order of service can be downloaded by clicking here
A funeral service for Jesus (Good Friday)
Just in case you have some questions, allow us to (try and) explain:
We are so spoiled by knowing the ending. This can however cause us to forget about the reality of the emotions the characters in those accounts had to endure. Very much so, the same for Jesus’ friends and family.
Over the last 6 months or so, I have been (even more) amazed by the stories in our Bibles as I tried to ‘enter into them’. So in this service, we will try and put ourselves into the shoes of Jesus’ family and closest friends as they mourned His death. They did not have a funeral for Jesus, but they saw His body and knew that He died.
Having a service that is funeral-like on Good Friday, can hammer home to us, in a very deep, gut-wrenching way that Jesus really died. (forgot the “it’s Friday .. but Sunday is coming liturgy” .. for in that very moment, that wasn’t foremost on their minds !!) This service doesn’t talk about the forthcoming resurrection, since we are putting ourselves into the shoes of the disciples and Jesus’ family; just after He died they were in a time of shock, of wondering and not fully understanding.
I recently asked our young people how they might feel if they entered into this ‘story’. One of them said she would be thoroughly confused if standing at the foot of the cross, witnessing the sight of that amazing person, hanging there.
So no songs about “up from the grave He Arose”, there’ll be no “Oh, Happy Day” – let us remember what He truly had to go through before we get to Sunday.