Holy Week 2022 - Good Friday

by Rev Jacky Quarmby 15 April 2022

Welcome to our Good Friday service. You may find it helpful to have a bible to hand.

Music:  Taize  -  Stay here and keep watch with me

A beautiful garden with all the scents and sounds of evening.  A group of friends gathered to pray.  It should have been so peaceful  - but this garden is a place of tears  - a place where tired men lose heart and fall asleep  -  a place where one man faces the horror of his own death  - and faces it alone.  

Only one stays awake  -  only one keeps watch  -  only one hears the murmur of angry voices as the crowd approaches.  

And this one, Jesus, returns to his sleeping disciples, rousing them with the news they were all dreading to hear   "Look the hour is near, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.  Rise let us go, here comes my betrayer!"

Opening Prayer
Gracious and eternal God,
Look with mercy on this your family for which our Lord Jesus Christ  was content to be betrayed, given up into the hands of sinners  and to suffer death upon the cross.

As we relive the events of this day we tread with awe the holy ground of Calvary: this place of abandonment that has become  the scene of our adoration, this place of suffering that has become the source of our peace, this place of violence that has become the battlefield on which love is victorious.

Loving God, may we never forget all that your Son has done for us.  Amen

Song: When the music fades

Jesus was arrested - betrayed by Judas, a man he had known and spent time with for three years - a man who was meant to be his friend.  Lucky for Jesus, the other eleven disciples were more reliable.  Or were they?

Jesus was taken to the house of the high priest.  The chief priests and the whole religious council were looking for evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death.  

 

After being taken to Pilate and then to Herod, Jesus was finally brought back to Pilate.  Now Pilate realized that Jesus was innocent, and as it was the governor’s custom at the festival to release a prisoner chosen by the crowd, Pilate asked if he should release Jesus.

Prayers of Confession
There have been times Lord when we have betrayed you like Judas
Lord have mercy Christ have mercy

There have been times Lord when we have disowned you like Peter
Lord have mercy Christ have mercy

There have been times Lord when we have washed our hands of you like Pilate
Lord have mercy Christ have mercy

There have been times Lord when we have turned against you like the crowd
Lord have mercy Christ have mercy

Lord, forgive us and set us free from all that is  stopping us from following you. For we ask this in your name, Amen

Song:  Jesus Christ, I think upon your sacrifice

Music:  The Messiah:  Behold the lamb of God

Hymn:  When I survey the wondrous cross

Wherever there has been suffering through the centuries, the cry has gone up, "Where now is the God whom we trusted?".  And the answer that comes from the cross is, "God is here, alongside the victim, sharing the agony of each blow."

When the terrified thieves faced a ghastly death, God agonised.

When Jesus felt utterly forsaken, God wept

and at this moment, wherever there is pain in the world, God is sharing it. That is why we can come to God in trust - knowing that he will hear our prayers.

 

Prayers of Intercession and Lord's Prayer
Jesus died because of the weakness of those in government.
We pray for those in government today.
Govern the hearts and minds of all those in authority, and bring the families of the nations, divided and torn apart by the ravages of sin, to be subject to Christ's just and gentle rule.
Lord in your mercy Hear our prayer

Jesus died because of the scheming of religious leaders and the fear of those religious people who did not want to change.
We pray for those who lead the church today that in their vocation and ministry they may serve you in holiness and truth.  And we pray for all members of the body of Christ, that we may be bold in witnessing to your love, open to the leadings of your Holy Spirit and faithful in our service to you and to one another.
Lord in your mercy Hear our prayer  

Jesus hung on a cross and suffered unimaginable pain.
We pray for all who are in pain today.  For the victims of violence, injustice and abuse, for the lonely, the rejected and those without hope, for those who are sick and those who are dying. We remember any known to us…

Loving God, so close to these brothers and sisters for whom we pray, may they find you in their pain, within their fear and sharing their sadness; and finding you may they find healing for their hurt, love for their fear and peace for their distress.
Lord in your mercy Hear our prayer

Jesus' family and friends had to face life without him.  
We pray for all those who are bereaved and suffering from the loss of a loved one. God of all comfort, in the midst of their pain and loss, heal them with your love; in the darkness of their sorrow, fill them with the hope of new life.
Lord in your mercy Hear our prayer

The Lord's Prayer

Hymn:  Lift high the cross

Final prayers 
Almighty God,
whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain and entered not  into glory before he was crucified: grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find it to be the way of life and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord.   Amen

Blessing
May you know healing through the wounds of Christ
Freedom through the suffering of Christ
Victory through the cross of Christ.
And the blessing of God Almighty,
The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit
Be with you all, now and forever more.  Amen