This Friday at 7pm, HIF will observe Good Friday in a traditional Holy Week worship service. This online service reenacts the final days in the life of Jesus, and home communion will be offered.
To prepare for our Good Friday online service, have ready: bread and grape juice for communion and a candle and means to light it. Also be ready to remove pictures, artwork, or things that bring you joy from the common areas of your home (explained below).
Our Good Friday service combines two traditional worship services: Maundy Thursday and Good Friday:
Maundy or Holy Thursday commemorates the last supper Jesus shared with his disciples before his crucifixion, when he washed the disciples’ feet and instituted the Sacrament of the Holy Communion. The ancient practice of stripping the Lord’s table and sanctuary during this service is symbolic of the desolation and abandonment our Lord felt that long night of Gethsemane and what followed. In your homes as you prepare your own communion elements, remove some of the things that bring you joy so that you too can feel a part of Gethsemane, and the experience the joy of their return on Easter.
Good Friday remembers the betrayal, abandonment, trial, and crucifixion of Jesus. We will be doing a service of Tenebrae, or “Darkness.” This twelfth–century service is an extended meditation on the passion of Christ and concludes in darkness. The readings are from John 18:1 –19:42 and will be read by different members of HIF. The service ends without a Benediction or Closing Blessing and you will be asked to keep silence and meditate on your own fate.
