Good Friday 2022

In a few moments we are going to sit in silence as we watch each of these candles be extinguished. We will hear a scriptures read and we will contemplate each one as we move from candle to candle.

Then we will come to the Christ Candle that that special candle that was was lit on Christmas Day and every Sunday after which celebrates the birth of Jesus our messiah.

Today However the the Christ Candle will be extinguished representing the death of the promised messiah.

The way in which the Christ Candle will be extinguished will be different than the others…

The reason being is that the extinguishing of the Christ candle will represent the willing forfeit of the life of Jesus for the Sin of the world.

Instead of an individual reading a scripture and snuffing out the flame...a glass covering will be placed over the candle and we will watch a struggle for life.

We will watch as the flame flickers, fades and eventually succumbs to the lack of oxygen needed for the flame to maintain its heat and light…its life....

It will go dark…then we will sit in silence and contemplate what this symbolizes and why it’s important.

Then after a post reading we will exit in uncomfortable silence and dare I say sadness.

It is important that we feel the uneasy reality of this uncomfortable moment in history…It is important that we feel the struggle of life and death and realize the struggle was nessacary and effective for our salvation and the salvation of the world.

This sacrifice was not owed to us but freely given...

So that those who would believe could be transformed and given a way to be in an intimate relationship with God…This would not be possible for any of us without Jesus willingly giving himself for the world.

In order for us to truly have a deep experience during this time we must allow the Holy Spirit to penetrate our minds and hearts with the Scriptures we are about hear as we watch each candle as it is extinguished.

If we eliminate distraction and focus during the readings by the time we get to the Christ Candle we will be prepared for the Love that Jesus chose to have for humankind by willingly sacrificing His life.

John 10:18 “18 No one can take my life from me. I sacrifice it voluntarily. For I have the authority to lay it down when I want to and also to take it up again. For this is what my Father has commanded.”

This gift was foretold in Isaiah 53:1-6 “1 Who has believed our message? To whom has the Lord revealed his powerful arm? 2 My servant grew up in the Lord’s presence like a tender green shoot, like a root in dry ground. There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance, nothing to attract us to him. 3 He was despised and rejected— a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care. 4 Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins! 5 But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. 6 All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all.”

Let us keep all of these truths in mind as we seek to experience this uncomfortable yet Good gift from God.

Communion

Let’s Start by remembering on the night before Jesus died he foretold what was going to take palce by instituting the Sacrament of Holy Communion.

Please Take your cup and pull back the top seal and take out the bread....

Take the Cup

Prayer

CANDEL’S

Scripture 14 - Scott Moore Jesus knew that his mission was now finished, and to fulfill Scripture he said, “I am thirsty.” A jar of sour wine was sitting there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put it on a hyssop12 branch, and held it up to his lips. When Jesus had tasted it, he said, “It is finished!” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

A glass jar is place over the Christ candle as this scripture is read, which slowly extinguishes the candle’s light. 12 Hissup

Post-Script - Scott Moore It was the day of preparation, and the Jewish leaders didn’t want the bodies hanging there the next day, which was the Sabbath (and a very special Sabbath, because it was Passover week).

So they asked Pilate to hasten their deaths by ordering that their legs be broken. Then their bodies could be taken down. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the two men crucified with Jesus. But when they came to Jesus, they saw that he was already dead, so they didn’t break his legs. One of the soldiers, however, pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water flowed out. (This report is from an eyewitness giving an accurate account. He speaks the truth so that you also may continue to believe.)

These things happened in fulfillment of the Scriptures that say, “Not one of his bones will be broken,” and “They will look on the one they pierced.”

Afterward Joseph of Arimathea 13, who had been a secret disciple of Jesus (because he feared the Jewish leaders), asked Pilate for permission to take down Jesus’ body. When Pilate gave permission, Joseph came and took the body away. With him came Nicodemus14, the man who had come to Jesus at night. He brought about seventy-five pounds of perfumed ointment made from myrrh and aloes. Following Jewish burial custom, they wrapped Jesus’ body with the spices in long sheets of linen cloth. The place of crucifixion was near a garden, where there was a new tomb, never used before. And so, because it was the day of preparation for the Jewish Passover and since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.

Silence. The room remains darkened with only illumination necessary for safety.