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