Good Friday Worship Service

Series Focus – “Look Up”

In the world’s first week, God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh. The pattern was set. In the world’s greatest week, God redeemed the world in six days. And on the seventh day, the Son of God rested in the tomb, the Sabbath of all Sabbaths.

When you see the suffering of our Savior on your behalf this week, you may be tempted to look down, hanging your head in shame. You may be tempted to look around at everything disappointing in this world and shake your head. But God encourages you to look up. Your redemption is near!

March 29           Palm Sunday                  To See Your KingMarch King
April 2               Holy Thursday               To Get a Glimpse of Heaven
April 3              Good Friday                  To Find the Source of Salvation

About Tonight’s Service:

The celebration of Good Friday as a separate day developed in fourth-century Jerusalem. When Good Friday emerged as a separate day commemorative of the crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ, it became at once the church’s great day of mourning. The name Good Friday is of English origin and is possibly derived from “God’s Friday” as “good-bye” is derived from “God be with you.”

The Service of Darkness, or in Latin, Officium Tenebrae, is a service held on Good Friday evening in which the progressive extinguishing of candles represents the snuffing out of the life of Christ. Worshippers gather to view, as it were, the head crowned with thorns—the focal point of this evening’s worship. The altar, stripped bare of its appointments on Maundy Thursday, recalls the stripping of Jesus’ body (John 19:23) and the humility and suffering that our Savior endured on our behalf. A reading from Isaiah and the seven words from Jesus’ cross are the focal point of the readings and allow us to meditate on them.

And while the sounds and sights of Tenebrae are meant to be austere and stark, the service is never without hope and anticipation. As worship nears an end, the remaining candle, a symbol of our Lord himself, is carried out of the chancel, symbolizing his burial. But the silence is broken with a loud, resounding noise—the Strepitus—that foreshadows the rending of Christ’s tomb in triumph on Easter morning. With quiet drama, the candle then returns to the sanctuary. Even on Good Friday, we worship a living Christ, the guarantor that we, too, will never die.

Worship services are held in the sanctuary and also streamed live. To view live, click here. To view later, go to our YouTube channel here.