Gathering:
‘This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it’
Hymn / Song / Music:
Passion Song – The Story of Holy Week, S. Carter. Please note: the song tells the story of Holy Week. The video shows the crucifixion and so may not be suitable to show.
Reading:
Hebrews 2 v9 ‘But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honour because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.’
Something To Reflect On:
Today is Good Friday, I hope you’ve hot cross buns ready to eat, or maybe you’ve been enjoying them for weeks! On Wednesday we looked at crowns or coronas. Today’s crown for Good Friday is a crown of thorns but Sunday’s crown is a crown of kingly beauty. Today’s story is a story of Jesus being humiliated and killed… but Sunday’s story is of Jesus beating death and coming back to life as King Jesus. Sunday can’t happen without Friday. Coming back to life can’t happen without death. On Easter Sunday a whole new world emerged.
Can you think of a time when you need to have difficulty so that joy can emerge? Perhaps with exercise, the pain leads to a healthy heart. Or with creating a garden, the hours of planting boring looking brown, green and black seeds leads to an incredible array of vegetables and flowers.
For Jesus this was true too, as the Bible verse explains; Jesus is crowned with glory and honour because of his suffering. Jesus received his crown because of his death. So do humans have to suffer death to receive a crown too? The strange thing is, the rest of the verse suggests the answer is no… Instead Jesus ‘tasted’ it for everyone. Because of Good Friday, a good, whole new world emerged.
A Question To Think About:
If Jesus tasted death for everyone, will humans die? If we will, might the ‘death’ Jesus tasted for everyone be connected to heaven? Why is Good Friday given the name ‘Good’ if death happened on it?
Prayers:
Closing Prayer: The Lord’s Prayer
Heavenly Father,
Thank you for Jesus’ example of ‘tasting’ death for humans.
We ask that you would help us to understand what this means for us and our families as we think about this whole new world.
We particularly pray for those who, like Jesus, are giving up their energies, time and in some cases health, for those they are helping.
Amen
Sending Out:
“King of Heaven and Earth, strengthen our faith; God of peace, open our eyes to the power of this Holy Week so that we may focus on the goodness of Jesus as King, so that we may be able to understand this whole new world. Amen.”