Good Friday Service March 29, 2024

Fruitland United Methodist Church
March 29, 2024
Good Friday

Opening Prayer – Pastor (Responsive)
In the name of Christ, we gather on this day of Good Friday to remember anew
the struggle of the cross and the final victory.
With you, Lord, we wish to remain.

Let us walk together to the cross, see our Lord’s suffering, hear his voice pleading
for drink, and asking for pardon for those who tortured him mercilessly.
O, how to hold back the tears in the midst of so much pain? And even then, you
taught us how to love.

When the day darkened and it seemed to envelop the whole earth, we thought
all was lost.

But amid the darkness, we saw your light.

It was there when the sun darkened and the temple veil tore in half that we
heard your voice, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” Then there was
peace.

In the midst of life’s darkness, peace also comes when, with complete
confidence, we offer ourselves to you, beloved Lord.
Because in that hour of darkness and pain your light shone brightly when the
centurion exclaimed, “Truly this man is the Son of God.”

With you, Lord, we wish to remain.

John 18: 1 – 18 – Pastor Pew Bible Page 1681-2

*Hymn “Amazing Grace” UMH# 378

Prayer – Pastor Clynton
Merciful God, we gather to recount and recall the injustice, pain, and suffering
your Son endured on the cross at the hands of sinful humanity. Grant us
awareness as we enter the story of Christ’s Passion, that in not shirking away from
Christ’s suffering, we would be surprised by grace, because even in humiliating
and shameful death, your love never failed. Train our hearts on the Light that is
the life of all people, that as the darkness encroaches, we might remain
tenacious in hope and persistent in love. Amen.

John 18: 19-40 – Pastor Pew Bible Page 1682-3
*Hymn “Were You There” UMH# 288

Special Poem – The Crucifixion by James Weldon Johnson
Read by Jay Whitcomb

Prayer of Confession – Pastor
Faithful God, we stand in the dim shadows of a cross, longing for Resurrection.
But today we pause to remember the pain of the cross and the pain of the
crosses we’ve faced. As the disciples wept on that fateful day so long ago, we
weep for the Savior and for the tree, and all the trees that one represented,
from which he hung. As those first disciples wondered whether that fateful day
was the end of their dreams, we admit we are afraid that our dream of a just,
nonviolent world is fleeting and in peril of death. Help us, God, as we live in the
tension between death and your seeming silence, the time after the crucifixion
and before the Resurrection—in the name and pain of the Crucified One,
Amen.

John 19: 1-27 – Liturgist Pew Bible Page 1683-5

*Hymn “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” UMH# 298

John 19: 28-42 – Pastor Pew Bible Page 1685

Benediction – Pastor Clynton
As you go, carry with you the tears of sorrow, the humility of questioning, and the
silence of waiting as we sit at the tomb of Jesus, our Savior. May your tears,
humility, and silence be blessed and bound together with hope that cannot be
extinguished. Amen.