From this point on, our Christian worship is a continuum through to Easter Morning.
GoodFriday – has as its central theme the Cross. The whole of the Passion Narrative can be read here (especially if not done so on Palm Sunday) Intercessions from the foot or around a Cross can add to sharpening the focus of this event. The liturgy will also make proclamation of the Cross. Refraining from a Eucharist on this day marks this day out as a day of dereliction and desolation.
Welcome to this time and feel free to use what helps you at this stage of the journey …..
Preparation
Since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus Christ the Son of God, let us hold fast to the faith we profess. HEBREWS 4.14
Begin in stillness – the stillness that carries over from the stillness from the night before…….
Good Friday Collect:
Almighty Father look with mercy on your family for which our Lord Jesus Christ was content to be betrayed and given up into the hands of the wicked and to suffer death upon the cross. Amen.
Gather around God’s Word
Psalm 22.1-22
Meditation – the Stations of the Cross
Share the ‘Our Father’ in your preferred form or language
(there is no Blessing on Good Friday – stillness takes its place)
There will be some who come from a spirituality where it is important for them on this day to offer:
PRAYERS AT THE FOOT OF THE CROSS
A procession can be made towards a suitable cross (at home or on a walk)
and lights can be included
A cross if at home can be laid down flat and surrounded by lights or just plain
If there is more than one of you in your home use the bold type for responses if you live alone the whole text is yours to pray with –
pause in stillness…….
On the Cross, our Lord offered himself to the Father for the whole world.
So, at the foot of his cross, we join our prayers with his.
We adore O Christ and we bless you
Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
Holy God
Holy and strong
Holy and immortal
Have mercy on us.
Whilst silence is kept, anyone can come forward to touch the cross, place their forehead on it, kiss it – whatever is your tradition – as a sign of entrusting to God in union with Christ and his suffering, your own burdens as well as those of others, especially the persecuted, the oppressed, prisoners of conscience, the sick, the suffering…..
Almighty Father look with mercy on your family for which our Lord Jesus Christ was content to be betrayed and given up into the hands of the wicked and to suffer death upon the cross. Amen.
May the life-giving cross be the source of our joy and our peace.
Amen.
Let us bless the Lord
Thanks be to God.