Good Friday

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Friends, on this Good Friday, the darkness descends. Yesterday, we broke bread together and shared the cup of the new covenant, just as Jesus and the disciples did so long ago. We ended the evening before it was really finished. Tonight, we tell the rest of the story. Tonight, we walk with Jesus all the way to the cross. We make the journey not out of obligation, but because this story happened and is always happening. So tonight, come and hear the tale. Come and sit with the darkness and share the tragedy. Come, and let us pray:
 
One: Holy One, Even as we go about our daily lives, we are caught in the tension of light and shadow, death and life.

All: Even as the world unfolds with the promise of spring, we come to remember a story of betrayal and grief.

One: Keep us aware of your presence in the darkness.

All: Fan the fire of hope in our hearts when all seems lost. Amen.

When it was evening, he took his place with the twelve disciples, and while they were eating he said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me.” And they became greatly distressed and began to say to him one after another, “Surely not I, Lord?” He answered, “The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me. The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that one by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that one not to have been born.” Judas, who betrayed him, said, “Surely not I, Rabbi?” He replied, “You have said so.”

… When they had sung the hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

Then Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away because of me this night, for it is written,
‘I will strike the shepherd,
     and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’
 “But after I am raised up, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.” Peter said to him, “Even if all fall away because of you, I will never fall away.” Jesus said to him, “Truly I tell you, this very night, before the cock crows, you will deny me three times.” Peter said to him, “Even though I must die with you, I will not deny you.” And so said all the disciples.

If you don't know the kind of person I am
and I don't know the kind of person you are
a pattern that others made may prevail in the world
and following the wrong god home we may miss our star.
 
For there is many a small betrayal in the mind,
a shrug that lets the fragile sequence break
sending with shouts the horrible errors of childhood
storming out to play through the broken dike.

And as elephants parade holding each elephant's tail,
but if one wanders the circus won't find the park,
I call it cruel and maybe the root of all cruelty
to know what occurs but not recognize the fact.
 
And so I appeal to a voice, to something shadowy,
a remote important region in all who talk:
though we could fool each other, we should consider—
lest the parade of our mutual life get lost in the dark.
 
For it is important that awake people be awake,
or a breaking line may discourage them back to sleep;
the signals we give — yes or no, or maybe —
should be clear: the darkness around us is deep.

It Was a Sad and Solemn Night
Isaac Watts
Clint Williams and Carolyn Sargent

It was a sad and solemn night,
when powers of earth and hell arose
against the Child of God's delight,
whom friends betrayed to wicked foes.

Before the mournful scene began,
our Jesus blessed and broke the bread;
What love through all these action ran,
what wondrous words of love were said!

Share this, my feast, till time shall end,
in memory of your dying friend:
Meet at my table and recall
the love which God has shown to all.

O Christ your feast we celebrate;
we show your death, we sing your name,
Till you return, and we shall eat
the marriage supper of the Lamb.

Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” He took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee and began to be grieved and agitated. Then he said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and stay awake with me.” And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me, yet not what I want but what you want.” Then he came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, “So, could you not stay awake with me one hour? Stay awake and pray that you may not come into the time of trial; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Again he went away for the second time and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.” Again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. So leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words. Then he came to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? Now the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Get up, let us be going. Look, my betrayer is at hand.”

The grass never sleeps.
Or the roses.
Nor does the lily have a secret eye that shuts until morning.
 
Jesus said, wait with me. But the disciples slept.
 
The cricket has such splendid fringe on its feet,
and it sings, have you noticed, with its whole body,
and heaven knows if it ever sleeps.
 
Jesus said, wait with me. And maybe the stars did, maybe the wind wound itself
into a silver tree, and didn't move, maybe
the lake far away, where once he walked as on a
blue pavement,
lay still and waited, wild awake.
 
Oh the dear bodies, slumped and eye-shut, that could not
keep that vigil, how they must have wept,
so utterly human, knowing this too
must be a part of the story

When Jesus Wept
William Billings
Clint Williams and Carolyn Sargent

When Jesus wept, the falling tear
in mercy flowed beyond all bound;
When Jesus groaned, a trembling fear
seized all the guilty world around.

While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, arrived; with him was a large crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the elders of the people. Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, “The one I will kiss is the man; arrest him.” At once he came up to Jesus and said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” and kissed him. Jesus said to him, “Friend, do what you are here to do.” Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and arrested him. Suddenly one of those with Jesus put his hand on his sword, drew it, and struck the slave of the high priest, cutting off his ear. Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place, for all who take the sword will die by the sword. Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then would the scriptures be fulfilled, which say it must happen in this way?” At that hour Jesus said to the crowds, “Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest me as though I were a rebel? Day after day I sat in the temple teaching, and you did not arrest me. But all this has taken place, so that the scriptures of the prophets may be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples deserted him and fled.

When your eyes are tired
the world is tired also.
When your vision has gone,
no part of the world can find you.
Time to go into the dark
where the night has eyes
to recognize its own.
There you can be sure
you are not beyond love.
The dark will be your home
tonight.
The night will give you a horizon
further than you can see.
You must learn one thing.
The world was made to be free in.
Give up all the other worlds
except the one to which you belong.
Sometimes it takes darkness and the sweet
confinement of your aloneness
to learn
anything or anyone
that does not bring you alive
is too small for you.

Come Unto Me
Matthew J. Armstrong
Carolyn Sargent and Glenda Stansbury

Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. A female servant came to him and said, “You also were with Jesus the Galilean.” But he denied it before all of them, saying, “I do not know what you are talking about.” When he went out to the porch, another female servant saw him, and she said to the bystanders, “This man was with Jesus the Nazarene.” Again he denied it with an oath, “I do not know the man.” After a little while the bystanders came up and said to Peter, “Certainly you are also one of them, for your accent betrays you.” Then he began to curse, and he swore an oath, “I do not know the man!” At that moment the cock crowed. Then Peter remembered what Jesus had said: “Before the cock crows, you will deny me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly.

“Judas, Peter” by Lucy Shaw
because we are all
betrayers, taking
silver and eating
body and blood and asking
(guilty) is it I and hearing
him say yes
it would be simple for us all
to rush out
and hang ourselves

but if we find grace
to cry and wait
after the voice of morning
has crowed in our ears
clearly enough
to break out hearts
he will be there
to ask us each again
do you love me?

Ah, Holy Jesus
Clint Williams

Ah, holy Jesus, how have you offended,
that mortal judgment has on you descended?
By foes derided, by your own rejected,
O most afflicted!

Latin
O Iesu sancte,
hanc tractationem non mereris.
Te iudicavimus et deceptimus.
A tuis amicis reiectus et a tuis hostibus castigatus, o dolor!

Greek
O, agie lisou, den sou axizei afti i metacheririsi.
Sas echoume krinei kai sas exapatisei.
Aporriptetai apo tous filous sou kai timoreitai apo
tous echthrous sou, thlipsi!

Hebrew
Hu, yeshua hakdush, inch reuy lichas haza.
Shpatnu vehateinu otech.
Nidha al yedi havrich veyooser al yedi oyvech,
hu tsa'ar!

Now Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” Jesus said, “You say so.” But when he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he did not answer. Then Pilate said to him, “Do you not hear how many accusations they make against you?” But he gave him no answer, not even to a single charge, so that the governor was greatly amazed.

Now at the festival the governor was accustomed to release a prisoner for the crowd, anyone whom they wanted. At that time they had a notorious prisoner called Jesus Barabbas. So after they had gathered, Pilate said to them, “Whom do you want me to release for you, Jesus Barabbas or Jesus who is called the Messiah?” For he realized that it was out of jealousy that they had handed him over. While he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent word to him, “Have nothing to do with that innocent man, for today I have suffered a great deal because of a dream about him.” Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus killed. The governor again said to them, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you?” And they said, “Barabbas.” Pilate said to them, “Then what should I do with Jesus who is called the Messiah?” All of them said, “Let him be crucified!” Then he asked, “Why, what evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Let him be crucified!”

So when Pilate saw that he could do nothing but rather that a riot was beginning, he took some water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves.” Then the people as a whole answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!” So he released Barabbas for them, and after flogging Jesus he handed him over to be crucified.

Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor’s headquarters, and they gathered the whole cohort around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and after twisting some thorns into a crown they put it on his head. They put a reed in his right hand and knelt before him and mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” They spat on him and took the reed and struck him on the head. After mocking him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.

The thing is
to love life, to love it even
when you have no stomach for it
and everything you’ve held dear
crumbles like burnt paper in your hands,
your throat filled with the silt of it.
When grief sits with you, its tropical heat
thickening the air, heavy as water
more fit for gills than lungs;
when grief weights you down like your own flesh
only more of it, an obesity of grief,
you think, How can a body withstand this?
Then you hold life like a face
between your palms, a plain face,
no charming smile, no violet eyes,
and you say, yes, I will take you
I will love you, again.

O Sacred Head, Now Wounded
arr. Jim Brickman
Glenda Stansbury

As they went out, they came upon a man from Cyrene named Simon; they compelled this man to carry his cross. And when they came to a place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull), they offered him wine to drink, mixed with gall, but when he tasted it, he would not drink it. And when they had crucified him, they divided his clothes among themselves by casting lots; then they sat down there and kept watch over him. Over his head they put the charge against him, which read, “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.”

Then two rebels were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. Those who passed by derided him, shaking their heads and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes and elders, were mocking him, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down from the cross now, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he wants to, for he said, ‘I am God’s Son.’ ” The rebels who were crucified with him also taunted him in the same way.

one
he lays his left hand along the beam
hand that moulded clay into fluttering birds
hand that cupped wildflowers to learn their peace
hand that stroked the bee’s soft back and touched death’s sting
 
two
he stretches his right hand across the grain
hand that blessed a dead corpse quick
hand that smeared blind spittle into sight
hand that burgeoned bread, smoothed down the rumpled sea
 
three
he stands laborious
sagging, split
homo erectus, poor bare forked thing
hung on nails like a picture
 
he is not beautiful
blood sweats from him in rain
 
far off where we are lost, desert dry
thunder begins its quiet roar
the first drops startle us alive
the cloud no bigger
than a man’s hand

The Crucifixion
Samuel Barber
Clint Williams with Carolyn Sargent

At the cry of the first bird
They began to crucify Thee, O Swan!

Never shall lament cease because of that.
It was like the parting of day from night.

Ah, sore was the suffering borne
By the body of Mary's Son,

But sorer still to Him was the grief
Which for His sake

Came upon His Mother.

From noon on, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. And about three o’clock Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” When some of the bystanders heard it, they said, “This man is calling for Elijah.” At once one of them ran and got a sponge, filled it with sour wine, put it on a stick, and gave it to him to drink. But the others said, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.” Then Jesus cried again with a loud voice and breathed his last.

These are the days when the sky is filled with
 the odor of lilac, when darkness becomes desire,
 when there is nothing that does not wish to be born.
 These are the days of spring when the fate
 of the present is a breezy fullness, when the world’s
 great gift for fiction gilds even the dirt we walk on.
 On such days we feel we could live forever, yet all
 the while we know we cannot. This is the doubleness
 in which we dwell. The great master of weather
 and everything else, if he wishes, can bring forth
 a dark of a different kind, one hidden by darkness
 so deep it cannot be seen. No one escapes.
 Not even the man who saved others, and believed
 he was the chosen son. When the dark came down
 even he cried out, ‘Father, father, why have you
 forsaken me?’ But to his words no answer came.

Psalm 130
Clint Williams

Out of the deep have I called unto thee, O Lord: Lord, hear my voice

O let thine ears consider well: the voice of my complaint

If thou, Lord, wilt be extreme to mark what is done amiss: O Lord, who may abide it?

For there is mercy with thee: therefore shalt thou be feared

I look for the Lord; my soul doth wait for him: In his word is my trust

My soul fleeth unto the Lord: Before the morning watch

O Israel, trust in the Lord, for with the Lord there is mercy:
And with him is plentеous redemption

And he shall redeem Israel: from all his sins

Many women were also there, looking on from a distance; they had followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to him. Among them were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.

When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea named Joseph, who also was himself a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus; then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. So Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth and laid it in his new tomb, which he had hewn in the rock. He then rolled a great stone to the door of the tomb and went away. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb.

One: This day let all stand still in silence, in sorrow.

All: Sun and moon be still. Earth be still.

One: Still the waters.

All: Still the wind.

One: Let the ground gape in stunned lamentation.

All: Let it weep as it receives what it thinks it will not give up.

One: Let it groan as it gathers the One who was thought forever stilled.

All: Time be still.

One: Watch and wait. Still.

Lament on Passion Chorale (Herzlich thut mich verlangen)
arr. Rebecca Groom Te Velde
Carolyn Sargent

Tonight, this is where the story ends—in heartbreak and lament, with absolute uncertainty about everything except that the grave has swallowed up our teacher and Lord, and all our hope along with him. The light is gone, friends, and we are left with the mystery of the unknown. We leave now in silence.