Good Friday Home Liturgy - 2021
Featuring the celebrated poetry of Malcome Guite, this Good Friday service invites you on a journey through Holy Week via the Stations of the Cross. You are welcome to go through this service individually or as a family. Below are some suggestions for entering into this worship service:
Please Note: This service will take anywhere from 45-60 minutes. Find a time in your day when you can set aside this amount of time to be free from distraction and able to sink deeply into this Holy Week experience.
If you are worshipping as a family, choose leaders to read different sections (i.e. prayers, Scriptures, poems)
I will provide a recording of each hymn, so just press play and sing along with the lyrics below the media bar. If you are viewing this service on a phone, press “listen in browser” when playing each song.
If you have 9 candles, you can start the service with all 9 candles lit. Then, after the sonnet of each Station, you can extinguish one candle. At the conclusion of the service, all of the candles will be blown out. This will help you journey through the Stations in a tactile way.
WELCOME FROM PASTOR SCOTT
CALL TO WORSHIP (from Psalm 118)
One: Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the LORD.
All: This is the LORD's gate; the righteous shall enter through it.
One: I will give thanks because you have answered me. You have become my salvation.
All: The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.
One: This has come from the LORD.
All: It is marvelous in our eyes.
One: Please, save us, O LORD! Please!
All: O LORD, please bring success!
One: Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD.
All: We bless you from the house of the LORD.
Station no. 1
Jesus Is Condemned to Death
PRAYER
One: Holy Father, you gave your only begotten Son to become one of us, to stand in our place and be condemned for us: grant that we who are in him may now journey by faith into his glorious death; through Jesus Christ your Son, our Lord. Amen.
SCRIPTURE READING – John 19:1-3, 5 (NRSV)
Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. And the soldiers wove a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they dressed him in a purple robe. They kept coming up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and striking him on the face. So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!”
SONNET
The very air that Pilate breathes, the voice
With which he speaks in judgement, all his powers
Of perception and discrimination, choice
Decision, all his years, his days and hours,
His consciousness of self, his every sense,
Are given by this prisoner, freely given.
The man who stands there making no defense,
Is God. His hands are tied, his heart is open.
And he bears Pilate’s heart in his and feels
That crushing weight of wasted life. He lifts
It up in silent love. He lifts and heals.
He gives himself again with all his gifts
Into our hands. As Pilate turns away
A door swings open. This is judgement day.
SMASHING IDOLS THROUGH PAIN
a short video by theologian Barbara Brown Taylor
Station no. 2
Jesus Is Given His Cross
PRAYER
Most merciful God, whose Son came to be the light to shine in the darkness: shine forth in our hearts and dispel the darkness within us so that we might not join those who turn their hearts from the light of truth; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
SCRIPTURE READING – John 19:15-17 (NRSV)
They cried out, “Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him!” Pilate asked them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but the emperor.” Then he handed him over to them to be crucified.
So they took Jesus; and carrying the cross by himself, he went out to what is called The Place of the Skull, which in Hebrew is called Golgotha.
SONNET
He gives himself again with all his gifts
And now we give him something in return.
He gave the earth that bears, the air that lifts,
Water to cleanse and cool, fire to burn,
And from these elements he forged the iron,
From strands of his life he wove the growing wood,
He made the stones that pave the roads of Zion,
He saw it all and saw that it is good.
We took his iron to edge an axe’s blade,
We took the axe and laid it to the tree,
We made a cross of all that he has made,
And laid it on the one who made us free.
Now he receives again and lifts on high
The gifts he gave and we have turned awry.
SONG – O Sacred Head, Now Wounded (vs 1)
All Sing:
O sacred Head, now wounded,
with grief and shame weighed down;
now scornfully surrounded
with thorns, thine only crown;
O sacred Head, what glory,
what bliss 'til now was thine!
Yet, though despised and gory,
I joy to call thee mine.
Station no. 3
Jesus Meets His Mother
PRAYER
Heavenly Father, you who chose Mary to be your bondslave and bring forth the Savior of the world: grant that we, like Mary, might share in his passion so that we might rejoice with her in his glorious resurrection; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
SCRIPTURE READING – Luke 1:46-55 (NRSV)
And Mary said,
“My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name.
His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly;
he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy,
according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”
SONNET
This darker path into the heart of pain
Was also hers whose love enfolded him
In flesh and wove him in her womb. Again
The sword is piercing. She, who cradled him
And gentled and protected her young son,
Must stand and watch the cruelty that mars
Her maiden making. Waves of pain that stun
And sicken pass across his face and hers
As their eyes meet. Now she enfolds the world
He loves in prayer; the mothers of the disappeared
Who know her pain, all bodies bowed and curled
In desperation on this road of tears,
All the grief-stricken in their last despair,
Are folded in the mantle of her prayer.
SONG – What Wondrous Love Is This (vs 1,2)
All Sing:
What wondrous love is this, O my soul, O my soul,
what wondrous love is this, O my soul!
What wondrous love is this that caused the Lord of bliss
to bear the dreadful curse for my soul, for my soul,
to bear the dreadful curse for my soul!
When I was sinking down, sinking down, sinking down,
when I was sinking down, sinking down;
when I was sinking down beneath God's righteous frown,
Christ laid aside his crown for my soul, for my soul,
Christ laid aside his crown for my soul!
Station no. 4
Simon of Cyrene Carries the Cross
PRAYER
Lord Jesus Christ, you who came not to be served but to serve, you gladly gave your life over to suffering and death for us: give us the grace to follow in your way, to live lives of self-sacrifice for those who suffer and are in need; grant this through the power of the Holy Spirit, we pray. Amen.
SCRIPTURE READING – Luke 23:26; Matthew 11:28-30 (NRSV)
As they led him away, they seized a man, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming from the country, and they laid the cross on him, and made him carry it behind Jesus.
“Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
SONNET
In desperation on this road of tears
Bystanders and bypassers turn away.
In other’s pain we face our own worst fears
And turn our backs to keep those fears at bay,
Unless we are compelled as this man was
By force of arms or force of circumstance
To face and feel and carry someone’s cross
In Love’s full glare and not his backward glance.
So, Simon, no disciple, still fulfilled
The calling: ‘Take the cross and follow me.’
By accident his life was stalled and stilled,
Becoming all he was compelled to be.
Make me, like him, your pressed man and your priest,
Your alter Christus, burdened and released.
MUSICAL REFLECTION
During this song you are invited to close your eyes, listen to the music, and reflect on the words of the Scripture and Sonnet above.
Station no. 5
Jesus Meets the Women of Jerusalem
PRAYER
Holy Spirit of life everlasting, you who bring us the benefits of salvation purchased by Jesus, the Christ; turn our mourning into rejoicing that we, having suffered with Christ, may be raised in newness of life with him; through Jesus, our Lord. Amen.
SCRIPTURE READING – Luke 23:27-28 (NRSV)
A great number of the people followed him, and among them were women who were beating their breasts and wailing for him. But Jesus turned to them and said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.
SONNET
He falls and stumbles with us, hurt again,
But still he holds the road and looks in love
On all of us who look on him. Our pain
As close to him as his. These women move
Compassion in him as he does in them.
He asks us both to weep and not to weep.
Women of Gaza and Jerusalem,
Women of every nation where the deep
Wounds of memory divide the land
And lives of all your children, where the mines
Of all our wars are sown: Afghanistan,
Iraq, the Cote d’Ivoire...he reads the signs
And weeps with you, and with you he will stay
Until the day he wipes your tears away.
SONG – When I Survey the Wondrous Cross (vs. 1,3)
All Sing:
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.
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?
Station no. 6
Jesus Falls the Third Time
PRAYER
Lord Jesus Christ, you who humbled yourself on earth for our sake and are now seated at the right hand of the Father: grant that we be so moved by your compassion for us that we might not only believe in you, but that we might emulate your humility and participate in your suffering; who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen.
SCRIPTURE READING – Isaiah 53:7-9 (NRSV)
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth;
Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.
By a perversion of justice he was taken away. Who could have imagined his future?
For he was cut off from the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people.
They made his grave with the wicked and his tomb with the rich,
although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.
SONNET
He weeps with you and with you he will stay
When all your staying power has run out;
You can’t go on, you go on anyway.
He stumbles just beside you when the doubt
That always haunts you cuts you down at last
And takes away the hope that drove you on.
This is the third fall and it hurts the worst,
This long descent through darkness to depression
From which there seems no rising and no will
To rise, or breathe or bear your own heartbeat.
Twice you survived; this third will surely kill,
And you can almost wish for that defeat
Except that in the cold hell where you freeze
You find your God beside you on his knees.
SONG – Ah, Holy Jesus (vs 1-3)
All Sing:
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.
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.
Station no. 7
Jesus Is Stripped of His Garments
PRAYER
Most blessed Jesus, you who knew no sin was made sin for us, that we might be made righteous: give us the grace of your salvation, that being made one in you we might rejoice in your suffering and await with hope your glorious resurrection; who lives and reigns forever and ever. Amen.
SCRIPTURE READING – Luke 23:32-38 (NRSV)
Two others also, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. [[Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”]] And they cast lots to divide his clothing. And the people stood by, watching; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!” The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.”
SONNET
You can’t go on, you go on anyway.
He goes with you, his cradle to your grave.
Now is the time to loosen, cast away
The useless weight of everything but love.
For he began his letting go before,
Before the worlds for which he dies were made,
Emptied himself, became one of the poor,
To make you rich in him and unafraid.
See, as they strip the robe from off his back
They strip away your own defenses too,
Now you could lose it all and never lack,
Now you can see what naked love can do.
Let go these bonds beneath whose weight you bow,
His stripping strips you both for action now.
SONG – Go to Dark GethsemAne (vs. 1)
All Sing:
Go to dark Gethsemane,
You who feel the tempter's pow'r;
Your Redeemer's conflict see;
Watch with Him one bitter hour;
Turn not from His griefs away;
Learn of Jesus Christ to pray.
Station no. 8
Jesus Is Nailed to the Cross
PRAYER
Almighty and everlasting God, because of your love and mercy you choose to lay upon your only Son the iniquity of us all: turn us, dear one, from the iniquity of our ways, from our oppression of others, and from the love of evil; that we may die to sin through Jesus, your Son. Amen.
SCRIPTURE – Isaiah 53:10-12 (NRSV)
Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him with pain. When you make his life an offering for sin,
he shall see his offspring, and shall prolong his days; through him the will of the Lord shall prosper.
Out of his anguish he shall see light; he shall find satisfaction through his knowledge.
The righteous one, my servant, shall make many righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore I will allot him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong;
because he poured out himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
SONNET
See, as they strip the robe from off his back
And spread his arms and nail them to the cross,
The dark nails pierce him and the sky turns black,
And love is firmly fastened on to loss.
But here a pure change happens. On this tree
Loss becomes gain, death opens into birth.
Here wounding heals and fastening makes free,
Earth breathes in heaven, heaven roots in earth.
And here we see the length, the breadth, the height,
Where love and hatred meet and love stays true,
Where sin meets grace and darkness turns to light,
We see what love can bear and be and do.
And here our Savior calls us to his side,
His love is free, his arms are open wide.
CHORAL ANTHEM
“Ave Verum Corpus”. . . . . . words: Traditional 14th Century; music: W.A. Mozart
Sung by the Westminster Choral Scholars
Station no. 9
Jesus Dies on the Cross
PRAYER
O Jesus, you who are one of us, you who participated in the joys and sorrows of human existence, you who went to death for us: take our hate and greed, our self-centeredness and rebellion to the cross with you, and by the power of the Holy Spirit release us from the death that grips our lives; we pray this for the sake of your glorious name. Amen.
SCRIPTURE – Luke 23:44-46 (NRSV)
It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, while the sun’s light failed; and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” Having said this, he breathed his last.
SONNET
The dark nails pierce him and the sky turns black,
We watch him as he labours to draw breath.
He takes our breath away to give it back,
Return it to its birth through his slow death.
We hear him struggle, breathing through the pain,
Who once breathed out his spirit on the deep,
Who formed us when he mixed the dust with rain
And drew us into consciousness from sleep.
His Spirit and his life he breathes in all,
Mantles his world in his one atmosphere,
And now he comes to breathe beneath the pall
Of our pollutions, draw our injured air
To cleanse it and renew. His final breath
Breathes and bears us through the gates of death.
[observe a few minutes of silence]
Notes:
1. This is a Reverse-Tenebrae service, so in the beginning of the service the sanctuary (or home) will be fully lit and there will be nine lit candles on the Table. After each Sonnet reading, a light will be extinguished.
3. During the Prayer, Scripture Reading, and Sonnet of each Station, there will be displayed on the screens stations of the cross from from the church of Notre Dame Des Champs in Normandy, France. All of the images can be found here: https://pbase.com/spdavis/stations_of_the_cross
4. The Sonnets all are from Malcom Guite’s book “Sounding the Seasons” Seventy Sonnets for the Christian Year”. To purchase a copy click HERE
5. The prayers for each station are from the following resource from Reformed Worhsip: https://www.reformedworship.org/article/december-1996/way-suffering-revisiting-stations-cross
6. The excerpt from Mendelssohn’s “Songs Without Words” was played by Juli Bey, organist/pianist at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Des Moines, IA
