Good Friday April 10, 2020
Peachland United Church and Penticton United Church
Welcome, Announce Service Outline
Candle Lighting
Gathering Hymn VU 148 Jesus Remember Me (1 verse repeated 2x)
Gathering Prayer
All-Vulnerable God,
you give yourself utterly and never withhold.
Remind us that we have no need
to achieve what has already been
totally given.
Oh, how you suffer and pay the price
for this giving,
though we may resist the gift.
Help us to let go and to know
you will always be there
to fill our bucket to overflowingwith love and care. Amen.
– Norah Laverty, St. Andrew’s U.C., Sioux Lookout, Ont. p. 40
Choir: VU 132 Bitter Was the Night
Call to Worship
We have gathered here today,
to remember and give thanks for Jesus Christ,
the one who knew human joy and sorrow,
yet also the one in whom we discover God.
We give thanks for his life—
how he healed, forgave, and brought hope.
But we also gather to remember his death,
to remember—
how those in power, feeling threatened by him,
conspired to kill him;
how he was betrayed, denied, and abandoned
by his friends.
Yet in his death, he bore the sin, grief,
and suffering of the world.
We give thanks for Jesus Christ.
He lived for us, and he died for us.
That is why we gather to worship today.
Thanks be to God.
– Frances Flook, Emo/Devlin P.C., Emo, Ont.
Hymn Oh Lord Hear My Prayer (Songs and Prayers from Taize 20)
Excerpts From the Passion Story
Reader 1: John 18:1-14 The Betrayal and Arrest of Jesus
18 After Jesus had spoken these words, he went out with his disciples across the Kidron valley to a place where there was a garden, which he and his disciples entered. 2 Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place, because Jesus often met there with his disciples. 3 So Judas brought a detachment of soldiers together with police from the chief priests and the Pharisees, and they came there with lanterns and torches and weapons. 4 Then Jesus, knowing all that was to happen to him, came forward and asked them, “Whom are you looking for?” 5 They answered, “Jesus of Nazareth.”[a] Jesus replied, “I am he.”[b] Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them. 6 When Jesus[c] said to them, “I am he,”[d]they stepped back and fell to the ground. 7 Again he asked them, “Whom are you looking for?” And they said, “Jesus of Nazareth.”[e] 8 Jesus answered, “I told you that I am he.[f] So if you are looking for me, let these men go.” 9 This was to fulfill the word that he had spoken, “I did not lose a single one of those whom you gave me.” 10 Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it, struck the high priest’s slave, and cut off his right ear. The slave’s name was Malchus. 11 Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword back into its sheath. Am I not to drink the cup that the Father has given me?”
Jesus before the High Priest
12 So the soldiers, their officer, and the Jewish police arrested Jesus and bound him. 13 First they took him to Annas, who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest that year. 14 Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jews that it was better to have one person die for the people.
Sing Where You There, VU 144 Vs. 1 Played by Audrey Scowen
Reader 2: John 18: 28-37 Jesus before Pilate
28 Then they took Jesus from Caiaphas to Pilate’s headquarters.[g] It was early in the morning. They themselves did not enter the headquarters,[h] so as to avoid ritual defilement and to be able to eat the Passover. 29 So Pilate went out to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this man?” 30 They answered, “If this man were not a criminal, we would not have handed him over to you.” 31 Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and judge him according to your law.” The Jews replied, “We are not permitted to put anyone to death.” 32 (This was to fulfill what Jesus had said when he indicated the kind of death he was to die.)
33 Then Pilate entered the headquarters[i] again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” 34 Jesus answered, “Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?” 35 Pilate replied, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?” 36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.” 37 Pilate asked him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”
Sing 144 Vs. 2
Reader 3: John 18:38(b)- 19:7 Jesus Sentenced to Death
After he had said this, he went out to the Jews again and told them, “I find no case against him. 39 But you have a custom that I release someone for you at the Passover. Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?” 40 They shouted in reply, “Not this man, but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a bandit.
19 Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. 2 And the soldiers wove a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they dressed him in a purple robe. 3 They kept coming up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and striking him on the face. 4 Pilate went out again and said to them, “Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no case against him.” 5 So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!” 6 When the chief priests and the police saw him, they shouted, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him; I find no case against him.” 7 The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has claimed to be the Son of God.”
Sing 144 Vs. 3
Reader 4: John 19:16(b)-19, 28-30 The Crucifixion of Jesus
So they took Jesus; 17 and carrying the cross by himself, he went out to what is called The Place of the Skull, which in Hebrew[m] is called Golgotha. 18 There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, with Jesus between them. 19 Pilate also had an inscription written and put on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth,[n] the King of the Jews.”
28 After this, when Jesus knew that all was now finished, he said (in order to fulfill the scripture), “I am thirsty.” 29 A jar full of sour wine was standing there. So they put a sponge full of the wine on a branch of hyssop and held it to his mouth. 30 When Jesus had received the wine, he said, “It is finished.” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
Sing 144 Vs. 4
Extinguish the Christ Candle
The parade is over. The laments, the denials, the excuses, the betrayals are over. In fact it is all over. Shadows have replaced light; fear has swallowed hope. It is finished. What now?
Prayers of Confession and Intercession (Responsive)
With mixed feelings, we go out after supper
to pray with you, O Christ.
With anger, we see the way you are met
by those who come in force.
With fear, we approach the courts of the mighty where you stand with dignity.
With tears, we greet the sounds of the abuse
you received.
With dread, we join in your final walk.
With horror, we see you raised up, bleeding.
With stifled sobs, we react to your final breath.
With shame, we flee and hide, Holy One,
not trusting Love’s power.
Now, as we stand before the cross,
as we look at the stains on our hands and hearts,
we confess our shortcomings:
fear and hatred live on,
and we have tiptoed around them;
power is abused all around us,
and we have kept quiet.
The shadows that gather, deep and cold,
are in us as well.
We discover that we fear pain and suffering
more than we love the good news that was in
Jesus Christ—
good news for all people,
for those suffering and those being crucified,
for all creatures and all creation.
In the silence, we pour out our hearts:
(a time of silence)
When your good news stirred up
fear and hatred, O Christ, you said,
“Not my will, but yours be done.”
May this same love be in us,
that all hearts may be opened,
and your victory be shared by all. Amen.
Sing VU 144 Vs. 5
Words of Assurance
Death does not have the last word.
Love is stronger than fear.
You are made in the image of God,
and Love’s power pours out on you,
strengthening you to hold fast
to the Way of Christ.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
— Robin Wardlaw, Glen Rhodes U.C., Toronto, Ont.
MV 221 I Am Walking a Path of Christ (x3 – Peace, Grace, Hope)
Benediction
We go into the dark
But there is a light that shines
that not even death can put out.
We go into the dark
but even now new life is dawning.
We go into the dark
In the sure and certain hope that Christ is with us.
Go into the day not with grief and sorrow
but with hope and even joy
It’s Friday but Sunday is coming.
Go into the day not in defeat and loss
But in awe at what God has done for us
It’s Friday but Sunday is coming.
Go in peace, God has made a way for us
Go with the assurance of new life and light
It’s Friday but Sunday is coming.
– Howard Carter, Northland, New Zealand
We go forth in Silence
Penticton United Church 