Love (first two verses only)

Reading – John 19:14-25 (NASV)

Now it was the day of preparation for the Passover; it was about the sixth hour. And he *said to the Jews, “Behold, your King!” They therefore cried out, “Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him!” Pilate *said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” So he then delivered Him to them to be crucified.

They took Jesus therefore, and He went out, bearing His own cross, to the place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha. There they crucified Him, and with Him two other men, one on either side, and Jesus in between.

And Pilate wrote an inscription also, and put it on the cross. And it was written, “JESUS THE NAZARENE, THE KING OF THE JEWS.”

Therefore this inscription many of the Jews read, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, Latin, and in Greek.

And so the chief priests of the Jews were saying to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews’; but that He said,’ I am King of the Jews. ‘” Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written.”

The soldiers therefore, when they had crucified Jesus, took His outer garments and made four parts, a part to every soldier and also the tunic; now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece. They said therefore to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, to decide whose it shall be”; that the Scripture might be fulfilled, “THEY DIVIDED MY OUTER GARMENTS AMONG THEM, AND FOR MY CLOTHING THEY CAST LOTS.”

Therefore the soldiers did these things.

Prayer of Confession

Lord, standing at the foot of your Cross on this Good Friday,

we look back to see all those things that led you to the Cross

and how you remained undeterred.

When you declared that you came to announce freedom

to the poor from their chains of poverty,

the affluent among the pious deeply resented it.

When you spoke about God’s inclusive love

and reminded a worshipping congregation

about the widow of Zariphath and of Naaman the Syrian,

those who took pride in their election and Covenant

sought to kill you then and there.

Your attempt to point out the original meaning of the Sabbath

by indulging in forbidden acts of healing on the Sabbath

earned the wrath of fastidious religionists.

Your proclamation of the nearness of the Just Reign of God

and your criticism of all audacious and indulgent authority

incurred suspicion from the powers-that-be and their collaborators.

It became clear to you that those powers-that-be and their collaborators

would do away with you.

They would have you killed on a rugged cross.

You were deeply troubled. Yet you remained undeterred.

You retained your confidence in God:

that God would vindicate you

that God would turn this most hideous act of human rebellion

into a means of redemption for those very same rebels.

Lord, we are amazed.

2000 years hence, O Lord, our sin is to assume

that those powers and those religious and cultural values

which inspired the conspiracy to have you removed

were strange and unusual phenomena.

We say that if we had been there, we would not have done this to you.

But we too resent your bias towards the poor.

We find loving people of other faiths difficult.

We erect barriers of fear and suspicion.

We do not accept inclusivity and justice as Gospel values.

We continue to indulge in all that sent you to the Cross.

Forgive us Lord.

Our only solace is that you prayed for our forgiveness,

understanding that we are blinded through an ignorance

of which we are seldom aware.

May the acceptance of your forgiveness

lead us to follow the path you set before us.

Remember us in your Kingdom. Amen.

(prayer written by Rev Dr. Dhyanchand Carr)

Song – How Deep the Father’s Love for Us

WE BELIEVE

We believe in the God of Good Friday,

who sent us Jesus of Nazareth

who was wounded by our systems, and

and bruised for by our powers.

While some seek more knowledge and influence,

and others look for victory and triumph,

we place our trust in Christ crucified.

We believe that those who hoard their life will lose it,

yet those who lose life for Christ’s sake

Find themselves walking in holy company.

We believe that Christ crucified is the pathway of God

and the wisdom of His ways in the world.

We believe this foolishness of God is wiser than earthly knowledge,

and the weakness of God is stronger than human arrogance.

This we dare to believe even in the crucified face of Jesus Christ.

Adapted from unknown source

Reading: John 19:25-30 (NASV)

But there were standing by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He *said to His mother, “Woman, behold, your son!”

Then He *said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her into his own household. After this, Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished, in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled, *said, “I am thirsty.”

A jar full of sour wine was standing there; so they put a sponge full of the sour wine upon a branch of hyssop, and brought it up to His mouth.

When Jesus therefore had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head, and gave up His spirit.

PRAYERS FOR OTHERS

In the hour of his death, Jesus considered the needs of those around him.

So let us pray.

Most Holy Friend, especially today we pray for humanity in all its brokenness.

For the many who unfairly bear the burden of sin and guilt in the face of overwhelming powers.

Lord in your mercy,

Hear our Prayer.

For the many who this day may feel forsaken by old friends, wounded by loved ones, and deserted by God.

Lord in your mercy,

Hear our Prayer.

For the many who have been wrongly arrested, falsely accused, and who are incarcerated in prisons and subject to abuse, while their voices remain suppressed.

Lord in your mercy,

Hear our Prayer.

For the many who are suffering for the sake of your kingdom; scorned by family and community, persecuted by enemies, ridiculed by companions and friends

Lord in your mercy,

Hear our Prayer.

We pray for those in positions of power who know the truth but prefer to wash their hands rather than risk the political realities of standing up for right.

Lord in your mercy,

Hear our prayer.

For the many who face death on this day, and those who have no friend or loved one to be close to them in the hour of death.

Lord in your mercy,

Hear our Prayer.

We pray for Dawn Rowan, whose life has been twisted in the hands of people whose compassion has been absent at best.

Lord in your mercy,

Hear our prayer.

For those gathered here who have secret burdens and long-standing wounds, and who look to you still, in hope.

Lord in your mercy,

Hear our Prayer.

In the face of abandonment, crucifixion and death, may we find grace to trust you, even when resurrection appears a distant and poorly understood hope.

Lord in your mercy,

Hear our prayer.

Reflection: The great challenge of our time is to learn to read ourselves into the text: Who are we in this story? Where are we most likely to be found? There isn’t a place in the story which gives us a sense of self-satisfaction, or comfort; a sense of righteousness and hope. At best, like the disciples, we just aren’t there – we abandon the one we profess at the critical moment. At worst, we join in the shout ‘crucify!’

Oddly, the beginning lies in finding this place – in knowing who we are when the ways of God unfold as we least expect. When our hopes are shattered, or when they are fulfilled according to a foreign plan. We leave Good Friday with a crucified Messiah, and a buried hope. Where do we turn, and what do we find out about ourselves – and God – when we tarry here. when we experience the vacuum which is Holy Saturday. before the resurrection allows us to absolve ourselves before we have even found ourselves.

Song The Servant King

– Rev Gary Heard

The Eighth Day (A Baptist Community)

4 Miller Street West Melbourne 3003 AUSTRALIA

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