We hope that you will find this guide helpful as you worship alone or together with others.
Call to Worship
Good Friday is the day that we remember the death of Jesus. It was on a Friday at about 9:00am that Jesus was hung on the cross, where he suffered until he breathed his final breath at about 3:00pm.
This is a somber day for us to remember not only the moment of death, but all the suffering which preceded it. The Lord of Life was rejected, mocked and scourged before he was hung on the cross to die. And we reflect on those agonizing scenes with the painful awareness of the role our own sins played in his suffering. Isaiah 53 says,
All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned every one to his own way,
and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Pray
Father, we are your children, the ones for whom our Lord was willing to be betrayed and given into the hands of sinners, and to suffer death on the cross. We ask you to teach us by this horrible spectacle your just wrath against sin, that we might learn to hate sin all the more, and to repent of it at every opportunity. At the same time, we ask that you would warm our hearts at the thought of Christ's condescension and kindness to us.
Sing
Read the Bible
Psalm 22:1-15
[1] My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?
[2] O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer,
and by night, but I find no rest.
[3] Yet you are holy,
enthroned on the praises of Israel.
[4] In you our fathers trusted;
they trusted, and you delivered them.
[5] To you they cried and were rescued;
in you they trusted and were not put to shame.
[6] But I am a worm and not a man,
scorned by mankind and despised by the people.
[7] All who see me mock me;
they make mouths at me; they wag their heads;
[8] “He trusts in the LORD; let him deliver him;
let him rescue him, for he delights in him!”
[9] Yet you are he who took me from the womb;
you made me trust you at my mother's breasts.
[10] On you was I cast from my birth,
and from my mother's womb you have been my God.
[11] Be not far from me,
for trouble is near,
and there is none to help.
[12] Many bulls encompass me;
strong bulls of Bashan surround me;
[13] they open wide their mouths at me,
like a ravening and roaring lion.
[14] I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint;
my heart is like wax;
it is melted within my breast;
[15] my strength is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue sticks to my jaws;
you lay me in the dust of death.
John 19:28–30
[28] After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” [29] A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. [30] When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. (ESV)
Watch the Sermon
Pray
Having meditated on Christ's death for sins, meditate now on your own sins, and confess your sins to God with repentance, seeking forgiveness and renewal.
Psalm 32:1-5, 10-11
Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered.
Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity,
and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away
through my groaning all day long.
For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;
my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.
I acknowledged my sin to you,
and I did not cover my iniquity;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”
and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.
Many are the sorrows of the wicked,
but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord.
Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous,
and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!