ORDER OF WORSHIP FOR
THE FAITH REFORMED CHURCH
215 MIDDLE ROAD, HAZLET, NJ 07730
Abbreviated Liturgy for Online Worship
Friday, April 10, 2020; Good Friday
PRELUDE HYMN – “The Old Rugged Cross” - Organist Ben Benfer
VOTUM AND SALUTATION
This evening we worship in an adaptation of a traditional Stations of the Cross Tenebrae service. This is a simple service of scripture, prayer, and remembrance. As we move through a series of eight scripture readings chronicling the last days and hours of Jesus Christ you will be invited into times of prayer and reflection. At each “station” a candle will be extinguished. The service will conclude in darkness.
39 Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. 40 On reaching the place, he said to them, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.” 41 He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, 42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” 43 An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. 44 And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.
45 When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. 46 “Why are you sleeping?” he asked them. “Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.”
MOMENT FOR SILENT REFLECTION
PRAYER OF RESPONSE
Holy Father, guide us to be prayerful to you. Keep us from all temptation. Strengthen us as you strengthened your own Son, as by an angel of heaven. And direct us according to your will, and not our own.
THE FIRST CANDLE IS EXTINGUISHED
47 While he was still speaking a crowd came up, and the man who was called Judas, one of the Twelve, was leading them. He approached Jesus to kiss him, 48 but Jesus asked him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?”
49 When Jesus’ followers saw what was going to happen, they said, “Lord, should we strike with our swords?” 50 And one of them struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear.
51 But Jesus answered, “No more of this!” And he touched the man’s ear and healed him.
52 Then Jesus said to the chief priests, the officers of the temple guard, and the elders, who had come for him, “Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come with swords and clubs? 53 Every day I was with you in the temple courts, and you did not lay a hand on me. But this is your hour—when darkness reigns.”
MOMENT FOR SILENT REFLECTION
PRAYER OF RESPONSE
Merciful Lord, awaken us to the impulses of betrayal in our own hearts. Help us to show compassion on those who have betrayed us. Help us to forgive, as you have forgiven us.
THE SECOND CANDLE IS EXTINGUISHED
III. PETER DISOWNS JESUS (Luke 22:54-62
54 Then seizing him, they led him away and took him into the house of the high priest. Peter followed at a distance. 55 And when some there had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter sat down with them. 56 A servant girl saw him seated there in the firelight. She looked closely at him and said, “This man was with him.”
57 But he denied it. “Woman, I don’t know him,” he said.
58 A little later someone else saw him and said, “You also are one of them.”
“Man, I am not!” Peter replied.
59 About an hour later another asserted, “Certainly this fellow was with him, for he is a Galilean.”
60 Peter replied, “Man, I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed. 61 The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: “Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times.” 62 And he went outside and wept bitterly.
MOMENT FOR SILENT REFLECTION
PRAYER OF RESPONSE
Most faithful Lord, how many times have we been Peter? You know our hearts and the love we have, yet you also know the times we have denied you, felt embarrassed to call you Lord, or downplayed our faith. Make us courageous in our conviction that you and you alone are God, in Father, Son, and Spirit.
THE THIRD CANDLE IS EXTINGUISHED
66 At daybreak the council of the elders of the people, both the chief priests and the teachers of the law, met together, and Jesus was led before them. 67 “If you are the Messiah,” they said, “tell us.”
Jesus answered, “If I tell you, you will not believe me, 68 and if I asked you, you would not answer. 69 But from now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the mighty God.”
70 They all asked, “Are you then the Son of God?”
He replied, “You say that I am.”
71 Then they said, “Why do we need any more testimony? We have heard it from his own lips.”
1Then the whole assembly rose and led him off to Pilate. 2 And they began to accuse him, saying, “We have found this man subverting our nation. He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar and claims to be Messiah, a king.”
3 So Pilate asked Jesus, “Are you the king of the Jews?”
“You have said so,” Jesus replied.
4 Then Pilate announced to the chief priests and the crowd, “I find no basis for a charge against this man.”
5 But they insisted, “He stirs up the people all over Judea by his teaching. He started in Galilee and has come all the way here.”
6 On hearing this, Pilate asked if the man was a Galilean. 7 When he learned that Jesus was under Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at that time.
8 When Herod saw Jesus, he was greatly pleased, because for a long time he had been wanting to see him. From what he had heard about him, he hoped to see him perform a sign of some sort. 9 He plied him with many questions, but Jesus gave him no answer. 10 The chief priests and the teachers of the law were standing there, vehemently accusing him. 11 Then Herod and his soldiers ridiculed and mocked him. Dressing him in an elegant robe, they sent him back to Pilate. 12 That day Herod and Pilate became friends—before this they had been enemies.
MOMENT FOR SILENT REFLECTION
PRAYER OF RESPONSE
Eternal Lord, you are constant and vigilant in your care for us. Yet as you tell us you are Lord, we do not believe you. We test you and pry you for signs; we mock and ridicule you when you do not answer our whims. Yet you show kindness to us, even as we go to the folly of judging you.
THE FOURTH CANDLE IS EXTINGUISHED
23 But with loud shouts they insistently demanded that he be crucified, and their shouts prevailed. 24 So Pilate decided to grant their demand. 25 He released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, the one they asked for, and surrendered Jesus to their will.
MOMENT FOR SILENT REFLECTION
PRAYER OF RESPONSE
God of peace and wisdom, free us from the passions of the crowd. Help us to rely not on our own understandings, but on your righteousness. Let us never surrender Jesus to our will, but let us surrender ourselves to you.
26 As the soldiers led him away, they seized Simon from Cyrene, who was on his way in from the country, and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus. 27 A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him. 28 Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children. 29 For the time will come when you will say, ‘Blessed are the childless women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ 30 Then
“‘they will say to the mountains, “Fall on us!”
and to the hills, “Cover us!”’
31 For if people do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”
32 Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. 33 When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. 34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.
35 The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.”
36 The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar 37 and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.”
38 There was a written notice above him, which read: this is the king of the jews.
39 One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”
40 But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? 41 We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”
42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
43 Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
MOMENT FOR SILENT REFLECTION
PRAYER OF RESPONSE
Most loving God, we remember that it was our sin that led your son to the cross. It was our sin that drove in the nails, the thorns, and the spear that pierced his flesh. Yet remember that even in our sin our Lord Jesus went willingly to this sacrifice, in atonement for the wrongs of the whole world.
44 It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, 45 for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 46 Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.
MOMENT FOR SILENT REFLECTION
PRAYER OF RESPONSE
God who sees us through sorrow and loss, at his end you welcomed the spirit of your Son back to your hands. Embrace us as you embrace him. Open yourself to us at the time of our calling. As a father has compassion for his children, show your compassion to us.
50 Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the Council, a good and upright man, 51 who had not consented to their decision and action. He came from the Judean town of Arimathea, and he himself was waiting for the kingdom of God. 52 Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body. 53 Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid. 54 It was Preparation Day, and the Sabbath was about to begin.
55 The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. 56 Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.
MOMENT FOR SILENT REFLECTION
PRAYER OF RESPONSE
God of Everlasting Life, you have shown us that death and burial are the ends of our earthly life, yet we continue beyond this world into your heavenly kingdom. We look forward to your eternal love, promised us by your Son, Jesus Christ, even as we mourn what is lost on earth. Guide our steps through all days of darkness, and bring us safely again into the light of your resurrection. We pray this in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
POSTLUDE HYMN – “Were You There” - Organist Ben Benfer
THE FAITH REFORMED CHURCH
215 MIDDLE ROAD, HAZLET, NJ 07730
Abbreviated Liturgy for Online Worship
Friday, April 10, 2020; Good Friday
PRELUDE HYMN – “The Old Rugged Cross” - Organist Ben Benfer
VOTUM AND SALUTATION
This evening we worship in an adaptation of a traditional Stations of the Cross Tenebrae service. This is a simple service of scripture, prayer, and remembrance. As we move through a series of eight scripture readings chronicling the last days and hours of Jesus Christ you will be invited into times of prayer and reflection. At each “station” a candle will be extinguished. The service will conclude in darkness.
- JESUS PRAYS AT GETHSEMANE (Luke 22:39-46)
39 Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. 40 On reaching the place, he said to them, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.” 41 He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, 42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” 43 An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. 44 And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.
45 When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. 46 “Why are you sleeping?” he asked them. “Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.”
MOMENT FOR SILENT REFLECTION
PRAYER OF RESPONSE
Holy Father, guide us to be prayerful to you. Keep us from all temptation. Strengthen us as you strengthened your own Son, as by an angel of heaven. And direct us according to your will, and not our own.
THE FIRST CANDLE IS EXTINGUISHED
- JESUS IS ARRESTED (Luke 22:47-53)
47 While he was still speaking a crowd came up, and the man who was called Judas, one of the Twelve, was leading them. He approached Jesus to kiss him, 48 but Jesus asked him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?”
49 When Jesus’ followers saw what was going to happen, they said, “Lord, should we strike with our swords?” 50 And one of them struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear.
51 But Jesus answered, “No more of this!” And he touched the man’s ear and healed him.
52 Then Jesus said to the chief priests, the officers of the temple guard, and the elders, who had come for him, “Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come with swords and clubs? 53 Every day I was with you in the temple courts, and you did not lay a hand on me. But this is your hour—when darkness reigns.”
MOMENT FOR SILENT REFLECTION
PRAYER OF RESPONSE
Merciful Lord, awaken us to the impulses of betrayal in our own hearts. Help us to show compassion on those who have betrayed us. Help us to forgive, as you have forgiven us.
THE SECOND CANDLE IS EXTINGUISHED
III. PETER DISOWNS JESUS (Luke 22:54-62
54 Then seizing him, they led him away and took him into the house of the high priest. Peter followed at a distance. 55 And when some there had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter sat down with them. 56 A servant girl saw him seated there in the firelight. She looked closely at him and said, “This man was with him.”
57 But he denied it. “Woman, I don’t know him,” he said.
58 A little later someone else saw him and said, “You also are one of them.”
“Man, I am not!” Peter replied.
59 About an hour later another asserted, “Certainly this fellow was with him, for he is a Galilean.”
60 Peter replied, “Man, I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed. 61 The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: “Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times.” 62 And he went outside and wept bitterly.
MOMENT FOR SILENT REFLECTION
PRAYER OF RESPONSE
Most faithful Lord, how many times have we been Peter? You know our hearts and the love we have, yet you also know the times we have denied you, felt embarrassed to call you Lord, or downplayed our faith. Make us courageous in our conviction that you and you alone are God, in Father, Son, and Spirit.
THE THIRD CANDLE IS EXTINGUISHED
- JESUS STANDS BEFORE PILATE AND HEROD (Luke 22:66-23:12)
66 At daybreak the council of the elders of the people, both the chief priests and the teachers of the law, met together, and Jesus was led before them. 67 “If you are the Messiah,” they said, “tell us.”
Jesus answered, “If I tell you, you will not believe me, 68 and if I asked you, you would not answer. 69 But from now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the mighty God.”
70 They all asked, “Are you then the Son of God?”
He replied, “You say that I am.”
71 Then they said, “Why do we need any more testimony? We have heard it from his own lips.”
1Then the whole assembly rose and led him off to Pilate. 2 And they began to accuse him, saying, “We have found this man subverting our nation. He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar and claims to be Messiah, a king.”
3 So Pilate asked Jesus, “Are you the king of the Jews?”
“You have said so,” Jesus replied.
4 Then Pilate announced to the chief priests and the crowd, “I find no basis for a charge against this man.”
5 But they insisted, “He stirs up the people all over Judea by his teaching. He started in Galilee and has come all the way here.”
6 On hearing this, Pilate asked if the man was a Galilean. 7 When he learned that Jesus was under Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at that time.
8 When Herod saw Jesus, he was greatly pleased, because for a long time he had been wanting to see him. From what he had heard about him, he hoped to see him perform a sign of some sort. 9 He plied him with many questions, but Jesus gave him no answer. 10 The chief priests and the teachers of the law were standing there, vehemently accusing him. 11 Then Herod and his soldiers ridiculed and mocked him. Dressing him in an elegant robe, they sent him back to Pilate. 12 That day Herod and Pilate became friends—before this they had been enemies.
MOMENT FOR SILENT REFLECTION
PRAYER OF RESPONSE
Eternal Lord, you are constant and vigilant in your care for us. Yet as you tell us you are Lord, we do not believe you. We test you and pry you for signs; we mock and ridicule you when you do not answer our whims. Yet you show kindness to us, even as we go to the folly of judging you.
THE FOURTH CANDLE IS EXTINGUISHED
- JESUS IS SENTENCED (Luke 23:23-25)
23 But with loud shouts they insistently demanded that he be crucified, and their shouts prevailed. 24 So Pilate decided to grant their demand. 25 He released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, the one they asked for, and surrendered Jesus to their will.
MOMENT FOR SILENT REFLECTION
PRAYER OF RESPONSE
God of peace and wisdom, free us from the passions of the crowd. Help us to rely not on our own understandings, but on your righteousness. Let us never surrender Jesus to our will, but let us surrender ourselves to you.
- JESUS IS CRUCIFIED (Luke 23:26-43)
26 As the soldiers led him away, they seized Simon from Cyrene, who was on his way in from the country, and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus. 27 A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him. 28 Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children. 29 For the time will come when you will say, ‘Blessed are the childless women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ 30 Then
“‘they will say to the mountains, “Fall on us!”
and to the hills, “Cover us!”’
31 For if people do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”
32 Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. 33 When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. 34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.
35 The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.”
36 The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar 37 and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.”
38 There was a written notice above him, which read: this is the king of the jews.
39 One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”
40 But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? 41 We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”
42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
43 Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
MOMENT FOR SILENT REFLECTION
PRAYER OF RESPONSE
Most loving God, we remember that it was our sin that led your son to the cross. It was our sin that drove in the nails, the thorns, and the spear that pierced his flesh. Yet remember that even in our sin our Lord Jesus went willingly to this sacrifice, in atonement for the wrongs of the whole world.
- JESUS DIES (Luke 23:44-46)
44 It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, 45 for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 46 Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.
MOMENT FOR SILENT REFLECTION
PRAYER OF RESPONSE
God who sees us through sorrow and loss, at his end you welcomed the spirit of your Son back to your hands. Embrace us as you embrace him. Open yourself to us at the time of our calling. As a father has compassion for his children, show your compassion to us.
- JESUS IS BURIED (Luke 23:50-56)
50 Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the Council, a good and upright man, 51 who had not consented to their decision and action. He came from the Judean town of Arimathea, and he himself was waiting for the kingdom of God. 52 Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body. 53 Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid. 54 It was Preparation Day, and the Sabbath was about to begin.
55 The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. 56 Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.
MOMENT FOR SILENT REFLECTION
PRAYER OF RESPONSE
God of Everlasting Life, you have shown us that death and burial are the ends of our earthly life, yet we continue beyond this world into your heavenly kingdom. We look forward to your eternal love, promised us by your Son, Jesus Christ, even as we mourn what is lost on earth. Guide our steps through all days of darkness, and bring us safely again into the light of your resurrection. We pray this in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
POSTLUDE HYMN – “Were You There” - Organist Ben Benfer