Good Friday
Digital Liturgy
April 10
Our hearts desire is for you to participate and engage in the Gospel story of old. So we have prepared this resource so that you can take your family, roommates, or friends through it. A liturgy is simply the rhythm or order of a church gathering. Ours will be much like our Sunday Gatherings, It will include: (1) a Call to Worship and Prayer with Scripture readings, singing a song, and brief message. This will be followed by (2) a Call to Respond through Communion and Songs. Finally, (3) We will conclude with a Benediction.
Call to Worship
Today is Good Friday. For followers of Jesus Christ it is indeed a good day. It is the day Jesus took away our sins, wiped away our shame, and vanquished evil for good. Yet is is also dark because it is the day our King was crucified died because of our sin, because of the evil and brokenness in our world. It is the day God in Jesus took our place and died for our sin. Good Friday is bittersweet. We rejoice in our redemption, yet we grieve at what our sin cost God.
Pick a person to open in prayer
Song: Nothing But the Blood
Scripture Reading
Pick one person to read this aloud
16 Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified. So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. 17 Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). 18 There they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle.
19 Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. 20 Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. 21 The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews.” 22 Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”
23 When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. 24 “Let’s not tear it,” they said to one another. “Let’s decide by lot who will get it.” This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled that said,
“They divided my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.”
So this is what the soldiers did.
John 19:16-24
Song: Before the Throne of God Above
Scripture Reading
Pick one person to read this aloud
25 Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman, here is your son,” 27 and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.
28 Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” 29 A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. 30 When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
John 19:25-30
Message
A Time of Response
Take a few minutes of silence.
Do you believe Jesus is who He says He is?
Where does the Spirit need to help you in your unbelief?
Has duty replaced affection or worry replaced trust?
Share what you sense the Spirit saying with those around you. Take a moment to pray over each other and partake in communion, thanking God for His gift of grace in your life.
Respond through Communion
We encourage you to take Communion together, to help you do that our friends at CA Church have provided a helpful guide.
Note:
1. Whoever prepares the elements should wash their hand thoroughly, pre-separate the pieces of bread, and avoid sharing a cup.
2. The Scriptures command us to examine our hearts (1 Corinthians 11) before participating in Communion.
Respond by Singing
Song: Man of Sorrows
Benediction
Our Saviour is a King but He did not come to rule on a throne, He rules from the Cross. While His kingdom is not from this world, it is for this world, and it is for you. Our Saviour sacrificial death is enough for to pay the wages for our sin, to wipe away all of our shame, and vanquish the powers of darkness. It is finished because Jesus completed the work that His Father sent Him to do and all of Scripture points towards. Pray that this reality would be made known to those who don’t yet know it.
Read this passage aloud together
When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
Colossians 2:13-15