Liturgy for Good Friday
3pm, April 18th, 2025
Rector: The Rev’d Nicole Uzans
Rector: The Rev’d Nicole Uzans
Introduction, the Rev. Nicole Uzans
Including a reading of “Because We Love, We Cry” by Sheree Fitch
Hymn: #190 Go to Dark Gethsemane
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.
Follow to the judgement hall;
view the Lord of life arraigned.
O the wormwood and gall!
O the grief his souls sustained!
Shun not suffering, shame, or loss;
learn of him to bear the cross.
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.
The Collect of the Day:
Let us pray.
Almighty God, look graciously, we pray, on this your family, for whom our Lord Jesus Christ was
willing to be betrayed and given into the hands of sinners, and to suffer death on the cross; who
now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Responsive Reading: Isaiah 52:13-53:8
See, my servant shall prosper; he shall be exalted and lifted up and shall be very high. Just as there
were many who were astonished at him--so marred was his appearance, beyond human semblance,
and his form beyond that of mortals—so he shall startle many nations; kings shall shut their mouths
because of him, for that which had not been told them they shall see, and that which they had not
heard they shall contemplate.
Who has believed what we have heard?
And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
For he grew up before him like a young plant and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or
majesty that we should look at him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by others; a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity, and as
one from whom others hide their faces he was despised, and we held him of no account.
Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases, yet we accounted him stricken, struck
down by God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment
that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned to our own way, and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
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.
Anthem: Into the Woods My Master Went (John Purifoy; text by Sydney Lanier)
Into the woods my Master went, clean forspent, forspent.
Into the woods my Master came, forspent with love and shame.
But the olives they were not blind to Him,
the little gray leaves were kind to Him.
The thorn tree had a mind to him, when into the woods He came.
‘Tis midnight and on Olive’s brow the star is dimmed that lately shone.
‘Tis midnight in the garden now, the Saviour prays alone.
‘Tis midnight and for others’ guilt the Saviour weeps in blood.
Yet He that hath in anguish knelt is not forsaken by God.
‘Tis midnight and from heavn’ly plains
is borne the song that angels know.
Unheard by mortals are the strains that soothe the Saviour’s woe.
Out of the woods my Master went, and He was well content.
Out of the woods my Master came, content with death and shame.
When death and shame would woo Him last,
from under the trees they drew Him last.
‘Twas on a tree they slew him last, when out of the woods he came.
The Passion Gospel according to John
following each reading, a candle is extinguished
First Reading – John 17:25-18:9
The arrest in the garden
Second Reading – John 18:10-27
Peter’s denial
Third Reading – John 18:28-19:5
Jesus’ trial
Fourth Reading – John 19:6-18
The people cry for crucifixion
Hymn: #198, O Sacred Head, Surrounded
O sacred head surrounded by crown of piercing thorn;
O royal head so wounded, reviled, and put to scorn:
death's shadows rise before you, the glow of life decays,
yet angel hosts adore you and tremble as they gaze!
Your youthfulness and vigour are spent, your strength is gone,
and in your tortured figure I see death drawing on:
what agony of dying, what love, to sinners free!
My Lord, all grace supplying, O turn your face on me!
Your sinless soul's oppression was all for sinners' gain;
mine, mine was the transgression, but yours the deadly pain:
I bow my head, my Saviour, for I deserve your place;
O grant to me your favour, and heal me by your grace.
What language shall I borrow to thank you, dearest Friend,
for this your dying sorrow, your mercy without end?
Lord, make me yours for ever: your servant let me be;
and may I never, never betray your love for me.
The Passion Gospel according to John
continued
Fifth Reading – John 19:19-27
Jesus is stripped
Sixth Reading – John 19:28-42
Jesus dies
Anthem: excerpt from Stabat Mater (G. B. Pergolesi)
Confession:
O Christ, we are stripped bare by your suffering. Your death by human hands reveals our weakness
and compromise in the face of evil both within and without us. From the cross, you see us as we are.
And yet, you offer forgiveness for all that we have done.
We confess we have failed you, as did your first disciples.
We ask for your mercy and your help.
When we take our ease rather than watch with you:
Lord, forgive us.
Christ have mercy.
When we bestow a kiss of peace yet nurse enmity in our hearts:
Lord, forgive us.
Christ have mercy.
When we strike at those who hurt us rather than stretch out our hands to bless:
Lord, forgive us.
Christ have mercy.
When we deny that we know you for fear of the world and its scorn:
Lord, forgive us.
Christ have mercy.
Kyrie Eleison: from the Kilcreggan Mass by Peter Nardone
Lord, have mercy. Lord have mercy.
Christ, have mercy. Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy. Lord have mercy.
Absolution:
We have turned our hearts to God in repentance and our sins are laid bare before the cross of Jesus
Christ. In the name of the living God, your sins are forgiven. Take hold of this forgiveness and live
your life in the Spirit of Jesus. Amen.
Anthem: Words from the Cross (Joanna Forbes L’Estrange)
Prayers of Intercession
To the invitation, “God of mercy,” please respond, “hear our prayer.”
The Lord's Prayer
And now, as our Saviour Christ has taught us, we are bold to pray,
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on
earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we
forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.
Closing Hymn: #192, Were You There (vv. 1, 2, 4, 5)
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Oh! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble:
were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?
Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?
Oh! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble:
were you there when they nailed him to the tree?
Were you there when the sun refused to shine?
Were you there when the sun refused to shine?
Oh! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble:
were you there when the sun refused to shine?
Were you there when they laid him in the tomb?
Were you there when they laid him in the tomb?
Oh! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble:
were you there when they laid him in the tomb?
Closing Prayer:
A Good Friday blessing in the midday night (Kate Bowler)
O dear God,
we’re in darker places
than we’ve ever known.
God, light the way
for this whole sad earth,
for the helpless ones,
and for me.
God have mercy.
Christ have mercy.
Spirit have mercy.
Night has fallen
on the light of the world
and betrayal seems
the order of the day.
Love itself is handed over
to brutal ignorance
and cunning that loves the dark.
O God,
you chose to feel what we feel--
how it is to die totally alone,
ghastly to behold
in your outstretched
arms of the cross.
Are you gathering to yourself
every hideous thing?
Every failure,
travesty, and wrong?
Blessed are we
who shout: yes! do it!
turn things right side up again!
Blessed are we
who bow and wait
for the morning of the world.
The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness
has not overcome it.
God have mercy.
Christ have mercy.
Spirit have mercy.
May we open our hands
and receive it–
love that comes
gently as the dawn.
Including a reading of “Because We Love, We Cry” by Sheree Fitch
Hymn: #190 Go to Dark Gethsemane
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.
Follow to the judgement hall;
view the Lord of life arraigned.
O the wormwood and gall!
O the grief his souls sustained!
Shun not suffering, shame, or loss;
learn of him to bear the cross.
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.
The Collect of the Day:
Let us pray.
Almighty God, look graciously, we pray, on this your family, for whom our Lord Jesus Christ was
willing to be betrayed and given into the hands of sinners, and to suffer death on the cross; who
now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Responsive Reading: Isaiah 52:13-53:8
See, my servant shall prosper; he shall be exalted and lifted up and shall be very high. Just as there
were many who were astonished at him--so marred was his appearance, beyond human semblance,
and his form beyond that of mortals—so he shall startle many nations; kings shall shut their mouths
because of him, for that which had not been told them they shall see, and that which they had not
heard they shall contemplate.
Who has believed what we have heard?
And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
For he grew up before him like a young plant and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or
majesty that we should look at him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by others; a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity, and as
one from whom others hide their faces he was despised, and we held him of no account.
Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases, yet we accounted him stricken, struck
down by God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment
that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned to our own way, and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
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.
Anthem: Into the Woods My Master Went (John Purifoy; text by Sydney Lanier)
Into the woods my Master went, clean forspent, forspent.
Into the woods my Master came, forspent with love and shame.
But the olives they were not blind to Him,
the little gray leaves were kind to Him.
The thorn tree had a mind to him, when into the woods He came.
‘Tis midnight and on Olive’s brow the star is dimmed that lately shone.
‘Tis midnight in the garden now, the Saviour prays alone.
‘Tis midnight and for others’ guilt the Saviour weeps in blood.
Yet He that hath in anguish knelt is not forsaken by God.
‘Tis midnight and from heavn’ly plains
is borne the song that angels know.
Unheard by mortals are the strains that soothe the Saviour’s woe.
Out of the woods my Master went, and He was well content.
Out of the woods my Master came, content with death and shame.
When death and shame would woo Him last,
from under the trees they drew Him last.
‘Twas on a tree they slew him last, when out of the woods he came.
The Passion Gospel according to John
following each reading, a candle is extinguished
First Reading – John 17:25-18:9
The arrest in the garden
Second Reading – John 18:10-27
Peter’s denial
Third Reading – John 18:28-19:5
Jesus’ trial
Fourth Reading – John 19:6-18
The people cry for crucifixion
Hymn: #198, O Sacred Head, Surrounded
O sacred head surrounded by crown of piercing thorn;
O royal head so wounded, reviled, and put to scorn:
death's shadows rise before you, the glow of life decays,
yet angel hosts adore you and tremble as they gaze!
Your youthfulness and vigour are spent, your strength is gone,
and in your tortured figure I see death drawing on:
what agony of dying, what love, to sinners free!
My Lord, all grace supplying, O turn your face on me!
Your sinless soul's oppression was all for sinners' gain;
mine, mine was the transgression, but yours the deadly pain:
I bow my head, my Saviour, for I deserve your place;
O grant to me your favour, and heal me by your grace.
What language shall I borrow to thank you, dearest Friend,
for this your dying sorrow, your mercy without end?
Lord, make me yours for ever: your servant let me be;
and may I never, never betray your love for me.
The Passion Gospel according to John
continued
Fifth Reading – John 19:19-27
Jesus is stripped
Sixth Reading – John 19:28-42
Jesus dies
Anthem: excerpt from Stabat Mater (G. B. Pergolesi)
Confession:
O Christ, we are stripped bare by your suffering. Your death by human hands reveals our weakness
and compromise in the face of evil both within and without us. From the cross, you see us as we are.
And yet, you offer forgiveness for all that we have done.
We confess we have failed you, as did your first disciples.
We ask for your mercy and your help.
When we take our ease rather than watch with you:
Lord, forgive us.
Christ have mercy.
When we bestow a kiss of peace yet nurse enmity in our hearts:
Lord, forgive us.
Christ have mercy.
When we strike at those who hurt us rather than stretch out our hands to bless:
Lord, forgive us.
Christ have mercy.
When we deny that we know you for fear of the world and its scorn:
Lord, forgive us.
Christ have mercy.
Kyrie Eleison: from the Kilcreggan Mass by Peter Nardone
Lord, have mercy. Lord have mercy.
Christ, have mercy. Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy. Lord have mercy.
Absolution:
We have turned our hearts to God in repentance and our sins are laid bare before the cross of Jesus
Christ. In the name of the living God, your sins are forgiven. Take hold of this forgiveness and live
your life in the Spirit of Jesus. Amen.
Anthem: Words from the Cross (Joanna Forbes L’Estrange)
Prayers of Intercession
To the invitation, “God of mercy,” please respond, “hear our prayer.”
The Lord's Prayer
And now, as our Saviour Christ has taught us, we are bold to pray,
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on
earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we
forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.
Closing Hymn: #192, Were You There (vv. 1, 2, 4, 5)
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Oh! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble:
were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?
Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?
Oh! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble:
were you there when they nailed him to the tree?
Were you there when the sun refused to shine?
Were you there when the sun refused to shine?
Oh! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble:
were you there when the sun refused to shine?
Were you there when they laid him in the tomb?
Were you there when they laid him in the tomb?
Oh! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble:
were you there when they laid him in the tomb?
Closing Prayer:
A Good Friday blessing in the midday night (Kate Bowler)
O dear God,
we’re in darker places
than we’ve ever known.
God, light the way
for this whole sad earth,
for the helpless ones,
and for me.
God have mercy.
Christ have mercy.
Spirit have mercy.
Night has fallen
on the light of the world
and betrayal seems
the order of the day.
Love itself is handed over
to brutal ignorance
and cunning that loves the dark.
O God,
you chose to feel what we feel--
how it is to die totally alone,
ghastly to behold
in your outstretched
arms of the cross.
Are you gathering to yourself
every hideous thing?
Every failure,
travesty, and wrong?
Blessed are we
who shout: yes! do it!
turn things right side up again!
Blessed are we
who bow and wait
for the morning of the world.
The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness
has not overcome it.
God have mercy.
Christ have mercy.
Spirit have mercy.
May we open our hands
and receive it–
love that comes
gently as the dawn.
Introduction, the Rev. Nicole Uzans
Including a reading of “Because We Love, We Cry” by Sheree Fitch
Hymn:
#190 Go to Dark Gethsemane
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.
Follow to the judgement hall;
view the Lord of life arraigned.
O the wormwood and gall!
O the grief his souls sustained!
Shun not suffering, shame, or loss;
learn of him to bear the cross.
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.
The Collect of the Day:
Let us pray.
Almighty God, look graciously, we pray, on this your family, for whom our Lord Jesus Christ was willing to be betrayed and given into the hands of sinners, and to suffer death on the cross; who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Responsive Reading:
Isaiah 52:13-53:8
See, my servant shall prosper; he shall be exalted and lifted up and shall be very high. Just as there were many who were astonished at him--so marred was his appearance, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of mortals—so he shall startle many nations; kings shall shut their mouths because of him, for that which had not been told them they shall see, and that which they had not heard they shall contemplate.
Who has believed what we have heard? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
For he grew up before him like a young plant and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by others; a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity, and as one from whom others hide their faces he was despised, and we held him of no account.
Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases, yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned to our own way, and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
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.
Anthem:
Into the Woods My Master Went (John Purifoy; text by Sydney Lanier)
Into the woods my Master went,
clean forspent, forspent.
Into the woods my Master came,
forspent with love and shame.
But the olives they were not blind to Him,
the little gray leaves were kind to Him.
The thorn tree had a mind to him,
when into the woods He came.
‘Tis midnight and on Olive’s brow
the star is dimmed that lately shone.
‘Tis midnight in the garden now,
the Saviour prays alone.
‘Tis midnight and for others’ guilt
the Saviour weeps in blood.
Yet He that hath in anguish knelt
is not forsaken by God.
‘Tis midnight and from heavn’ly plains
is borne the song that angels know.
Unheard by mortals are the strains
that soothe the Saviour’s woe.
Out of the woods my Master went,
and He was well content.
Out of the woods my Master came,
content with death and shame.
When death and shame would woo Him last,
from under the trees they drew Him last.
‘Twas on a tree they slew him last,
when out of the woods he came.
The Passion Gospel according to John
following each reading, a candle is extinguished
First Reading – John 17:25-18:9
The arrest in the garden
Second Reading – John 18:10-27
Peter’s denial
Third Reading – John 18:28-19:5
Jesus’ trial
Fourth Reading – John 19:6-18
The people cry for crucifixion
Hymn:
#198, O Sacred Head, Surrounded
O sacred head surrounded
by crown of piercing thorn;
O royal head so wounded,
reviled, and put to scorn:
death's shadows rise before you,
the glow of life decays,
yet angel hosts adore you
and tremble as they gaze!
Your youthfulness and vigour
are spent, your strength is gone,
and in your tortured figure
I see death drawing on:
what agony of dying,
what love, to sinners free!
My Lord, all grace supplying,
O turn your face on me!
Your sinless soul's oppression
was all for sinners' gain;
mine, mine was the transgression,
but yours the deadly pain:
I bow my head, my Saviour,
for I deserve your place;
O grant to me your favour,
and heal me by your grace.
What language shall I borrow
to thank you, dearest Friend,
for this your dying sorrow,
your mercy without end?
Lord, make me yours for ever:
your servant let me be;
and may I never, never
betray your love for me.
The Passion Gospel according to John
continued
Fifth Reading – John 19:19-27
Jesus is stripped
Sixth Reading – John 19:28-42
Jesus dies
Anthem:
excerpt from Stabat Mater (G. B. Pergolesi)
Confession:
O Christ, we are stripped bare by your suffering. Your death by human hands reveals our weakness and compromise in the face of evil both within and without us. From the cross, you see us as we are. And yet, you offer forgiveness for all that we have done.
We confess we have failed you, as did your first disciples.
We ask for your mercy and your help.
When we take our ease rather than watch with you:
Lord, forgive us.
Christ have mercy.
When we bestow a kiss of peace yet nurse enmity in our hearts:
Lord, forgive us.
Christ have mercy.
When we strike at those who hurt us rather than stretch out our hands to bless:
Lord, forgive us.
Christ have mercy.
When we deny that we know you for fear of the world and its scorn:
Lord, forgive us.
Christ have mercy.
Kyrie Eleison:
from the Kilcreggan Mass by Peter Nardone
Lord, have mercy. Lord have mercy.
Christ, have mercy. Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy. Lord have mercy.
Absolution:
We have turned our hearts to God in repentance and our sins are laid bare before the cross of Jesus Christ. In the name of the living God, your sins are forgiven. Take hold of this forgiveness and live your life in the Spirit of Jesus. Amen.
Anthem: Words from the Cross (Joanna Forbes L’Estrange)
Prayers of Intercession
To the invitation, “God of mercy,” please respond, “hear our prayer.”
The Lord's Prayer
And now, as our Saviour Christ has taught us, we are bold to pray,
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.
Closing Hymn:
#192, Were You There (vv. 1, 2, 4, 5)
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Oh! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble:
were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?
Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?
Oh! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble:
were you there when they nailed him to the tree?
Were you there when the sun refused to shine?
Were you there when the sun refused to shine?
Oh! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble:
were you there when the sun refused to shine?
Were you there when they laid him in the tomb?
Were you there when they laid him in the tomb?
Oh! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble:
were you there when they laid him in the tomb?
Closing Prayer:
A Good Friday blessing in the midday night (Kate Bowler)
O dear God,
we’re in darker places
than we’ve ever known.
God, light the way
for this whole sad earth,
for the helpless ones,
and for me.
God have mercy.
Christ have mercy.
Spirit have mercy.
Night has fallen
on the light of the world
and betrayal seems
the order of the day.
Love itself is handed over
to brutal ignorance
and cunning that loves the dark.
O God,
you chose to feel what we feel--
how it is to die totally alone,
ghastly to behold
in your outstretched
arms of the cross.
Are you gathering to yourself
every hideous thing?
Every failure,
travesty, and wrong?
Blessed are we
who shout: yes! do it!
turn things right side up again!
Blessed are we
who bow and wait
for the morning of the world.
The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness
has not overcome it.
God have mercy.
Christ have mercy.
Spirit have mercy.
May we open our hands
and receive it–
love that comes
gently as the dawn.
Including a reading of “Because We Love, We Cry” by Sheree Fitch
Hymn:
#190 Go to Dark Gethsemane
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.
Follow to the judgement hall;
view the Lord of life arraigned.
O the wormwood and gall!
O the grief his souls sustained!
Shun not suffering, shame, or loss;
learn of him to bear the cross.
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.
The Collect of the Day:
Let us pray.
Almighty God, look graciously, we pray, on this your family, for whom our Lord Jesus Christ was willing to be betrayed and given into the hands of sinners, and to suffer death on the cross; who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Responsive Reading:
Isaiah 52:13-53:8
See, my servant shall prosper; he shall be exalted and lifted up and shall be very high. Just as there were many who were astonished at him--so marred was his appearance, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of mortals—so he shall startle many nations; kings shall shut their mouths because of him, for that which had not been told them they shall see, and that which they had not heard they shall contemplate.
Who has believed what we have heard? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
For he grew up before him like a young plant and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by others; a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity, and as one from whom others hide their faces he was despised, and we held him of no account.
Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases, yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned to our own way, and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
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.
Anthem:
Into the Woods My Master Went (John Purifoy; text by Sydney Lanier)
Into the woods my Master went,
clean forspent, forspent.
Into the woods my Master came,
forspent with love and shame.
But the olives they were not blind to Him,
the little gray leaves were kind to Him.
The thorn tree had a mind to him,
when into the woods He came.
‘Tis midnight and on Olive’s brow
the star is dimmed that lately shone.
‘Tis midnight in the garden now,
the Saviour prays alone.
‘Tis midnight and for others’ guilt
the Saviour weeps in blood.
Yet He that hath in anguish knelt
is not forsaken by God.
‘Tis midnight and from heavn’ly plains
is borne the song that angels know.
Unheard by mortals are the strains
that soothe the Saviour’s woe.
Out of the woods my Master went,
and He was well content.
Out of the woods my Master came,
content with death and shame.
When death and shame would woo Him last,
from under the trees they drew Him last.
‘Twas on a tree they slew him last,
when out of the woods he came.
The Passion Gospel according to John
following each reading, a candle is extinguished
First Reading – John 17:25-18:9
The arrest in the garden
Second Reading – John 18:10-27
Peter’s denial
Third Reading – John 18:28-19:5
Jesus’ trial
Fourth Reading – John 19:6-18
The people cry for crucifixion
Hymn:
#198, O Sacred Head, Surrounded
O sacred head surrounded
by crown of piercing thorn;
O royal head so wounded,
reviled, and put to scorn:
death's shadows rise before you,
the glow of life decays,
yet angel hosts adore you
and tremble as they gaze!
Your youthfulness and vigour
are spent, your strength is gone,
and in your tortured figure
I see death drawing on:
what agony of dying,
what love, to sinners free!
My Lord, all grace supplying,
O turn your face on me!
Your sinless soul's oppression
was all for sinners' gain;
mine, mine was the transgression,
but yours the deadly pain:
I bow my head, my Saviour,
for I deserve your place;
O grant to me your favour,
and heal me by your grace.
What language shall I borrow
to thank you, dearest Friend,
for this your dying sorrow,
your mercy without end?
Lord, make me yours for ever:
your servant let me be;
and may I never, never
betray your love for me.
The Passion Gospel according to John
continued
Fifth Reading – John 19:19-27
Jesus is stripped
Sixth Reading – John 19:28-42
Jesus dies
Anthem:
excerpt from Stabat Mater (G. B. Pergolesi)
Confession:
O Christ, we are stripped bare by your suffering. Your death by human hands reveals our weakness and compromise in the face of evil both within and without us. From the cross, you see us as we are. And yet, you offer forgiveness for all that we have done.
We confess we have failed you, as did your first disciples.
We ask for your mercy and your help.
When we take our ease rather than watch with you:
Lord, forgive us.
Christ have mercy.
When we bestow a kiss of peace yet nurse enmity in our hearts:
Lord, forgive us.
Christ have mercy.
When we strike at those who hurt us rather than stretch out our hands to bless:
Lord, forgive us.
Christ have mercy.
When we deny that we know you for fear of the world and its scorn:
Lord, forgive us.
Christ have mercy.
Kyrie Eleison:
from the Kilcreggan Mass by Peter Nardone
Lord, have mercy. Lord have mercy.
Christ, have mercy. Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy. Lord have mercy.
Absolution:
We have turned our hearts to God in repentance and our sins are laid bare before the cross of Jesus Christ. In the name of the living God, your sins are forgiven. Take hold of this forgiveness and live your life in the Spirit of Jesus. Amen.
Anthem: Words from the Cross (Joanna Forbes L’Estrange)
Prayers of Intercession
To the invitation, “God of mercy,” please respond, “hear our prayer.”
The Lord's Prayer
And now, as our Saviour Christ has taught us, we are bold to pray,
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.
Closing Hymn:
#192, Were You There (vv. 1, 2, 4, 5)
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Oh! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble:
were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?
Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?
Oh! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble:
were you there when they nailed him to the tree?
Were you there when the sun refused to shine?
Were you there when the sun refused to shine?
Oh! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble:
were you there when the sun refused to shine?
Were you there when they laid him in the tomb?
Were you there when they laid him in the tomb?
Oh! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble:
were you there when they laid him in the tomb?
Closing Prayer:
A Good Friday blessing in the midday night (Kate Bowler)
O dear God,
we’re in darker places
than we’ve ever known.
God, light the way
for this whole sad earth,
for the helpless ones,
and for me.
God have mercy.
Christ have mercy.
Spirit have mercy.
Night has fallen
on the light of the world
and betrayal seems
the order of the day.
Love itself is handed over
to brutal ignorance
and cunning that loves the dark.
O God,
you chose to feel what we feel--
how it is to die totally alone,
ghastly to behold
in your outstretched
arms of the cross.
Are you gathering to yourself
every hideous thing?
Every failure,
travesty, and wrong?
Blessed are we
who shout: yes! do it!
turn things right side up again!
Blessed are we
who bow and wait
for the morning of the world.
The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness
has not overcome it.
God have mercy.
Christ have mercy.
Spirit have mercy.
May we open our hands
and receive it–
love that comes
gently as the dawn.
The dismissal is omitted today because this continuous act of worship, in which we commemorate our Lord’s Passion, does not end until Easter morning, when we celebrate his victory over death.
When you leave the church, please leave in silence.
When you leave the church, please leave in silence.
