Good Friday Liturgy # 3

This service focuses on intercessory prayers.
Click here for this service in a downloadable .doc file.

Good Friday Liturgy

INTRODUCTION (Philippians 2. 5-11)
Though Christ was by nature divine,
Christ did not cling to equality with God,
but in utter self-emptying, took the form of a slave,
and was born as a human.
God have mercy.
Appearing in human form,
he humbled himself,
and became obedient to death,
even death on a cross.
Christ have mercy.
Therefore God has highly exalted Christ,
with a name above all others,
that every knee should bend, and every tongue confess
that Jesus Christ reigns supreme, to the glory of God the Giver of Life.
God have mercy, and grant us your peace.

KYRIE or other MUSIC

PRAYER
God of love, look with mercy upon your beloved people, for whom Jesus was willing to suffer. Delivered into our hands, he bore our sin in his body and our anguish in his soul. In him we behold the fullness of our human weakness and your divine grace. In your vulnerability for us, in your forgiveness, in your life-giving love, may we, and all who remember this day, find healing, liberation from our sin, and new life in you, that we may walk in your ways, in the power of the Holy Spirit, to your eternal glory. Amen.

SILENT PRAYER

OLD TESTAMENT (Isaiah 52.13 – 53.12)
My servant, you shall prosper;
you shall be exalted and lifted up, and shall be very high.
Just as there were many who were astonished at you—
so marred was your appearance, beyond human semblance,
and your form beyond that of mortals—
so you shall startle many nations;
rulers shall shut their mouths because of you;
for that which had not been told them they shall see,
and that which they had not heard they shall contemplate.

Who would have believed what you have just heard?
And to whom has the arm of the Holy One been revealed?
For you grew up before God like a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground;
you had no form or majesty to impress us,
nothing in your appearance that we should desire you.

You were despised and rejected;
one who knew suffering and was familiar with pain;
people despised you and looked away,
and considered you worthless.

Surely you have borne our weakness and carried our diseases.
We thought you were being stricken by God,
punished and humiliated—
but you suffered because of our sins,
and were wounded by the evil we have done.
You were punished, and yet we are made whole;
for in your suffering we find healing.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have all turned to our own way;
in you God has exposed our violence.


SILENT PRAYERS OF CONFESSION

You were oppressed and afflicted,
yet you did not open your mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so you did not open your mouth.
By a perversion of justice you were taken away.
Who could have imagined your future?
For you were cut off from the land of the living,
stricken for the transgression of my people.
They made your grave with the wicked
and your tomb with the rich,
although you had done no violence,
and there was no deceit in your mouth.

Yet God delights in you, who were crushed with pain,
You shall see your offspring,
and shall prolong your days;
through you God’s will shall prevail.

Through your anguish you shall see light;
and knowing the truth, you will find peace.
O righteous one, God’s servant,
you hall make many righteous,
as you suffer for their sins.

Therefore God will allot you a portion with the great,
and you shall divide the spoil with the strong;
because you poured out yourself to death,
and were numbered with the transgressors;
you bore the sin of many,
yet forgave the transgressors.

SONG

NEW TESTAMENT Hebrews 10.14-23

PSALTER Psalm 31.1-16

GOSPEL from John 18.33 – 19.30

REFLECTION

INTERCESSORY PRAYERS
Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world.
Have mercy on us.
In your forgiveness in the face of evil,
receive our sins, and grant us peace.

By the mystery of your love in the face of violence,
Show us your way, O God.
Put to death all that is evil in us,
that we may never judge, blame or accuse your children;
that we may never harm, abuse or exploit your Beloved.
Grant that we may die with Christ; and raise us to new life.
Into your hands we commit our spirit.
Silence

O Christ, give us faith to trust your presence in our struggles.
Give us grace to face our trials with love and courage.
O Christ, in your humility, your struggle and your suffering,
give comfort and healing to all who suffer.
We pray for all who are afflicted in body, mind or spirit.
For the hungry, the homeless, the destitute and the poor.
For the sick, and those who struggle with addiction.
For those in loneliness, fear and anguish.
For those who face temptation, doubt or despair.
For relationships that are strained and spirits that are broken.
For the sorrowful and bereaved, and all who experience loss.
For all who are oppressed, abused, or exploited.
For prisoners, and those who face cruelty, torture or execution.
For refugees, immigrants and all victims of war.
In your mercy, God, comfort and heal your Beloved children.
In Christ on the cross you are present with them.
Grant them knowledge of your love,
and stir up in us the grace to minister to their needs.
Silence
We pray for your holy Church, the Body of Christ.
Impart to us the Spirit of gentleness and peace,
the Spirit of compassion and forgiveness.

We pray for the unity of all believers, and those of other faiths,
and those unable to believe. May we learn your way of love.
For the sake of the crucified Christ,
help us to resist evil, injustice and oppression
in whatever forms they present themselves.
We pray for all who exercise power in the world.
We pray that your Empire of Grace may prevail
over the empires of privilege, exclusion and violence.
God, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. God, have mercy.
Silence

THE PRAYER OF JESUS (Lord’s Prayer”)”

SONG

THE SEVEN LAST WORDS

SILENT REFLECTION

You may remain as long as you wish, in silent prayer.

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