Good Friday
On Good Friday we remember the crucifixion. Good Friday is a stark service. The usual decorations in the church were stripped the night before. The priest and choir are vested all in black. We wait and watch with Jesus. We meditate on the death of Jesus. The tone is somber. We read the Passion story, the story of the betrayal of Jesus, his friend Peter's denial of their relationship, the sentence of death from the Roman governor, the journey through the city carrying the cross, and finally the crucifixion. The story is hard to hear.
As hard as it is for us, the day has historically been harder on our Jewish neighbors. Good Friday is a day when Christian anti-Semitism reached historic peaks, Jewish communities were often terrorized. At Holy Communion, we will use a newly authorized liturgy which avoids the use of language from John’s Gospel which has been used to blame “the Jews” for the crucifixion. We will include prayers against antisemitism and all forms of hate.
There is no Eucharist celebrated on Good Friday. Instead, we recite and sing songs of lament. We pray for the state of the whole world. A wooden cross is brought into the church, and the congregation is invited to spend time at the foot of the cross. Some may choose to come forward and pray at the foot of the cross. Some may touch or even kiss the wood. On the cross God took the worst of human stories, betrayal, suffering, denial, death, and wrote good news into human history. We can’t undo the past, but we can build a better future.
We are not dismissed because remembering Jesus’ crucifixion is incomplete without commemorating the resurrection. The next day Holy Week culminates in the Easter Vigil, the holiest night of the Christian year.
