Welcome to the CHS Vientiane Worship Service Resources
We invite you to take time, in families or very small groups of friends, to responsibly share space to worship God together. If you are on your own, please be assured we are together in the Spirit and if you have needs, or just want to share concerns, please don't be afraid to reach out and share these with the CHS community. Contact details can be found on our church website at: http://www.the-chs.org/
~ Pastor Tony
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Good Friday Devotions
Donald Marsden
Good Friday tends to be a sombre day centred on our reflections on the
suffering and death of Jesus, and this worship guide aims to do just that.
The readings prescribed for today are long and complex. For this service
I have shortened them somewhat but the full readings are available at:
Scripture Sentence
But he was pierced for our
transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,and by his wounds we are healed.
(Isaiah 53: 5)
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,and by his wounds we are healed.
(Isaiah 53: 5)
Opening Hymn
Collect for Good Friday
Almighty God,
we pray you graciously to behold this your family,
we pray you graciously to behold this your family,
for whom our Lord Jesus Christ was willing to be betrayed,
and given into the hands of sinners,
and to suffer death upon the cross;
who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
Old Testament reading: Isaiah 53: 3-9, 11-12
He was despised
and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
4 Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
8 By oppression and judgement he was taken away.
Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was punished.[e]
9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
8 By oppression and judgement he was taken away.
Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was punished.[e]
9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.
After he has suffered,
he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.
he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.
Hymn
1 My God, my God,
why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me,
so far from my cries of anguish?
2 My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,
by night, but I find no rest.
Why are you so far from saving me,
so far from my cries of anguish?
2 My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,
by night, but I find no rest.
6 But I am a worm and not a man,
scorned by everyone, despised by the people.
7 All who see me mock me;
they hurl insults, shaking their heads.
8 “He trusts in the Lord,” they say,
“let the Lord rescue him.
Let him deliver him,
since he delights in him.”
scorned by everyone, despised by the people.
7 All who see me mock me;
they hurl insults, shaking their heads.
8 “He trusts in the Lord,” they say,
“let the Lord rescue him.
Let him deliver him,
since he delights in him.”
9 Yet you brought me out of the womb;
you made me trust in you, even at my mother’s breast.
10 From birth I was cast on you;
from my mother’s womb you have been my God.
you made me trust in you, even at my mother’s breast.
10 From birth I was cast on you;
from my mother’s womb you have been my God.
22 I will declare your name to my
people;
in the assembly I will praise you.
23 You who fear the Lord, praise him!
All you descendants of Jacob, honour him!
Revere him, all you descendants of Israel!
24 For he has not despised or scorned
the suffering of the afflicted one;
he has not hidden his face from him
but has listened to his cry for help.
in the assembly I will praise you.
23 You who fear the Lord, praise him!
All you descendants of Jacob, honour him!
Revere him, all you descendants of Israel!
24 For he has not despised or scorned
the suffering of the afflicted one;
he has not hidden his face from him
but has listened to his cry for help.
27 All the ends of the earth
will remember and turn to the Lord,
and all the families of the nations
will bow down before him,
28 for dominion belongs to the Lord
and he rules over the nations.
will remember and turn to the Lord,
and all the families of the nations
will bow down before him,
28 for dominion belongs to the Lord
and he rules over the nations.
29 All the rich of the earth will
feast and worship;
all who go down to the dust will kneel before him—
those who cannot keep themselves alive.
30 Posterity will serve him;
future generations will be told about the Lord.
31 They will proclaim his righteousness,
declaring to a people yet unborn:
He has done it!
all who go down to the dust will kneel before him—
those who cannot keep themselves alive.
30 Posterity will serve him;
future generations will be told about the Lord.
31 They will proclaim his righteousness,
declaring to a people yet unborn:
He has done it!
Epistle:
Hebrews 10: 19-25
19 Therefore,
brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy
Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the
curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of
God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the
full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse
us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold
unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us
consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up
meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one
another—and all the more as you see the day approaching.
Hymn
Gospel: John 19: 1-42
Then Pilate took Jesus and had him
flogged. 2 The soldiers
twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in
a purple robe 3 and went up to
him again and again, saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” And they slapped
him in the face.
4 Once more Pilate
came out and said to the Jews gathered there, “Look, I am bringing him out to
you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him.” 5 When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the
purple robe, Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!”
6 As soon as the
chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, “Crucify! Crucify!”
But Pilate answered, “You take him and
crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him.”
7 The Jewish
leaders insisted, “We have a law, and according to that law he must
die, because he claimed to be the Son of God.”
8 When Pilate heard
this, he was even more afraid, 9 and he went back
inside the palace.“Where do you come from?” he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him
no answer. 10 “Do you refuse to
speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don’t you realise I have power either to free you
or to crucify you?”
11 Jesus
answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you
from above.Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a
greater sin.”
12 From then on,
Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jewish leaders kept shouting, “If you
let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a
king opposes Caesar.”
13 When Pilate heard
this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge’s seat at a place
known as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic is Gabbatha). 14 It was the day of Preparation of the Passover; it was
about noon.
“Here is your king,” Pilate said to the
Jews.
15 But they shouted,
“Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!”
“Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate asked.
“We have no king but Caesar,” the chief
priests answered.
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.”
and cast lots for my garment.”
So this is what the soldiers did.
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.
31 Now it was the
day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because
the Jewish leaders did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath,
they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. 32 The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the
first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other.33 But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already
dead, they did not break his legs. 34 Instead, one of
the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of
blood and water. 35 The man who saw
it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he
tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. 36 These things happened so that the scripture would be
fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken,” 37 and, as another scripture says, “They will look on the
one they have pierced.”
38 Later, Joseph of
Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of
Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s
permission, he came and took the body away. 39 He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier
had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes,
about seventy-five pounds.[f] 40 Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the
spices, in strips of linen.This was in accordance with Jewish burial
customs. 41 At the place
where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in
which no one had ever been laid.42 Because it was
the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they
laid Jesus there.
Reflective Hymn:
1 Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Oh! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble;
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
2 Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb?
Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb?
Oh! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble;
Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb?
4 Were you there when the stone was rolled away?
Were you there when the stone was rolled away?
Oh! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble;
Were you there when the stone was rolled away?
Intercessions:
In this holy time, as we remember
the sacrifice of the cross, we offer the prayers of our hearts, that through
them we may be transformed to be servants of justice, love and peace.
We pray for those suffering in the
pandemic:
Almighty and ever-living God, the only support of our
human weakness, look with compassion upon the sorrowful condition of your
children who suffer because of this pandemic; relieve the pain of the sick,
give strength to those who care for them, welcome into your peace those who
have died and, throughout this time of tribulation, grant that we may all find
comfort in your merciful love. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
We give praise for Jesus’ gift of love for
us:
Lord, we thank you and praise you,
For when we were nothing,
you gave us all you had.
you gave us all you had.
When we wanted nothing to do with you,
you came looking for us
to bring us home as lost children, rejoicing.
you came looking for us
to bring us home as lost children, rejoicing.
When we swore we never knew you,
you loved us and called us your friends.
you loved us and called us your friends.
When we shouted, ‘Crucify him!’
you asked God to forgive us.
you asked God to forgive us.
When we abandoned you to your lonely journey
of suffering,
you shouldered our cross and carried it for us.
you shouldered our cross and carried it for us.
You could have done differently.
You could have compromised;
negotiated;
pleaded;
dazzled them with miracles;
called on your Father to intervene.
Yet you did not.
You submitted to their sentence,
bent your back to their whips,
spread your hands to their nails,
and gave them your life as they demanded, all for us.
The agony of love.
The costliness of passion.
The price of a new life for us sinners.
The costliness of passion.
The price of a new life for us sinners.
We cannot comprehend such love.
We can only wonder
and celebrate and strive with all our hearts to follow you.
We can only wonder
and celebrate and strive with all our hearts to follow you.
Amen.
Final hymn
Closing prayers
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God,
we pray you to set your passion, cross,
and death between your judgment and our souls,
now and in the hour of our death.
Give mercy and grace to the living;
pardon and rest to the dead;
to your holy Church peace and concord;
and to us sinners everlasting life and glory;
for with the Father and the Holy Spirit you
live and reign, one God, now and for ever.
live and reign, one God, now and for ever.
Amen.
Almighty God,
make us steadfast
witnesses of our Saviour's reign,
that we may live in the pattern of Christ,
who was faithful in all things, even death,
and whose darkest hour gives light and hope to us.
that we may live in the pattern of Christ,
who was faithful in all things, even death,
and whose darkest hour gives light and hope to us.
Amen.
Reprise:
