GOOD FRIDAY OF HOLY WEEK | 3-29-24
St. Peter’s Evangelical Lutheran Church
GOOD FRIDAY OF HOLY WEEK
03-29-2024 7:00PM “Hybrid” Worship
The Seven Last Words. Dying on the cross, Jesus uttered some final words that are recorded in the gospels. Not one of the four gospels has all of these final words of Jesus, and the Bible does not designate the order in which these words were spoken. So it is a Christian tradition that has been passed on through the generations to us…a tradition that assists us in our meditation on the divine mystery of the sacrificial death of Jesus. To the mystery of undeserved suffering Jesus brings the deeper mystery of unmerited love.
THE OPENING RITE:
L On this most sacred night, we gather to remember.
C We remember the journey of Jesus to the cross.
We remember the greatest sacrifice of love.
We remember the price Jesus paid for our salvation.
And we remember our own sinfulness.
L We gather to face the truth of our own betraying, deserting, denying, and crucifying ways.
C We have known failure and defeat.
We have faced weakness and temptation.
We have felt alone and forgotten.
And we admit our guilt and our shame at not being faithful.
L We gather in gratitude for love we have neither deserved nor earned.
C Thank you, God, for your amazing grace and mercy!
Thank you, God, for the life of Jesus!
Thank you, God, for his death and his resurrection!
And thank you for new life and second chances!
L We ask you to deliver us from our sinning and our dying both during and at the end of our living on this earth.
C And we pray that neither future, nor sin, nor death, nor anything else will ever separate us from your love. Amen.
OPENING SONG: “At Calvary” Tan #246, all 4 verses
+ The First Word: “Forgiveness” (Luke 23:32-35) +
Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. When they came to the place called The Skull, there they crucified him, along with the criminals – one on his right, the other on his left. Jesus said, “FATHER, FORGIVE THEM, FOR THEY DO NOT KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots. The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One.”
THE MEDITATION: Ida Swindle
SONG: “Were You There?” Tan #254, verses 1+2
+ The Second Word: “Promise” (Luke 23:39-43) +
One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!”
But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
Jesus answered him, “I TELL YOU THE TRUTH, TODAY YOU WILL BE WITH ME IN PARADISE.”
THE MEDITATION: Kennedy Mathis
SONG: “Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross” Tan #252, verses 1+2
+ The Third Word: “Concern” (John 19:25-27) +
Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. When Jesus saw his mother there and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “DEAR WOMAN, HERE IS YOUR SON,” and to the disciple, “HERE IS YOUR MOTHER.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.
THE MEDITATION: Judy Echols
SONG: “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” Tan #243, verses 1+2
+ The Fourth Word: “Despair” (Mark 15:33-34) +
At the sixth hour darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI?” – which means, “MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?”
When some of those standing near heard this, they said, “Listen, he’s calling Elijah.”
THE MEDITATION: Pastor Robert Holum
SONG SELECTION: “To the Cross” Babbie Mason
+ The Fifth Word: “Suffering” (John 19:28-29) +
Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I AM THIRSTY.” A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put it on a stick of hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips.
THE MEDITATION: Stephanie Fluellen
SONG: “At the Cross” Tan #264, verses 1+2
+ The Sixth Word: “Victory” (John 19:30) +
When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “IT IS FINISHED.”
THE MEDITATION: Timyk Hillsman
SONG: “Down at the Cross” Tan #248, verses 1+2
+ The Seventh Word: “Surrender” (Luke 23:45-46) +
The sun stopped shining and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Jesus called out with a loud voice, “FATHER, INTO YOUR HANDS I COMMIT MY SPIRIT.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.
THE MEDITATION: Veronica Britto
SONG: “Calvary” Tan #239, verses 1+2
SILENT REFLECTION…
CLOSING RITE: Pastor Neil
L God forbid that I should glory,
C except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,
L through whom the world is crucified to me,
C and I to the world.
L We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you:
C By your cross you have redeemed the world. Amen.
[There is no Benediction, no Closing Song. All may leave quietly.]