Welcome to this special Good Friday March 25th, 2016 Service Podcast.

This Good Friday Vespers service, held at the First Congregational Church of Brimfield, was a joint service with the Wales Baptist Church.

March 25, 2016

Good Friday

Vespers 7:00pm

Please enter this worship by taking a few minutes of contemplative prayer. Center yourself on the Creator and consciously welcome the Spirit into your heart.
“If all else perished, and he remained, I should still continue to be; and if all else remained, and he were annihilated, the universe would turn to a mighty stranger.”
― Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights

Lay white cloth across cross:
Have Lily in Tomb
Need latern in Tomb
Need soldier costume

PRELUDE:

Call to Worship : Pastor Gary

Pastor: Have you heard?
People: It is done.
Pastor: The sky was rent
People: And darkness fell
Pastor: The earth shook
People: And the light of the world was extinguished.
People: Our grief is unbearable.
People: Lord, we pray for resurrection again.
Pastor: Have faith. Even in the darkness, even when we cannot see its illumination, the light continues to shine.

HYMN: “Where You There?” Black #229 verses 1-3

GOSPEL READING: John 19:16

Reader 1: Wales Baptist Church

Then Pilate handed Jesus over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus; and carrying the cross by himself, he went out to what is called The Place of the Skull, which in Hebrew is called Golgotha. There they crucified him, and
with him two others, one on either side, with Jesus between them. Pilate also had an inscription written and put on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” Many of the Jews read this inscription, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, in Latin, and in Greek.

Then the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but, ‘This man said, I am King of the Jews.'” Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written.”

When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, one for each soldier. They also took his tunic; now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from the top. So they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see who will get it.” This was to fulfill what the scripture says, “They divided my clothes among themselves, and for my clothing they cast lots.”

And that is what the soldiers did. Meanwhile, standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son.”

Then he said to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home. After this, when Jesus knew that all was now finished, he said (in order to fulfill the scripture), “I am thirsty.”

A jar full of sour wine was standing there. So they put a sponge full of the wine on a branch of hyssop and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the wine, he said, “It is finished.” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Anthem: “See Gethsemane” Brimfield Choir

Reader 2: Cindy Kenyon

Since it was the day of Preparation, the Jews did not want the bodies left on the cross during the Sabbath, especially because that Sabbath was a solemn
day. So they asked Pilate to have the legs of the crucified men broken and the bodies removed.

Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who had been crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once blood and water came out. (He who saw this has testified so that you also may believe. His testimony is true, and he knows that he tells the truth.) These things occurred so that the scripture might be fulfilled, “None of his bones shall be broken.” And again another passage of scripture says, “They will look on the one whom they have pierced.”

Reader 3: Wales Baptist Church

After these things, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, though a secret one because of his fear of the Jews, asked Pilate to let him take away the body of Jesus. Pilate gave him permission; so he came and removed his body.

Nicodemus, who had at first come to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, weighing about a hundred pounds. They took the body of Jesus and wrapped it with the spices in linen cloths, according to the burial custom of the Jews.

Now there was a garden in the place where he was crucified, and in the garden there was a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid. And so, because it was the Jewish day of Preparation, and the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

SPECIAL MUSIC: “Mary Did You Know?” soloist, Ellen Zepp

PROCESSION AND PLACING OF SHROUD IN TOMB (Wales Baptist Church)

WITH SPECIAL MUSIC BY PAT GELINAS

CONFESSION (Wales Baptist Church)
Leader: Judas, slave of jealousy, where are you?
People: I am here.
Leader: Peter, Slave of fear, where are you?
People: I am here.
Leader: Thomas, slave of doubt, where are you?
People: I am here.
Leader: Men and woman of Jerusalem, enslaved to mob rule, where are you?
People: I am here.
Leader: Pilate, slave of expediency, where are you?
People: I am here.
Leader: The story of Christ’s passion and death mirrors for us much of our own weakness and sin. We all come here as men and women who have missed the mark and who are alienated from God and our neighbor near and far. May God forgive our sins.

SPECIAL MUSIC: “You are My All in All” (Wales Baptist Church)

READING OF “A Better Resurrection” Christina Rosetti – – – Bonnie Kilgore

SERMONETTE: “To Hold on to the Light”
Many times when I speak from the pulpit, I ask you to forget what you know and put yourselves in the shoes of the people of the time. That would mean that tonight, as disciples of Christ, our hearts would be rent. Today, our hopes for a Messiah have been dashed. Jesus has been nailed to a cross and after suffering and suffocating, he has died. Our hope has died. And as the sun is setting, we would be returning to our homes to begin our Sabbath prayers. We might feel confused, frightened, or even betrayed. The man who we had followed and proclaimed a Messiah is dead.
His words of being risen may whisper in the recesses of our brains, but such a possibility goes against everything we know and believe. Our fear for our own lives would suppress even the consideration of such a thing. We may have felt abandoned and alone. We might be unsure of what will happen and what will become of us. Will we be rounded up and crucified next? We may even hide ourselves. Gathering together in a room not unlike the one we just shared our last supper in. We might even bolt the door. And it is possible that while prayer is called for. Perhaps we cannot even bring ourselves to say it. These days between now an Easter may feel like purgatory. Like a hell on earth. . . . . . .But I am not asking you to embody your predecessors of faith. In fact, tonight I ask you to be yourselves. I ask you to remember that Easter is now on the horizon. Hope is not gone. You are never alone. The light is not extinguished. It is not extinguishable. We know the end of this tale. We are keepers of this story. We repeat this story year after year. We write in on our hearts and tell it to our children – – -Jesus lives. Jesus will be resurrected. Darkness will not overcome the light. While all seems lost today, God’s plans are larger than human understanding. God’s plans can break what we believe to be hard and fast laws of physics. God is with us always.
With this foreknowledge, and with the faith knowledge, that Jesus has been since the beginning and will be until the end of time, we can commit to holding this light. While the story lays Jesus in tomb and plunges the world into darkness and despair. We do not have to comply. We do not have to retreat in fear. We can hold this light until Easter morning. In fact, isn’t this the message of our faith: In the darkness and corruption of this world, we, the people of faith, are to defy the darkness. We are to hold onto the truth. We are to reflect the light and love which is poured into us, out into the world. At a time when the world believes all is lost, we need to stand against the darkness and let humanity know that they are not lost, we are not lost. God is with us.
Our part of this faith equation cannot be underestimated. Our testimony of the light in our lives can cause sparks to fly and other lights to be lit. It is incumbent upon us to reflect the light of Christ. Society, as a whole, is sitting perpetually in the darkness that we feel at Christ’s crucifixion. Many do not know from where this darkness comes. They may not know to call it a lack of faith. They may not even be able to identify why they feel the loss and fear. It may be un-identifiable. But hope is slipping and fear and worry are growing. We, as believers, must carry the light of Christ in a darkened world. We must remind people, “Do not be afraid for God is with us.” Resurrection is coming. We have not been left to languish alone.
We are the disciples of this Easter Week. We are like Peter, John, Simon, and all of the others. We are like Mary Magdalene and Mary, mother of Jesus. Our fears have been allayed because we know the full story. We, like them, have seen the risen Lord. We can hold onto that vision even when darkness threatens to wrap around us. We have committed to be the living light. We have committed to live as that light. Our individual light may not be as bright as our savior’s, but one light begins to dissipate the darkness. And one light holds the pitch at bay. And your light, and your light, and your light might just be what this world needs as a beacon so that they too can come and enter this great Easter story.

HYMN: “Before Your Cross, O Jesus” Black #191

TAKING THE LIGHT TO KEEP VIGIL –
Music plays quietly. . .

Leader: The darkness is overtaking the world.
People: The darkness shall not overtake the world.
Leader: What shall we do?
People: We shall keep a light burning as long as it takes.

End music

CLOSING OF THE TOMB AND THE BEGINNING OF THE VIGIL 

Soldier closes tomb