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Creating a Good Friday Service
March 19, 2024We are rapidly approaching Easter, when the focus will be on the centre of human history, the cross of Christ and his resurrection. At a time when the world is tearing itself apart, and hatred and political division seem to drive people ever further apart, it is more vital than ever that we find the peace of God, reconciliation and hope in the only place they are truly to be found, in the Reconciler himself, Jesus Christ our Lord. Though on that first Good Friday everything about the death of Jesus seemed to say defeat and weakness, we look to the cross and say in faith, ‘in the stead of ruined sinners hangs the Lamb in victory.’
As you prepare to celebrate Easter in your church, are you thinking about what you will sing. We have drawn up a playlist, with links to our online resources, which we hope offers you both familiar favourites and some new discoveries for your church to learn.
A Good Friday service is unique in the church year, a time for a solemn pause to reflect and meditate on the sufferings of Christ. This playlist falls into three categories, reflecting the flow of the service – approaching the cross, the work of Christ and the victory of his cross.
Approaching the cross
Approach with awe this holiest place by Timothy Dudley-Smith.
This hymn helps to set the scene at the start of a Good Friday service, evoking the mood of Calvary with phrases such as ‘for there beneath those sombre skies the Prince of life, forsaken, dies.’ The tune serves the mood, and the strong rhyme scheme impresses these great truths on the mind. (more…)