Liturgies Online

CALL TO WORSHIP: Isaiah 53: 5, 6.

He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; 
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,

     and by his wounds we are healed. 

We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; 
and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

     and by his wounds we are healed.

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HYMN 266 `There is a green hill far away'

OLD TESTAMENT: Isaiah 52:13 to 53:12

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OPENING PRAYER:

Gracious and merciful God, we thank you for gathering us together today
to recall the events which happened on Calvary that first Good Friday.

     We come overwhelmed by the depth of Jesus' love for us,

 and his commitment to defeat evil,

     even when that meant his own suffering and his own death.

In his willingness to make us righteous, he poured himself out to death,

      even death on a cross, and so, in response to such love and sacrifice,

we commit ourselves as his disciples to overcome evil with good,

      suffering with wholeness,

and oppression with justice in Jesus' name. Amen

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THE SEVEN WORDS FROM THE CROSS

 

TIS 345/AHB 261: “Were you there when they crucified my Lord?” verses 1-3

 

THE FIRST WORD.

"FATHER, FORGIVE THEM, FOR THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO. "(Luke 23:34a)

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We give thanks that Jesus did as he told others to do, and forgave those who treated him so badly.  And so, God of grace and immeasurable mercy, help us to overcome any hurts caused by wrongs done to us, and to reach out in reconciling love and to pray with Jesus “forgive them.”
 

Following a short time of silence, and while remaining seated sing TIS 635/AHB 564: “Forgive our sins as we forgive” to the tune : ‘Amazing grace’ TIS 129/AHB 56.

 

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THE SECOND WORD.

"TODAY YOU SHALL BE WITH ME IN PARADISE."

(Luke 23:43)

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THE THIRD WORD

"DEAR WOMAN, BEHOLD YOUR SON." and to John "BEHOLD YOUR MOTHER."
(John 19: 26,27)

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THE FIFTH WORD.

"I THIRST" (John 19:28)

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SERMON
Today we come face to face with the primary Christian symbol, and that symbol is a cross.

 

The cross is a heartbreaking reminder that Jesus really suffered.  I think that we Protestants deny ourselves some of the reality of the suffering Jesus because we always have the empty cross...we celebrate the fact the Christ is risen.  We do not dwell on the crucified Christ, and rightly so, but that will not do for today…. 

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There are texts which speak of Jesus being "obedient to his Father's will" – the apostle Paul states that quite clearly in a number of passages.

 

On their own, these texts could give the impression that it was God who willed that Jesus die in the terrible way he did. …

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Jesus certainly expected the crucifixion because the only way for him to avoid the cross was to stop loving, to stop proclaiming God's justice and will, to stop challenging false religion.  This he refused to do.  He continued to minister to those perceived as outcasts;  he continued to love, effectively, powerfully, convincingly.

 

He was sustained in this by his total conviction concerning God's love for him, and indeed God's love for all.  His teaching was that God is love; that God is not a God who inflicts suffering on people.  In spite of what was happening to him, and the death that was looming up before him, Jesus spoke of God as one who did not, could not, change.  The God of Jesus is not the cause of anything negative or un-loving.

 

Jesus taught, and showed us by example, that there is nothing that can separate us from God's love - not even sickness or death.  This was what he taught.  He kept on teaching it to the end, and he kept believing it.

 

The crucifixion was an act of murder done in God's name.  It was a flagrant act of injustice.  As such it was a sin, and so done against the will of God.
 

God's role in the crucifixion was precisely the resurrection.

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It was God's presence that sustained Jesus during his agony.
It was God's love that surrounded him during his passion. 
It was to God that he handed over his life from the cross….

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Jesus' death, not the fact that he died, but the way he died, enables us to believe.  Jesus enables us to believe that no suffering inflicted on us by others or as a consequence of living in this world, can ever separate us from God's love. 

 

And that is why we really have to look at the cross today and see the suffering love that is nailed there...because it reveals the depth of God's love for us

 

Jesus knew that ...do we?

 

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THE SIXTH WORD.

"IT IS FINISHED" (John 19:30)

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As Jesus said "It is finished", we give thanks for his life of love and his painful death for us and for our world. Even at the point of death, he cared about others. We pray, O God, for like minds and as deep a care for others, as we commit ourselves, and all those dear to us, into your hands. May they know that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, shall be able to separate us from your love O God, revealed so clearly in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

 

Silent prayer: Offer thanks to God for this incredible gift of love given to us at such cost by Jesus.

 

TIS 602/AHB 525 `O Love that wilt not let me go'

 

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THE SEVENTH WORD.

"FATHER, INTO YOUR HANDS I COMMIT MY SPIRIT" (Luke 24:46)

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Teach us, O Lord, to fear death as little as we fear sleep; and fill our lives with the hope and faith of the resurrection, in the knowledge that in death our lives pass into the hands that made the world - the hands of the Creator. And may we place our lives in those hands while life is strong and full and sweet.

 

O God, with thanksgiving, into your hands we commit our lives.

 

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THE LORD'S PRAYER.

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SHARING A SIGN OF PEACE
We have gathered here this morning in memory of our Saviour's death.  It was his great wish and command that we all should love one another and forgive one another.  Let us express that love and forgiveness to one another by saying "The peace of the Lord be with you always."

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A POEM

I heard two soldiers talking as they came down the hill.

The sombre hill of Calvary, bleak and black and still.

And one said, “The night is late, these thieves take long to die.”

And one said, “I am sore afraid, and yet I know not why.”

 

I heard two women weeping as down the hill they came.

And one was like a broken rose, and one was like a flame.

One said, “ man shall rue the day this deed their hands have done.”

And one said, only through her tears, “My son, my son, my son.”

 

I heard two angels singing ere yet the dawn was bright.

And they were clad in shining robes; robes and crowns of light.

And one sang, “Death is vanquished.” And one in golden voice,

Sang, “Love has conquered, conquered all, O heaven and earth rejoice.”

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Anonymous poem included in one of William Barclay’s commentaries

 

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TIS 342/AHB 258 'When I survey the wondrous cross"

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BENEDICTION.

Go in peace.  May Jesus Christ, who for our sake became obedient unto death, even death on a cross, keep you and strengthen you today and for ever.  Amen

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All depart in silence

 

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