Good Friday Liturgy

This is a copy of a Good Friday liturgy that I created in 2006 for a youth Easter Camp, please feel free to use it in your Good Friday preparations.  Prior to the camp we made a coffin out of wood, painted it and painted the lid in gloss white paint so we could write on the lid, I brought some textas and candles. We set the space up as a half circle, with the cross and a lit candle in the centre.

Introduction:

Liturgy - “God on a Stick” – Link (From the book Alternative Worship)

Readings:

Mark 15:1-15
Mark 15:16-20
Mark 15:21-30
Mark 15:33-41 (as the death of Jesus was read out the candle in the centre was blown out)
Mark 15:42 - 47

Read: Funeral Blues by Auden

Play: Peter Gabriel – “I Grieve”

As the song finished the cross was taken out and the coffin replaced it’s space.

Liturgy – “I Wonder”

I wonder
I wonder how the disciples spent the night
Hiding from the soldiers
Hiding from each other
Hiding from their shame
Their regret
Their failure as friends and as brothers
How they consoled each other
How they ate
Where they were
Where they hid
Was it cold
Was it dark
Was it hidden away
I wonder where the women were
How they spent their night
How they consoled each other
How they dealt with their grief
I wonder if they were consoled by the disciples
If they spent the night alone
Crying, screaming, sobbing….I wonder how Mary spent the night
How she cried over the death of her child
How she could have slept ever again
Exhaustion and dehydration kicking in
Headaches, nausea, cramps…
Reminding her of the pain of carrying a child
The months of pregnancy
The pains of childbirth
He was my son
This isn’t how I pictured it
I used to clean his wounds
Now all I can do is grieve his loss
This doesn’t make sense
I’m supposed to go first
I’m not supposed to bury my son
Definitely not one so blessed
So innocent
So, so…
So mineI wonder how Judas felt
What was going through his mind
This doesn’t make sense
I’m confused
This isn’t the way that it should have gone
This isn’t how I planned it
He was the messiah wasn’t he?
He was the one to bring the end to all evil
The one, the king to rule over the world
The one to bring redemption
I thought he was going to be confrontational
Be a revolutionary
Be violent
Destroy those who stood between Israel and freedom
It was the time
I went to get the kings men,
To arrest Jesus
To bring the conflict
It started out ok
Mark with his sword
Soldiers ready to battle
But
But
But he went peacefully
Not a struggle
He even healed the man’s ear…
This isn’t how I planned it
This isn’t how we planned it
It doesn’t make senseI wonder how Peter felt
Grieving the loss of his brother
Of his friend
Of his master
I remember first meeting him
He was different than anyone I knew
He called, I followed,
I’m still not sure why
He spoke with compassion
He excited me
Sometimes to the point that I’d say silly things…
But still he’d love me as a brother
Heh, what was I thinking “Let’s build tents for you all to stay in”
He loved me still though
He called me the rock
Although I don’t feel like one right now
I should have been killed with him
I should have been at his right hand
I should have confessed him out loud
Instead
Instead I denied him
I was afraid
I don’t get it
He should be here now
This isn’t how I pictured it
This isn’t how I planned it
This doesn’t make sense
I’d give anything to see his face again
To hold his hand again
To eat with him again
To hear his voice
Just one more time
I don’t understand…

I wonder how all the other disciples felt
I’m confused
I don’t want to go back to fishing
Where to now
He was the one…
Wasn’t he?
He was the one that was going to bring about peace
This isn’t the way I pictured it
Only days before we entered the town to cheers and applause
Now
Now we hide, our leader dead
Our friend dead
Our brother dead
Our messiah dead
I’m confused
Why did this happen
He was the one wasn’t he?
Am I to blame?
Could I have done something
Said something
Stopped him from dying

I wonder how you feel
You’ve been with him on his journey
You were with him as he was born
You were with him when he was baptized
When he was tempted
When he healed a leper
When he fed thousands
When he walked on water
When he made friends
When he ate
When he was on trial
When he died
You’ve been a part of the story
Just as much as the disciples
Even more so
You’ve been in on all the inside jokes
All the prophecies
You stayed awake while the disciples could only sleep
You were there when he met the woman at the well
When he was challenged by a woman
When he healed the dead child
You were there when he turned all the tables over in the temple
When he was happy
When he was sad
When he cried to God for his life
When the children of the town sat on his lap
And we don’t get it
We don’t understand, any more than the disciples did
He’s dead
Our messiah is dead
Our leader is dead
Our friend is dead
Our brother is dead
This isn’t the way that we’d planned it
This isn’t the way we’d pictured it

I wonder how you’re feeling right now
What questions you have
What tears you want to shed
What memory of Jesus you hold onto tight
What’s the thing about him that you want to remember
What’s your favorite story
Your favorite memory
Your favorite lesson

I wonder if you had a question what it’d be
If you could see his face one last time what you’d say
What’s on your mind
What’s on your heart
What do you want to ask

Me
Me, I’m full of questions
I’m full of stories
I’m full of tears
But if I had one question
One thing I could ask I know what it’d be
I want to know
Why?

- here’s where I invited the community to walk to the coffin in the centre of the room and write their questions, their feelings, their favorite Jesus story on the coffin’s lid, we had candles to light, pens to write with and lots of time.

- I’d placed the textas and candles on the coffin as I spoke the wondering liturgy, walking around the coffin, occasionally placing my hand on it, acknowledging the coffin as a piece in the story, in the liturgy I’d ask a number of the questions to the coffin, without an answer…

- during the following time we played Peter Gabriel’s “I Grieve” and Lou Rhode’s “Why”

End….