Not a word as you submit to the bullying, silent as they parade you before the authorities, wordless as you receive the cross.
Betrayed, deserted, pushed to the edge of endurance.
Your obedience is total, the load crushing, yet, back bowed, body broken, face streaming with blood, stumbling, you go onward.
Losing the last fragment of human dignity, your clothes are
Ripped from your back. Naked, vulnerable, despised, yet still
“Father forgive them, for they know not what they do”
The powers of darkness have their way.
How can this be Lord, did you fail, meekly surrendering
to evil?
Where was your Father?
How can true love allow defeat?
Yet you remain the victor, a mystery that can be neither
Denied nor explained. Your sacrifice has rebuilt an eternal bridge back to the Father for all who wish to take it.
At the foot of the cross, we dare to ask, Father, forgive us all.
The service of Parish Communion on Easter Sunday will be at 10am
St Peter’s Church Hascombe
Good Friday
Hymn;
Silence
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, at the third hour you were led out of the pain of the cross for the salvation of the world. By virtue of your saving passion, blot out our sin and bring us to the glory of your eternal joy, for you are alive and reign, God, now and for ever. Amen
Prayers: “The Reproaches”.
My people, what wrong have I done to you?
What good have I not done for you?
Listen to me.
I am your Creator, Lord of the universe:
I have entrusted this world to you,
But you have created the means to destroy it.
My people, what wrong have I done to you?
What good have I not done for you?
Listen to me.
I made you in my image,
But you have degraded body and spirit,
And marred the image of your God.
You have deserted me and turned your backs on me.
My people, what wrong have I done to you?
What good have I not done for you?
Listen to me.
Prayer
Most gracious God and Father, in whose will is our peace,
Turn our hearts and the hearts of all to yourself, that by the power of your spirit, the peace which is founded on justice, may be established throughout the world, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Holy God,
Holy and strong,
Holy and immortal,
Have mercy upon us.
Turn again, my people. Listen to me.
Father, hear our prayer and forgive us.
Unstop our ears
That we may receive the gospel of the cross.
Lighten our eyes
That we may see your glory
In the face of your Son.
Penetrate our minds
That your truth may make us whole.
Irradiate our hearts with your love
That we may love one another for Christ’s sake.
Father, forgive us.
Silence
Hymn
I filled the earth with all that you need,
So that you might serve and care for one another,
As I have cared for you;
I have consecrated you in the truth.
I have made you to be one
In the unity of the Father and the Son,
Holy God,
Holy and strong,
Holy and immortal,
Have mercy upon us.
Turn again, my people. Listen to me.
Father, hear our prayer and forgive us.
Unstop our ears
That we may receive the gospel of the cross.
Lighten our eyes
That we may see your glory
In the face of your Son.
Penetrate our minds
That your truth may make us whole.
Irradiate our hearts with your love
That we may love one another for Christ’s sake.
Father, forgive us.
Hymn
Reading from Hebrews 10.12-22
Christ offered one sacrifice for sins, an offering that is effective for ever, and then he sat down at the right hand of God. There he now waits until God puts his enemies as a footstool under his feet. With one sacrifice then, he has made perfect for ever those who are purified from sin.
And the Holy Spirit also gives us his witness. First he says, “this is the covenant that I will make with them in the days to come, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts and write them on their minds”
And then he says” I will not remember their sins and evil deeds any longer” So when these have been forgiven, an offering to take away sins is no longer needed.
We have then, my brothers, complete freedom to go into the Most holy place by means of the death of Jesus. He opened for us a new way, a living way, through the curtain that is through his own body.
So let us come near to God with a sincere heart and a sure faith, wih hearts that have been purified from a guilty conscience and with bodies washed with clean water.
This is the word of the Lord.
Silence.
Prayer ;
Hear us, merciful Lord, and remember the hour in which you commended your spirit into the hands of your heavenly Father.
By this your most precious death, help us, that being dead to sin we may live to you alone, and may finally be received into your eternal Kingdom, there to reign with you for ever and ever. Amen.
4
Hymn
My people, what wrong have I done to you?
What good have I not done for you?
Listen to me.
I made my children of one blood
To live in families rejoicing in one another;
But you have embittered the races
And divided the nations.
My people, what wrong have I done to you?
What good have I not done for you?
Listen to me.
I commanded you to love your neighbour as yourself;
To love and forgive even your enemies;
But you have made vengeance your rule
And hate your guide.
My people, what wrong have I done to you?
What good have I not done for you?
Listen to me.
In the fullness of time I sent you my Son,
That in him you might know me,
And through him find life and peace;
But you put him to death on the cross.