The Liturgy of Good Friday, 2 April 2021

Photo by Wesley Tingey on Unsplash
 
The Collect

Almighty Father,
look with mercy on this your family,
for which our Lord Jesus Christ was content to be betrayed
and given up into the hands of sinners and to suffer death upon the cross;
who is alive and glorified with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Amen.

The Readings

Isaiah 52:13-53:end
Psalm 22
Hebrews 10:1-23
John 18:1-19:end

The Solemn Intercessions

God sent his Son into the world, not to condemn the world,
but that the world might be saved through him.
Therefore we pray to our heavenly Father,
for people everywhere according to their needs.

Prayers are offered for:
The Church;
The World;
The Queen and our nation;
The Jews and Jewish – Christian relations;
The growth of faith in Christ;
Those in sickness or need;
The departed.

O God of unchangeable power and eternal light,
look favourably on your whole Church,
that wonderful and sacred mystery,
and by the tranquil operation of your perpetual providence,
carry out the work of our salvation:
and let the whole world feel and see that things which were cast down are being raised up,
and things which had grown old are being made new and that all things are returning to perfection;
through him from whom they took their origin,
even Jesus Christ our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Amen.

The Veneration of the Cross

A cross or crucifix should be visible during this part of the liturgy.
As the cross is placed in view, these words follow:

The Cross of Christ on which the Saviour of the world was hung.

Some time should be spent in silent contemplation of the Cross.

The Reproaches

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 on the day of his fierce anger.
R: Holy God, holy and strong, holy and immortal, have mercy upon us.

O my people, O my Church,
what have I done to you, or in what 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 Saviour.
R.

I led you through the desert 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 prepared a cross for your Saviour.
R.

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 Saviour.
R.

I went before you in a pillar of cloud, and you have led me to the judgement 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.
R.

I gave you a royal sceptre, 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 on the cross.
R.

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 blood,
but you scatter and deny and abandon me.
R.

I sent the Spirit of truth to guide you, and you close your hearts to the Counsellor.
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.
R.

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.
R.

The Acclamations

We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you,
because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
O Saviour of the world, who by your cross and precious blood have redeemed us,
save us and help us, we humbly pray.

The Liturgy of the Sacrament (or Spiritual Communion)

The Lord’s Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever.

Amen.

An Act of Spiritual Communion may follow here.

The Concluding Prayer

O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God,
set, we pray,
your passion, cross and death between your divine judgement and our souls,
now and in the hour of our death.
Grant mercy and grace to the living,
rest to the departed,
to your Church peace and concord,
and to us sinners forgiveness,
and everlasting life and glory;
for, with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
you are alive and reign,
God, now and for ever.

Amen.

Prayers at the Stations – Good Friday, can be viewed here.

The Stations of the Cross – Good Friday, can be viewed here.

The Harrowing of Hell Liturgy – A Service for Good Friday Evening or Holy Saturday Morning can be viewed here.

Sermon: Maundy Thursday 1 April, 2021

One of the unfortunate consequences of the coronavirus pandemic, is that, as we all know, we’ve had to change the way we do things during our church services. One of the casualties of that, is that tonight, we can’t continue that great Maundy Thursday tradition of the Washing of Feet.

I suppose though, how much of a sadness that is, depends on how you feel about having your feet washed. Some people are quite happy for the parish priest to wash their feet but others, are most definitely not happy about it. And I suppose which of those two camps you fall into depends on your feelings about feet in general because I know that some people just don’t like feet and really don’t want anyone touching their feet. Even though some people do feel that way though, there’s not usually a shortage of people who are willing to have their feet washed on Maundy Thursday, in fact, there are usually more people willing to have their feet washed than the required number of twelve.

Having said that, I can remember a couple occasions in the past when it seemed that no one in the congregation of the parish church where I was serving at the time, were willing to have their feet washed on Maundy Thursday. It must be said that, on each occasion, when I first asked for volunteers to have their feet washed, there was no shortage of them; a lot of hands went up. But when I said that we were going to do things slightly differently that Maundy Thursday, it was a very different matter. What I said was, that in line with our Lord’s instruction that his disciples should wash one another’s feet, I would wash the first person’s feet, but then that person would wash the second person’s feet, the second would wash the third, the third the fourth and so on until we got to the twelfth person, who would then wash my feet. As I spoke, I noticed that the hands started to go down and by the time I’d finished speaking, everyone had put their hands down. And, when I asked again who wanted to have their feet washed on Maundy Thursday, no one put their hands up!

I must admit, it came as no surprise to me that a lot of people put their hands down when I said what we were planning to do. But I was disappointed that everyone put their hands down and that no one was willing to volunteer to have their feet washed in those circumstances.

And I was disappointed because, actually, what I was suggesting we do, is far more in keeping with what Jesus said to his disciples than the way we traditionally carry out the Washing of Feet in Church on Maundy Thursday. Just think about the words we’ve just read:

“Do you understand what I have done to you?  You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am.  If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.”

Quite clearly then, both by word and example, Jesus is not telling us to let one person wash everyone else’s feet, but that we, his disciples, should all wash one another’s feet. That’s obviously not what we usually do on Maundy Thursday and it’s not the Church’s tradition, but I think this is one example of the Church being complicit in encouraging Christians not to follow the example and teaching of Jesus. And that was clearly shown in those parishes where so many people were prepared to let a priest wash their feet, but no one was prepared to wash any feet themselves.

There can’t be any doubt that we, as Christians, are called to follow Jesus’ teaching and example, whatever that teaching and example is; we can’t call ourselves his disciples if we’re not prepared to do that. That’s made clear in our baptismal promises, and if we were baptised as infants, as most of us probably were, in the promises we took on for ourselves at our confirmation. And we can’t say we’re not aware of what those promises are because we renew them, every year, either at the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday night, or on Easter Day. We’ve promised to turn to Christ as our Saviour, to submit to Christ as our Lord and to come to Christ who is the way, the truth and the life. And we pray for the strength to follow Christ in that way, in his way. So we can’t be in any doubt that we’re called to follow Jesus’ teaching and example, because we’re reminded of it every year and we renew our promises to do that, every year.

The thought of washing someone’s feet might not be a particularly pleasant one for some people. It might be a teaching and example of Jesus that some people wouldn’t really be too keen on following. But in light of our baptismal promises, it’s a teaching and example of Jesus that we should all be prepared to follow if necessary.

And in fact, if we think about the meaning of Jesus’ washing his disciples feet on Maundy Thursday, we find that it has many, many similarities with the meaning of our baptism.

Washing the disciples feet and being baptised were both things that Jesus didn’t have to do but did. And they’re both things that he commanded us, his disciples, to do too. In Jesus’ time, when someone arrived at a house, their feet would be washed to remove the dirt that people had picked on their feet as they’d walked on the dusty roads and footpaths of the time. And baptism is about washing as well. It’s not about washing away any physical dirt that we pick up on the roads and footpaths, but it is about washing away the dirt of the sins that we pick up as we travel along the road of life. It’s about being washed clean from that sin. That’s one way we understand the symbolism of pouring water over people at their baptism, and we symbolise that at the Renewal of Baptismal Vows on Holy Saturday and Easter Day by sprinkling with water from the font.

In the introduction to the Church of England’s baptism service, it says that, in baptism,

‘…we are washed by the Holy Spirit and made clean. Here we are clothed with Christ, dying to sin that we may live his risen life.’

St Paul speaks in these terms quite often in his letters. He speaks of the baptised being clothed in Christ or putting on Christ, and he explains what that means, the kind of life that those who are clothed with Christ should live. He says that the baptised should put their old, sinful ways behind them, and live according to Christ’s teaching and example. In fact, when people are baptised, they become members of the Church, they become part of Christ, part of the Body of Christ as St Pauls puts it. And we find Jesus saying words very much to the same effect in the Maundy Thursday Gospel:

“If I do not wash you, you have no share”, or “nothing in common with me.”

So we have these similarities between the Washing of Feet on Maundy Thursday and our baptism and baptismal promises. And when we look at it in this way, we can see that following Jesus’ teaching and example to “wash one another’s feet” is simply a living out of our baptismal promises.

And to wash one another’s feet is a better way to live out those promises than simply having our feet washed by someone else.

In Jesus’ time, washing the feet of others was the job of a servant or a slave. But it was something Jesus, our Lord and Master himself did. But didn’t Jesus also say to his disciples that,

“…whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”?

I know that the thought of washing someone else’s feet isn’t a very pleasant prospect for many people. Some perhaps think it’s beneath them to do such a menial job. But it wasn’t beneath Jesus’ dignity to do it. He is not only our Lord and Master, he’s our God too, and he washed the feet of his disciples. Are we too proud to follow his example?

Some people perhaps think washing someone else’s feet is a thoroughly loathsome thing to do, or even to be asked to do. They might be disgusted at the prospect. I’m sure Jesus wasn’t too thrilled at the prospect of being scourged and crucified on Good Friday, but he did it, and he did it for people who, on the whole, didn’t appreciate what he’d done for them. And he did it for you and for me. Can’t we even bring ourselves to do something much less unpleasant, like washing someone’s feet, in return?

Most people will probably never be asked to wash someone’s feet as part of their Christian discipleship, but we can see the washing of feet as a metaphor for all the difficult and unpleasant things we may be asked to do as disciples of Christ. We’ve allowed Christ to wash us in the waters of baptism so that we can have a share in him, so that we can be part of him, part of his Body, the Church. We’ve promised to have something in common with him by following his teaching and example. So are we prepared to wash each other’s feet, as he commanded us to? Where do we draw line between what we will and won’t do for Jesus, the one who gave his life for us?

Amen.  

The Propers for Maundy Thursday can be viewed here.

Sermon: Palm Sunday 28th March, 2021

Holy Week is always a very moving time of the year for Christians. It can’t really be anything else because, as we remember and commemorate the events of the last week of our Lord’s earthly life, they remind us of just how much Jesus suffered for our sake and the depth of the Father’s love for us. But this year, I think Holy Week will be especially poignant for us because of what we’ve all gone through during the past year.

As we go through Holy Week, we’re reminded of just how quickly life can change. Today, on Palm Sunday, we begin Holy Week by celebrating the Lord’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem. And it was triumphal. Crowds of people lined the streets and threw their cloaks and palm branches on the road in front of him, or walked ahead of him, heralding his arrival in the city, clearly and openly acclaiming him as the Messiah with shouts of,

“Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!”

But within a few days, all that had changed. By the end of that week, Jesus had been betrayed by one of his friends, arrested, beaten and abused, rejected by the very people he came to save, and put on trial for his life. The cheering crowds had gone and had been replaced by crowds baying for his blood, even his friends had deserted him. And finally, he was put to death, though he’d done nothing wrong at all. And I think that dramatic change in Jesus’ fortunes over the course of those few days will resonate very strongly with us this Holy Week because of the year we’ve just lived through.

Just over a year ago, we were busy preparing for Holy Week and looking forward to Easter 2020. But then, suddenly, everything changed. We couldn’t keep Holy Week or Easter in the way we always had in the past, and were expecting to again, because our churches were closed down. The freedom we take for granted was taken away and we went into lockdown. On 15th March last year, which was the last Sunday we were in church before the lockdown, I don’t think any of us could have foreseen what was about to happen nor, when it happened, that our lives would be restricted for as long as they have been.

As we’ve gone through the events of the past year, the lockdowns and tiers and all the other restrictions we’ve had to adhere to, people everywhere have been looking forward to things getting ‘back to normal’ so that we can get on with our lives again in the way we did, and took for granted, before we were hit by the coronavirus pandemic. But, although there is some light at the end of this particular tunnel now, for many of us, things will never go back to normal, at least in the sense of going back to the way they were pre pandemic.

People will have changed over the past year. So what they want to do, and are willing to do perhaps, maybe even what they’re able to do, will have changed. And so the lives of their families, friends, neighbours and colleagues will be changed too. Society will have changed and what was acceptable, everyday behaviour before the pandemic, might not be so acceptable and everyday, post pandemic. And, of course, many people have died during the past year, both of Covid-19 and many other causes too. And our lives will be permanently changed because they are no longer here with us. We may soon be able to go back to doing the things we did before the pandemic, going out for meals or to the pub, going to concerts and sporting events, coming to church without any restrictions on what we do when are in church, being able to go to work, assuming we still have work to go to, even something as simple as meeting our families and friends when we want to: we may well be able to do all those things again soon, but doing those things will not be that same as it was because some of the people we used to do those things with, are no longer here to see and share those things with us.

Things have changed since last March. People have changed. The world has changed. And things will never be the same again for many of us. But, in a way, that is the message of Holy Week and Easter. Holy Week tells us just how very quickly life can change; and change for the worse. But beyond Holy Week lies the greatest change of all. A change that turned the most terrible of defeats into the greatest of victories. A change that turned the most heart-breaking tragedy into the most joyous of blessings. A change that turned the deepest despair into the greatest hope ever given to human beings: Easter and the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We know that we’re in a constant state of change as we go through life. We know that some of the changes we have to go through are hard and unpleasant. Some of the changes that happen in the world, change our lives forever, and some of the changes that we go through in our lives, change our worlds forever. Covid-19 and the pandemic has been one of those changes.

But if the events of the past year have changed the world, and our worlds, forever, so did the events of the last week of Jesus earthly life. Holy Week tells us how quickly our lives and our worlds can be thrown into chaos and confusion. It tells us how quickly things can go wrong and how quickly things can change for the worse. But beyond Holy Week, Easter tells us how quickly bad things can turn around and become new, good, and even better, things. And amidst the changes of life, Holy Week and Easter reminds us of some things that never change:  God’s love for us and Jesus’ presence with us in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Holy Week and Easter tells us too, that Jesus is the eternal Son of God who lives forever. And if our world has been changed forever because we’ve lost loved ones during the past year, we have Jesus’ assurance that they’re not really lost to us forever, but merely hidden from our sight for a time because where he is, they are too. And it’s there where we will see them again when we too are called from this world to our place in the Father’s heavenly house.

That is the message and meaning of Holy Week and the hope and promise of Easter and they are very poignant and powerful at this time when so many people are looking for certainty amidst the confusion of life during this pandemic, and for meaning and hope in their lives.

Amen.

The Propers for Palm Sunday can be found here.