Digital Bulletin – Good Friday Tenebrae Service @ ORLC

You can follow along with the service at 7 PM on Friday, April 10th. It is also available for replay later on. Simply follow this link. https://youtu.be/5CVZqrWloUg

Good Friday – Tenebrae

Rev. Nicholas Schultz – Pastor

Good Friday                                                                                                                                April 10, 2020

To prepare for worship:

  • Find some candles. If you have 7, you can extinguish the candles along with the service.
  • Grab your favorite Bible. We’ll be using the ESV during the service.
  • Watch on your largest screen possible.
  • Dim the lights in the room.

Tonight, we will join the congregation of saints across time and space as we observe the service of Tenebrae. Tenebrae is The Service of Darkness and is a mediation upon the suffering and death of Christ. As we proceed through the service, candles will be extinguished and the sanctuary is darkened which reminds us of the darkness that fell upon the earth when Jesus was crucified. I encourage you to darken your room as we proceed through the service as well.

Traditionally, Christians would meet nightly for scripture reading during Holy Week which would include the entire passion narrative from each Gospel and Tenebrae would focus on the last seven phrases Jesus says upon the cross. Since we do not meet daily, especially in light of the ongoing pandemic, we will read from Mark’s Passion of Christ.

After each candle is extinguished, there will be a time of directed prayer. Since we are separated this evening, I want to invite you to pray out loud whether you are by yourself, or especially if you are with your family.

After the final candle is extinguished, we will observe a time of silence and reflection upon the magnitude of the consequences of our sins. During this time, the Christ Candle will be concealed. The silent prayer and reflection is broken by the strepitus, which is a din, crash, uproar, noise, or racket. For our purposes, it is a series of loud noises, including the slamming of a Bible and the crash of thunder, which signifies the earthquake that occurred at the moment of Jesus’ death and the closing of the tomb. After the strepitus, the Christ Candle is revealed again as a vigil for the glorious resurrection of Christ on the third day.

Prelude

Welcome

Lighting of Candles

Hymn         #89 My Song is Love Unknown

Prayer

Gethsemane
Scripture                               
Mark 14:32-42
Prayer                      Hallowed be Thy Name
Hymn                                                  
#76 The Hour in Dark Gethsemane         1st Candle Extinguished

Jesus Arrested
Scripture                               
Mark 14:42-52
Prayer                             Thy Kingdom Come
Hymn       
#82 O What Precious Balm and Healing                  2nd Candle Extinguished

Jesus Before the Sanhedrin

Scripture                                Mark 14:53-65
Prayer                                 Thy Will Be Done
Hymn #69 Ah, Holy Jesus, How Hast Thou Offended                3rd Candle Extinguished

Peter Disowns Jesus

Scripture                                Mark 14:66-72
Prayer                    Give Us Our Daily Bread
Hymn
                                                       #79 O World, See Here Suspended      4th Candle Extinguished

Jesus Before Pilate

Scripture                                   Mark 15:1-15
Prayer                Forgive Us Our Trespasses
Hymn                                                      
#61 O Sacred Head Now Wounded      5th Candle Extinguished

Jesus is Crucified

Scripture                                Mark 15:16-32
Prayer           Lead Us Not into Temptation
Hymn                                                           #72 What Wondrous Love is This      6th Candle Extinguished

Jesus’ Death and Burial

Scripture                                Mark 15:33-47
Prayer                             Deliver us from Evil
Meditation                 Rev. Nicholas Schultz
Hymn                                                                 
7th Candle Extinguished

Silent Prayer

In silence, let us pause and reflect upon the cost of our sins and the death of Jesus upon the cross, whereby he took our sin upon himself. “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.” (1 Peter 2:24, ESV)

Strepitus

The Christ Candle Vigil