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Crucifixion of Christ, The

Description

Here are a variety of worship resources for which focus on the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

Scripture

Isaiah 52:13 – 53:12
Psalm 22
Matthew 27
Mark 15
Luke 23
John 18-19
Hebrews 5:7-9

Prayers

Opening Prayer

Holy God, we come to worship
in the gathering shadows of Jesus’ suffering and death.
We come with his friends,
the men and women who have followed him
in every place and generation,
to live once again this story of service and betrayal,
of weakness and of courage.
We come to witness your love in action.
Be with us, we pray, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

~ from Worship Sourcebook, posted on Reformed Worship.
http://www.reformedworship.org/

Good Friday Confession at the Cross

We know what is coming, Jesus.
We wince as we glance at the scaffold, almost unable to stare at it straight on.

Your Cross is in our face,
and we squirm as we remember the reason for its placement.

It is there because of us. It is there because we build walls of will over and above the will of the One who created us and cares for us.

Your Cross is there only so that we may climb our way back to Love.

Once in a while we are bold enough to examine ourselves, shamed enough to recognize the accumulated bulk of our sins, and humble enough to comprehend that we need your help to demolish such a heap.

Hear us, Jesus. Hear us and offer us your restoration.

To start with, we admit that days go by—maybe even weeks and months—and we pay you no mind. We become absorbed in ourselves, going about accomplishing what needs to be accomplished and figuring out what needs to be figured. Unintentionally, for the most part, we squeeze you out as we seek to live our lives. Ironically, we forget that you ARE our lives. We are sorry.

Hear us, Jesus. Hear us and offer us your restoration.

Then there are the moments of grand hypocrisy—the times when we claim to be your followers, but when we strike off on our own course instead. We fail to love our neighbors with even a smidgen of the amount you demonstrate. We demand to have what we believe to be rightfully ours, not bothering to notice if justice and kindness and mercy are being applied in our wake. We think shallow thoughts and speak heartless words. We disappoint you. We are sorry.

Hear us, Jesus. Hear us and offer us your restoration.

Sometimes—and these are the sins that are most difficult to acknowledge—we intend to do harm. We lash out on purpose to cause someone pain. We laugh at someone else’s misfortunes. We humiliate. We plot. We judge. We hate. We are sorry.

Hear us, Jesus. Hear us and offer us your restoration.

Your Cross is still there, coercing us into all kinds of confessions, both enormous and miniature. We will not experience relief until we have unburdened ourselves of the unnamed offenses that weigh us down and devastate you. Stir us to identify the jagged chunk in the wall that most separates us from you. Allow us to name it, and inscribe it. Then let us use your Cross to destroy it.

Hear us, Jesus. Hear us and offer us your restoration. . . .

(While the music plays, please use the paper and pens provided to record your confession of sin. When the choir has finished its anthem, please proceed to the Cross where you may attach your paper.)

~ written by Rev. Christine Sobania Johnson on her blog, Freshly Squeezed Liturgy.
http://freshlysqueezedliturgy.blogspot.ca/

Good Friday Prayer

Bless you Jesus Christ,
Father’s eternal Son,
One anointed in the Holy Spirit,
Creator and Sustainer and Redeemer of all things.

In unspeakable humility you crossed all worlds to become one with us,
and submitted yourself this day to be judged and beaten,
mocked and despised,
cursed and crucified by the human race,
embracing the hostility of sinners against you,
that you could reach us at our unspeakable worst,
thereby bringing all that you are with your Father in the Holy Spirit
together with all that we are in our terrible darkness and pain.

We betrayed and rejected you
and you formed them into the way of our adoption.

We despised and cursed you
and you formed them into the temple of the Holy Spirit.

Dying in the arms of our scorn you brought your life into our death,
your relationship with your Father into our miserable destitution,
your anointing in the Holy Spirit into our despair,
transforming Adam’s fall into the bosom of your Father
and the world of the Holy Spirit.

Bless you Jesus,
all honor and praise and glory to your unspeakable love.

Amen.

~ written by C. Baxter Kruger, and posted on Baxter Kruger’s Ongoing Thoughts blog.
http://baxterkruger.blogspot.ca/

Spoken Resources

Opening Litany for Good Friday

What’s happened? Why are you here?
We have come because they have crucified our Lord.
Who has crucified your Lord?
The Roman soldiers, at Pilate’s command,
as requested by the Jewish leaders.

But I heard you yell “Crucify!” in the awful silence of your souls.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

~ Tim Schuurman. Posted on Reformed Worship.
http://www.reformedworship.org/

Closing Responses (Zechariah 12:10, John 19:37)

They looked upon the One they had pierced
and we too look on the one who died
and wonder...
we wonder why –
why this final insult on one already dead.

[Pause]

They looked upon the One they had pierced
and saw blood flowing from His hands – His feet – His side
and we too look on the one who died
and wonder...
we wonder that such an offering had to be made –
the blood of a spotless lamb.
Was God so angry with his people?

[Pause]

They looked upon the One they had pierced
and saw water flowing from the wound in His side

and we too look on the one who died
and wonder...
we wonder at the greatness of this gift:
water from his side –
that washes our sin away –
water from the One who died
offering us a way to new life.

[Pause]

They looked upon the One they had pierced
and thought that they had won –
the Word of God was silenced –
the Light of the World was extinguished –
the Way was blocked –
the Truth questioned –
the Life was dead.

Father, forgive them –
they did not know what they were doing.
Father, forgive us –
for often we do not know what we are doing.

[Pause]

They looked upon the One they had pierced
and thought that they had judged rightly –
the Son of God who challenged their gods was wrong
and they had defeated Him.

But God did not send his Son into the world to judge it
to condemn it.
God sent his son, the Beloved,
into the world to save it,
to save us.

[Pause]

They looked upon the One they had pierced
and saw death and emptiness

and we too look on the one who died
and wonder...
we wonder at so great a love –
a love that does not count the cost of loving –
a love that offers its very self so that we might live –
a loved that would have done the same
had I been the only one who needed it.

[Pause]

The sacrifice of love stretched out His arms on the cross
and sent forth His Spirit
into the outstretched arms of the Father

So great a love
so great a sacrifice...

[People disperse in silence or very quiet music...]

~ from Good Friday Liturgy, posted on the Seekers Church website.
http://www.wellsprings.org.uk/

Songs

Traditional Hymn: When I Survey the Wondrous Cross

Worship Together #340

When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
Save in the death of Christ my God!
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to His blood.

See from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down!
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

His dying crimson, like a robe,
Spreads o’er His body on the tree;
Then I am dead to all the globe,
And all the globe is dead to me.

Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.

~ Isaac Watts

Contemporary Hymn: When you prayed beneath the trees

When you prayed beneath the trees,
it was for me, O Lord;
when you cried upon your knees,
how could it be, O Lord?
When in blood and sweat and tears
you dismissed your final fears,
when you faced the soldiers' spears,
you stood for me, O Lord.

When their triumph looked complete,
it was for me, O Lord,
when it seemed like your defeat,
they could not see, O Lord!
When you faced the mob alone
you were silent as a stone,
and a tree became your throne;
you came for me, O Lord.

When you stumbled up the road,
you walked for me, O Lord,
when you took your deadly load,
that heavy tree, O Lord;
When they lifted you on high,
and they nailed you up to die,
and when darkness filled the sky,
it was for me, O Lord.

When you spoke with kingly power,
it was for me, O Lord,
in that dread and destined hour,
you made me free, O Lord;
earth and heaven heard you shout,
death and hell were put to rout,
for the grave could not hold out;
you are for me, O Lord.

~ copyright © Christopher Idle/Jubilate Hymns (admin by Hope Publishing in North America). If you use this song in worship, be sure to report it on your CCLI license.

Tune suggestions:
KELVINGROVE (“Will you come and follow me if I but call your name?”)

Listen here: http://www.hymnary.org/tune/kelvingrove_scottish

Contemporary Song: Healing is in Your Hands

No mountain no valley
No gain or loss we know
Could keep us from Your love

No sickness no secret
No chain is strong enough
To keep us from Your love
To keep us from Your love

How high how wide
No matter where I am
Healing is in Your hands
How deep how strong
Now by Your grace I stand
Healing is in Your hands

Our present our future
Our past is in Your hands
We're covered by Your blood
We're covered by Your blood

In all things we know that
We are more than conquerors
You keep us by Your love

How high how wide
No matter where I am
Healing is in Your hands
How deep how deep is Your love
How strong how strong is Your love
Now by Your grace I stand
Healing is in Your hands

~ Chris Tomlin, Christy Nockels, Daniel Carson, Matt Redman, Nathan Nockels. Copyright © 2010 sixsteps Music (Admin. by EMI Christian Music Publishing) worshiptogether.com songs (Admin. by EMI Christian Music Publishing) Vamos Publishing (Admin. by EMI Christian Music Publishing) Thankyou Music (Admin. by EMI Christian Music Publishing) Said And Done Music (Admin. by EMI Christian Music Publishing) Sweater Weather Music (Admin. by EMI Christian Music Publishing). CCLI Song # 5677423. If you use this song in worship, be sure to report it on your CCLI license.

Listen to it here: http://www.worshiptogether.com/songs/songdetail.aspx?iid=1794629

Contemporary Song: Here is Love

Here is love vast as the ocean
Loving-kindness as the flood
When the Prince of Life our Ransom
Shed for us His precious blood

Who His love will not remember
Who can cease to sing His praise
He can never be forgotten
Throughout Heav'n's eternal days

On the mount of crucifixion
Fountains opened deep and wide
Through the floodgates of God's mercy
Flowed a vast and gracious tide

Grace and love like mighty rivers
Poured incessant from above
Heav'n's peace and perfect justice
Kissed a guilty world in love

No love is higher no love is wider
No love is deeper no love is truer
No love is higher no love is wider
No love is like Your love O Lord

~ Matt Redman, Robert S. Lowry, William Rees. Copyright © 2004 Thankyou Music (Admin. by EMI Christian Music Publishing). CCLI Song # 3287884. If you use this song in worship, be sure to report it on your CCLI license.

Listen to it here: http://www.worshiptogether.com/songs/songdetail.aspx?iid=564114

Images

~ The Crucifixion of Christ, Jacopo Robusti Tintoretto, 1568.

Notes

This worship resource was created/compiled by Christine Longhurst. You are welcome to use it free of charge, and where appropriate, please note the source. If you are printing any of the resources for distribution, please print the source as well. The content of the worship resource does not necessarily represent the views of the Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches, which oversees the Centre for Mennonite Brethren Studies. For more worship resources by Christine Longhurst, see http://www.re-worship.blogspot.ca or http://www.faithmatters.ca.

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