2nd April 2021 - Tenebrae Service

​Good Friday Online Tenebrae
 
Part 1      My Video
 
Welcome and Introduction to ‘Tenebrae’
 
Tenebrae or ‘Service of Shadows,’ is one of the oldest church traditions for the commemoration of the Passion and Death of Jesus.  It comes from the Latin word ‘tenebrae’- meaning ‘shadows’.  Normally we share this service in an evening.  The only light at the beginning of the service are candles dotted around the church.  During the service, as the Passion story unfolds, the candles are extinguished after each reading and we pause for reflection.  The darkness increases, until we reach the final reading, the death and burial of Christ.  Following this reading the final candle is snuffed out plunging the church into complete darkness.  Deliberately, the service ends with no benediction and no music.  We are invited at the end of the service to remain for a few moments in quiet prayer, and then to leave in silence.  This dark, subdued and incomplete ending reflects the death of Christ and a salvation incomplete until the later miracle of the resurrection.
 
Obviously since today’s Tenebrae is online it will be somewhat different but I’ve tried to keep as many elements as we normally would.  Different people from our church family have recorded the 7 readings of the cross.  After each reading a flickering candle will appear on your screen for a short time.  I would encourage you to spend this time in quiet reflection.  There will be two online songs sandwiched between the readings.  At the end of the service after our last reading you will see me carry a lit candle to my office door and leave.  This will signal the end of the service.  I encourage you at that point to spend a few moments reflecting on the darkness that covered the earth when Christ died and the despair that filled the disciples’ hearts and minds….
The service will proceed unannounced.
 
Call and Prayer
 
Today the carpenter’s hands are nailed to a cross,
the King of kings is crowned with thorns
and wears the purple robe of mockery.
Today he sets us free, himself imprisoned on a tree.
Today is God’s Friday.
We come in worship.  Let us pray…
 
Holy and loving God,
as we prepare to set aside our busyness
and to focus intently on Jesus’ suffering and death,
we ask for eyes to see all of the amazing things that Jesus’ death
means for understanding you, your love, and our salvation.
This we ask in Jesus’ name, Amen.
 
(End Part 1)
 
 
Part 2 (People’s video readings and flickering candle video)
 
Reading 1: ‘Last Supper’ (Matt. 26: 17-30)            Jamie Fenton
 
Silent Reflection – ‘Flickering Candle Video’
 
Reading 2: ‘Gethsemane’ (Matt. 26: 36-45)           Deon Theron
 
Silent Reflection - ‘Flickering Candle Video’
 
Reading 3: ‘Jesus’ Arrest’ (Matt. 26: 47-56)          Jean Hendry
 
Silent Reflection - ‘Flickering Candle Video’
 
SONG      “Yet not I”
 
Reading 4: ‘The Walk to Calvary’ (Matt. 27: 27-32)       Lara Prestage
Silent Reflection - ‘Flickering Candle Video’
 
Reading 5: ‘Death’ (Matthew 27: 33-54)                 Pauline Wilson
 
Silent Reflection - ‘Flickering Candle Video’
 
Reading 6: ‘Burial’ Matt. 27: 57-66)        Laudimar Coelho
 
Silent Reflection - ‘Flickering Candle Video’
 
(End Part 2)
 
 
Part 3      My Video
 
Reflection                       ‘Words from the cross’
 
Today as we reflect on the death of Christ on the cross, one of the most important questions we can ask is, “Why?”  There are many answers to that, found in different parts of scripture.  But today I want to spend a few moments considering two of the clues that come from the mouth of Jesus Himself.
 
The gospels record just 7 short sentences that Jesus spoke from the cross.  Throughout the centuries the church has cherished these ‘7 words from the cross’ as they are known because they give us an insight into the otherwise unknown thoughts of Jesus.
 
Amazingly none of them were uttered in bitterness or complaint.  The first 3, spoken to those who killed him, a dying thief and his own mother, express the love that He showed to others even in his final moments.  The 4th and 5th express the spiritual separation and thirst he endured as He bore the judgement for the sins of the world.  But today I want to focus on the last two which help us understand something of how a death which appeared to everyone as a defeat, was actually a final triumph and victory.
 
His sixth cry was “It is finished!”  Jesus had already privately told His disciples that he had completed the work he had come into the world to do.  Now in his final moments He makes a public declaration of it.  This was not a despairing groan of someone dying in resignation and defeat.  Matthew and Mark record that Jesus actually shouted.  In His own mind, His death was a resounding victory.
The Greek verb that’s used here is in the past tense and literally means, “It has been and remains forever accomplished!”
 
The writer of the letter to the Hebrews, explains to us that when Christ died on the cross He made a one time, once for all sacrifice for human sin.
 
Up until this time, Jewish people had to make regular animal sacrifices for sin.  It was a horrible, bloody and smelly affair.  The whole point being that sin was something that is horrible because it causes us to experience guilt, it hurts other people, and it grieves the heart of God.
 
But now that Christ, the God man, the only perfect human being had offered Himself as a perfect sacrifice, that whole system was finished.  Through His death on the cross, Christ had taken the judgement for the sins of the whole world.  That means there is nothing that we need to do or that we can even contribute.  Christ has done it all for us.  Our sins have been paid for.  It is finished.
 
To show that these words weren’t just an empty delusion, at that exact moment the thick curtain stretching from floor to ceiling in the temple was ripped from top to bottom.  For centuries that curtain kept people from the presence of God.  The only person allowed through the curtain was the High Priest once a year on the day of Atonement.  But now that Christ had died, sacrifice for human sin once, forever had been made.  That means that you and I can come right into God’s presence anytime, anywhere, without the permission or aid of anyone else because of what Christ has done.
 
Which brings us to His final words, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”  It’s interesting that none of the gospel writers say that Jesus died.  Mark and Luke say, “he breathed his last.”  Mathew and John say, “He gave up His spirit”.
The phrase used literally means “handing over.”  John notes that before this handing over of His Spirit, Jesus bowed his head.  This was surely His final act of surrender to His Father’s will.  So by His very actions, and by His final words Jesus clearly indicates that His death was his own voluntary act. 
 
This is important.  There were many occasions, not least during his 40 days in the desert when He was tempted to call down legions of waiting angels to rescue Him.  But all the way He resisted.  He could easily have answered the mockers who challenged Him by coming down form the cross.  But He refused.  No one took His life from Him.  Jesus chose to die for your sins and mine.
 
And so, Jesus’ last two words from the cross, “It is finished” and “I commit my spirit” proclaim that He is the conqueror of sin and of death.
 
All that’s left, is for us is to believe it.  To come to Him and lay our sins at His feet.  To trust that he has taken the judgement that we deserve.  To accept that the way is now open for us to come to God every day because of what he’s done.  To allow Him to wash our conscious clean from the guilt of our sins.  What’s more, we can live each day without the fear.  Christ has defeated death.  So whatever happens, no one and nothing can ever separate us from His love.  Death will simply be the doorway to our new and perfect heavenly home.
 
So can I ask you, “Who are you trusting in for today and tomorrow?”  Yourself, the church, the minister or priest?
Trust in Jesus.  He is all you need.
 
(End Part 3)
 
 
SONG      My God, my God why have you forsaken me?
 
Reading 7: ‘Forsaken’ (Psalm 22: 1-21)        Dave Twamley
 
 
Part 4      My Video (Me reflecting in silence then blowing out candle to leave darkness remaining…
 
END