Bensalem Presbyterian Church
Good Friday Service
April 7th, 2023 12:00 P.M.
Prelude “Verily, Thou To-Day, Shalt Be With Me In Paradise” – Theodore Dubois
Call To Worship
Prayer
First Reading John 18:33 – 19:7
Meditation “What Is Truth” Dr. Mann
*Hymn “Ivory Palaces” (see insert)
Second Reading John 19:8 – 16a
Meditation “Choices, Choices” Dr. Mann
Solo “Gethsemane” Andrew Lloyd Webber
Third Reading John 19: 16b – 25
Meditation “Cold as Nails” Dr. Mann
SOLEMN REPROACHES OF THE CROSS
ONE: Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look and see if there is any sorrow, like my sorrow which was brought upon me, which the Lord inflicted upon me in his fierce anger.
MANY: Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Have mercy upon us.
ONE: O my people, O my church, what have I done to you, or in what way have I offended you? Testify against me. I led you forth from the land of Egypt and delivered you by the waters of Baptism, but you have prepared a cross for your Savior.
MANY: Holy God……..
ONE: I led you through the desert for forty years, and fed you with manna: I brought you through tribulation and penitence, and gave you my body, the bread of heaven, but you have prepared a cross for your Savior.
MANY: Holy God….
ONE: What more could I have done for you that I have not done? I planted you my chosen and fairest vineyard, I made you the branches of my vine; but when I was thirsty, you gave me vinegar to drink and pierced with a spear the side of your Savior.
MANY: Holy God….
ONE: I went before you in a pillar of cloud, and you have led me to the judgment hall of Pilate. I scourged your enemies and brought you to a land of freedom, but you have scourged, mocked, and beaten me. I gave you the water of salvation from the rock, but you have given me gall and left me to thirst
MANY: Holy God…
ONE: I gave you a royal scepter, and bestowed the keys of the kingdom, but you have given me a crown of thorns. I raised you on high with great power, but you have hanged me high on a cross.
MANY: Holy God….
ONE: My peace I gave, which the world cannot give, and washed your feet as a sign of my love, but you draw the sword to strike in my name and seek high places in my kingdom. I offered you my body and my blood, but you scatter and deny and abandon me.
MANY: Holy God…
ONE: I sent my Spirit of Truth to guide you, and you close your hearts to the Counselor. I pray that all may be one in the Father and me, but you continue to quarrel and divide. I call you to go and bring forth fruit, but you cast lots for my clothing.
MANY: Holy God…
ONE: I grafted you into the tree of my chosen of Israel, but you saw it as a sign of your own worthiness. I raised you up as my children, yet you forget those of mine who are of different race or culture. I called you to offer new life to the world, but you rolled a stone over the mouth of my grave.
MANY: Holy God…
ONE: I came to you as the least of your brothers and sisters; I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.
MANY: Holy God…
*Hymn “The Old Rugged Cross” (see insert)
Fourth Reading John 19: 28 – 30
After the final scripture passage, Dr. Mann will leave. In the silence that follows, we invite you to meditate upon the meaning of Good Friday and then write a personal prayer to our Lord on the insert provided in the bulletin.
When you are ready, fold the prayer paper over, bring your prayer forward, and leave it in the bowl on the Communion Table. No one will ever see your prayer; it will be burned following the service.
As you leave the Table, take one of the nails from the table with you as a token of all the times you have betrayed your Lord, driving the nails into his body. As you leave, and for the rest of the weekend, carry the nail with you as a reminder of your role in His Crucifixion.
We welcome the Rev. Dr. Andrew H. Mann, Jr., D. Min.
Music Directors: Dimitri & Lenore Kauriga