Black Friday 2026

Spirit of the Holy One, she was upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Maj.

He passed on to Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he passed on to the Ammonites.

And Jephthah wound about to the holy one of old and said, If you will give the Ammonites into my hand, then it shall be the one who comes out, whoever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me.

When I return, having finished with the Ammonites, shall be the holy ones.

I will offer them up as a burnt offering.

And Jephthah crossed over to the Ammonites to fight against them, and the Holy One gave them into his hand.

He smote a mighty excuse me.

He smote might on them from error until they come to make twenty towns, and as far as Abel Carey.

So the Ammonites were subdued before the people of Israel.

Then Jephthah came to Islam and Israel.

There was his daughter coming out to meet him with dancing and drums.

Only she, an only child.

He had no other son or daughter apart from.

When he saw her, he tore his clothes.

I opened my mouth to the Holy One, and I cannot take that back.

She said to him, My Father, you have opened your mouth.

Do to me according to what has done, come out of your mouth.

After that I only take vengeance.

And she said to her father, What he done for me is saying, Release me for two months, and I will go down among the hills and weave for my virginity.

I and my women friends.

And he said, Go.

And he sent her away for two months.

So she left with her women friends, and they wept over her virginity among the hills.

And it was at the end of two months she returned to her father, who did to her what he found Israel.

She had never known a man, and she became a servant in Israel.

Year by year the daughters of Israel would go out to tell the story of the daughter of Judah, the Gileadite, for four days.

The word of the Lord.

And by night there is no rest for me.

Yet you are holy, and thronged on the praises of Israel.

And our mothers and fathers trusted.

They trusted you and you rescued them.

To you they cried and were free.

In you they trusted and they were not put to shame.

But I am a worm and not human.

Scorned by humankind and despised by all people.

All who see me.

They flap their lips at me, they shake their heads.

Commit yourself to the saving one.

Let God rescue and deliver the one in whom God delights.

Yet it was you who drew me from the womb, keeping me safe on my mother's breast.

On you I was cast from birth, and since my mother's world you have been my God.

Be not far from me, for trouble is near, and there is none to help.

Many bulls surround me, mighty bulls of Oshan encompass me.

They open wide their mouths at me, like a lion ravaging and roaring.

I am poured out like water, and all my bones are disjointed.

My heart is like wax, it is melted within my being, my mouth is dried up like a concert, and my tongue cleaves to my jaws, and the dust of death you lay me down.

For dogs are all around me, a conclave of evil doors encircles me.

Like a lion they ravage my hands and feet.

I can count all my bones.

They gloat and stared.

Then divide my clothes amongst them, and for my clothing they cast lots.

Saving God, be thou not far away.

Deliver my soul from the sword, my life from the crunch of the dog.

Save me from the mouth of the lion, from the horns of the wild ox that you have responded to me.

I will tell of your name to my sisters and brothers.

In the midst of the congregation I will praise you.

You who revere the fountain of life, praise her.

All the offspring of Leah and Rachel, Bihad and Zippa, glorify her.

Stand in awe for all of you of Rebecca's line, for she did not despise or abhor the affliction or the afflicted.

She did not hide her face from me, and when I cried to her she heard, On your account is my praise and the great congregation.

My vows I will pay before those who revere her.

The poor shall eat and be satisfied.

Those who seek her shall praise the mother of all.

May your hearts live forever.

All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the wellspring of life, and all the families of the nations shall worship before her.

For sovereignty belongs to she who is holy, and she rules over the nations.

They consume and they bow down, all the fat ones of the earth before her.

They bend their knees, all who go down to the dust and cannot save their soul.

Later descendants will serve her.

Future generations will be told about our God.

They will go and proclaim her deliverance to a people yet unborn, saying that she has done it.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of weaknesses, let us also preside every way and take away sin, and with endurance, let us run the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the originator and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him and drew at the cross, exchange disregarding and at the right hand of the throne of God has taken his.

He said, Receive this and divide it among yourselves.

For I tell you all that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the reign of God comes.

Then Jesus took a loaf of bread, giving thanks, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, This is my body which is given for you all.

Do this in remembrance of me.

And he did the same with the cup after supper, saying, This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.

Look, the hand of the one who betrays me is with me on the table, for indeed the Son of Woman is going as it has been determined, but woe to the one by whom he is betrayed.

Then they began to ask among themselves which one of them was about to do this.

There was also an argument among them as to which one of them should be considered the greatest.

But Jesus said to them, The royals of the Gentiles lorded over them, and those who have power over them are called benefactors, but not so with you all.

Rather, the greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like the one who serves.

For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves?

Is it not the one at the table?

Yet I am among you all as one who serves.

You are the ones who have remained with me in my trials.

So then I covenant with you all, just as my Abba has covenanted with me a royal inheritance, so that you all may eat and drink at my table in my realm, and you all will sit on thrones governing the twelve tribes of Israel.

Simon, Simon, listen.

The adversary has demanded to sift all of you like wheat, but I have prayed for you in order that your faith not fail, and you, when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.

Then he said to Jesus, Rabbi, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death.

But Jesus said, I tell you, Peter, this day the cock will not have crowed three times before you deny knowing me.

Then Jesus said to them, When I sent you out without a purse, bag, or sandals, did you lack anything?

They said, Not a thing.

He said to them, But now the one who has a purse must take it, and likewise a bag, and the one who does not have one must sell his cloak and buy a sword.

For I tell you, this scripture must be fulfilled, and in me, and he was counted among the lawless.

And indeed, that which pertains to me is coming to its completion.

So they said, Rabbi, see, here are two swords.

He replied to them, It is sufficient.

Then Jesus came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him.

When he was at the place, he said to them, Pray that you not enter into testing.

Then he withdrew from them about a stone scroll on bended knee and prayed, Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me, yet not my will but yours be done.

Then an angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him.

In agony he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat became like drops of blood falling down upon the ground.

When he rose from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping from grief.

And he said to them, Why are you sleeping?

Get up and pray that you not enter into testing.

While he was speaking, suddenly there was a crowd, and the one called Judas, one of the twelve, who was leading them.

He approached Jesus to kiss him, but Jesus said to him, Judas, is it with a kiss that you betray the son of woman?

When those around him saw what was happening, they asked, Rabbi, should we strike with the sword?

And one of them struck a person enslaved by the high priest and cut off his right ear.

But Jesus responded, saying, Enough of this, and he grabbed his ear and healed him.

Then Jesus said to ones who had come for him, the chief priests, the officers assigned to the temple, and the elders, Have you all come out with swords and clubs as if I were abandoned, abandoned?

When was I with you daily?

When I was with you daily in the temple, you did not lay hands on me, but this is your hour and the power of darkness.

Then they seized him and led him away, bringing him into the house of the high priest.

But Peter was following from afar.

They kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together.

Peter sat among them.

Then a slave girl, seeing him near the fire, looked intently at him and said, This one also is with him.

But he denied it, saying, Woman, I do not know him.

After a time, someone else, on seeing him, said, You are one of them too.

But Peter said, Man, I am not.

Then about an hour later, another one insisted, On the truth, this one was with him too, for he is Galilean.

But Peter said, Man, I do not know what you are talking about.

Immediately, while he was speaking, the cock crowed.

The Savior turned and looked at Peter.

Then Peter remembered the word of the Messiah, how he had said to him, Before the cock crows today, you will deny me three times.

And Peter went out and wept bitterly.

Now the men who were holding Jesus mocked him and beat him.

They also blindfolded him and asked him, Prophesy, who is that that struck you?

They yelled much other abuse at him.

Then when day came, the elders of the people, both chief priests and religious scholars, gathered together and brought him to their council.

They said, If you are the Messiah, tell us.

Jesus replied to them, If I tell you, you will not believe, and if I ask a question, you will not answer.

But from now on the Son of Woman will be seated at the right hand of the power of God.

They all asked, Are you then the Son of God?

He said to them, You say that I am.

Then they said, What further testimony do we need?

We have heard it ourselves from his own lips.

Then the assembly rose as a body and brought Jesus before Pilate.

They began to accuse him, saying, We found this man leading our nation astray, forbidding paying taxes to the emperor, and saying that he is a Messiah, a king.

Then Pilate questioned him, saying, Are you the king of the Judeans?

He answered, You say so.

Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, I find no cause for legal action against this person.

But they insisted, saying, Because he stirs up the people by teaching throughout all Judea, from Galilee to this very place.

Upon hearing this, Pilate asked if the person was a Galilean.

Now when he heard that he was under Herod's authority, he sent him to Herod, who himself was in Jerusalem at that time.

When Herod saw Jesus, he was extremely glad, for he had wanted to see him for a long time because he had heard about him and hoped to see him perform some sign.

Herod questioned him to his satisfaction, but Jesus answered him nothing.

The chief priests and the scholars stood by, vehemently accusing him.

Herod and his soldiers also treated him with contempt and mocked him, and he put a majestic robe on him and sent him back to Pilate.

That very moment Herod and Pilate became friends with each other.

Previously they had been each other's enemy.

Pilate then called together the chief priests, the leaders, and the people, and he said to them, You brought me this person for leading the people astray.

Look now, I have examined him in your presence, and have not found this person guilty of your charges against him, nor his herod, for he sent him back to us.

Look here, there is nothing deserving death in this case.

Therefore whip and release him.

Then they shouted together, saying, Away with him, release for us Barabbas, who for a rebellion that had taken place in the city and for murder had been put in prison.

And again Pilate addressed them, wanting to release Jesus, but they kept shouting, saying, Crucify, crucify him.

A third time he said to them, Why what evil has he done?

I found nothing deserving death in him.

I will therefore have him whipped and release him.

But they insisted with loud shouts that he should be crucified, and their voices prevailed.

So Pilate passed a sentence to grant their demand.

So he released the one in prison for rebellion and murder who they asked for, and he handed Jesus over as they wished.

As they led Jesus away, they seized Simon of Cyrene, who was coming from the country, and they laid on him the cross to carry behind Jesus.

A great number of people followed him, and a group of women who were beating their breasts and wailing for him.

But Jesus turned to them and said, Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, weep only for yourselves and for your children.

Look, the days are surely coming when they will say, Blessed are barren women and wombs that have never given birth, and breasts that have never nourished.

Then they will begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us, and to the hills, cover us.

For if when the wood is green they do this, when it is dry, what will happen?

Please stand.

And when they came to the place called Skull, there they crucified Jesus with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left.

And then Jesus said, Father, forgive them, but they do not know what they do.

They divided his clothing by casting lots, and the people stood there watching.

But the leaders ridiculed him, saying, Others he saved, let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, God's chosen one.

The soldiers also mocked him, coming and offering him vinegar wine, and saying, If you are the king of the Judeans, save yourself.

There was also an inscription above him, This is the king of the Judeans.

One of the criminals who was hanging there derided him, saying, Are you not the Messiah?

Save yourself and us.

But the other rebuked him, saying, Do you not fear God, since you are under the same death sentence?

And we indeed justly, for what we have done, merit what we are receiving, but this one has done nothing.

And then he said, Jesus, remember me when you come into your realm.

Jesus replied to that one, Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.

And it was now about the sixth hour of the day or noon, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour of the day, about three in the afternoon.

The sun's light ceased, and the curtain of the temple was torn in the middle, and then Jesus crying with a loud voice, said, Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.

Saying this, then he breathed down a final time.

And when the centurion saw what had happened, he praised God, saying, This man was indeed innocent.

And all the crowds that had gathered for the spectacle saw what had happened, beating their breasts, they turned back.

And those, all those who knew him stood far off.

The women who had followed him from Galilee were watching these things.

Now take note there was a man named Joseph the Of the council, a good man and a righteous one.

He had not agreed with the council in their action.

He was from the Judean town of Arimathea, and he was waiting for the reign of God.

This man went to Pilate and requested the body of Jesus, and then he took it down, wrapped it in a linen cloth, and laid it in a tomb, hewn from rock where no one had yet lain.

It was the day of preparation, and the Sabbath was dawning.

The women followed, the ones who had come with him from Galilee, and they saw the tomb and how his body was placed.

And the women returned and prepared spices and balms.

On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.

So tune me out and stay with the story if you'd like.

It just seems really wrong to have a bright room on a dark day.

You may not know this, but the earliest Christians called the day Black Friday, not Good Friday.

Interesting, isn't it, to think that we would say there was much good about this day.

I did grow up hearing it was necessary, so you see it's good for us.

At least maybe we could have called it Necessary Friday.

It causes me to tremble to think of there being any goodness in this story.

The truth is, I think if God is all-powerful, then God didn't need it to go this way.

God could do whatever God wanted.

I hope we agree on that.

This perhaps was not God's choice, it was ours.

I wonder if we would choose this way again.

Would we kill Jesus if he came back and told us we were absolutely beloved by God no matter what we did?

I don't know.

We might just lock him up.

I don't know if things had changed.

I wonder where we are in this story.

Maybe if Jesus wasn't the only time this happened in history, if this was it, an innocent person being murdered for what?

We could at least call it Learning Friday.

But I think it's still Black Friday.

The story of this man offering his own daughter because he made some frivolous wager to God hopefully it chills you to the thumb because it's so vigorously wrong.

I'm positive that's why the lectionary compiler put it here so that we consider it a tragedy.

I mean, the truth is, what if we decided not to kill Jesus?

What if we decided to listen to him?

Oh, we still could do that.

I think that's why we return to this story.

Oh, we could.

Now, the last time you went on a completely black note.

There's a very interesting phrase that Nelly read for us out of the epistle to the Hebrews.

I definitely like this translation.

It reads, and for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, its shame and disregarding, disregarding the shame of the cross.

I prefer the translation, it's shame, despising.

Why does that matter?

To me, it matters.

That love had no debts it would not descend to.

Maybe we say, was Jesus' death for us?

I think we say that.

Maybe God's love does prove that no matter how hard we try to reject it, we cannot kill it or escape from it.

And Jesus and God will despise our shame to show love for us.

There seems to be an important call within how we are to be in the world, if that's right.

Despising any cultural shame in order to serve one another.

There is no active service beneath us.

Service whips us up.

Because God filled our shame with God's presence and blood.

And Jesus isn't special because he was God.

I think the truth is we know this story and we link it to what happens on Sunday.

And frankly, we often live in a world in which many innocent people who are filled with God's open presence are killed as innocent.

This isn't a one-timer.

This is happening today.

It's happening today.

God help us to learn and change, to make this, well, returning Friday or repentance Friday.

And what would we have to do that?

Well, we'd probably have to despise our own sense of shame, to speak out for those who have no voice, to love those who should be able to meet their own needs, but for some reason it's not that they won't, it's that they can't.

I know those people in my life in this country who cannot meet their needs.

Very convenient of me to say that they won't.

I think this story invites me to despise my own shame, so that we might lift one another up, and this might be a cautionary tale, not one that we rejoice in.

The scary part is if we call this story good, we can do it again and again and again.

Scary.

And there is something amazing that does not have shame or guilt.

The shame and guilt we carry religiously belongs in the cross, which is the place things go to die.

Now, there is an amazing part of this tale, I think, for all its greatness, that says no matter how far you choose to go away, or how hard you choose to fight, God's unconditional acceptance and love for you.

God can take your fight.

God will take your fight.

This is a day where we say there is nothing you can do to make God love you any less.

Nothing.

I don't know if it takes away the blackness, but the truth is black is the absorption of all light anyway.

So in the middle of your Fridays, wherever they may be, I pray that the light of God will be fully absorbed by you, even in the most difficult of stories.

And one last word.

This is a monstrance.

That's the name for it, and it holds the reserved sacrament, and it's used for Eucharistic adoration.

That is, people can direct their prayers and piety to God because there is the idea that the bread in here having been consecrated is somehow full of the real presence of Christ.

So here it is, an object to help you direct your prayers.

It's not like a satellite, it's just meant to help guide them.

So Christians for centuries have used the monsters not as a way of tricking God into hearing them, but as a way of helping them focus like an icon.

It sits before you with one hooks that was consecrated yesterday, because in the Episcopal tradition, there are only two days of the year in which we cannot celebrate the Eucharist today and tomorrow.

So this has already been consecrated.

And the monsters will go away in a few minutes because what I believe is that particularly in our own Black Fridays and in our call to think about this story with debt and some despair and some empathy and how it is we might retell the story in our own day.

I sort of think we might need some spiritual nourishment to do that.

So I'm not going to consecrate this that happened yesterday.

I'm going to take it out and break it and serve it with you.

And then we'll leave in silence to go wherever you might find the light of God in all of its blackness.

We pray, therefore, for people everywhere, according to their needs.

Let us pray for the Holy Catholic Church of Christ throughout the world, for its unity in witness and service, for all bishops and other ministers and the people whom they serve.

For Andy, Brian, Jeff, and Kay, our bishops, and for all the people of this diocese, for all Christians in this community, that God will confirm the church in faith, increase it in love, and preserve it in peace.

Almighty and everlasting God, by whose Spirit the whole body of your faithful people is governed and sanctified.

Receive our supplications and prayers which we offer before you for all members of your holy church, that in their vocation and ministry they may truly and devoutly serve you, through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Let us pray for all nations and peoples of the earth and for those in authority among them, for Donald, the President of the United States, for the Congress and the Supreme Court, for the members and representatives of the United Nations, for all who serve the common good, that by God's help they may seek justice and truth and live in peace and accord.

Almighty God Kendall, we pray in every heart the true love of peace, and guide with your wisdom those who take counsel with the nations of the earth, that in tranquility your dominion may increase until the earth is filled with the knowledge of your love.

Through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Let us pray for the Jewish people who possess an eternal covenant with the Lord, who delivered them from bondage to freedom, for continued faithfulness in God's covenant with them, for their flourishing in peace as witness to God's sustaining love, for safety from all malice and harm, for the fullness of redemption, for the sake of God's name, that unity and accord may exist between Jews and Christians in obedience to God's will.

O God of Abraham, Agar, Sur, and Gatorah, you planted your people Israel as the root, grafted Gentiles as wild branches into a single olive tree and praise to you.

As we come near to the cross, we lament Christian acts of prejudice and violence against your faithful people of whom Jesus Christ was born.

Bless the children of your covenant, so that together we may attain the fullness of your blessing for the world.

Amen.

Let us pray for all who suffer and are afflicted in body or in mind, for those who are hungry and homeless, destitute and oppressed, for those who are ill or suffer in body, mind, or spirit, for those in loneliness, fear, and anguish, for those who face condemnation, doubt and despair, for those who are sorrowful and bereaved, for those who are persecuted for the sake of Christ, for prisoners, refugees and captives, for victims of war, genocide and trafficking, and for all those in mortal danger.

And God in mercy will comfort and relieve them and grant them the knowledge of God's love and stir up in us the will and patience to minister to their needs.

Gracious God, the comfort of all those sorrow, the strength of all those suffering.

Let the cry of those in misery and need come to you, that they may find your mercy present with them in all their afflictions, and give us, we pray, the strength to serve them for the sake of the one who suffered for us, your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Let us pray for those who have not embraced God's redemptive love, for those who have never heard the word of salvation, for those who have lost their faith, for those hardened by sin and indifference, for the contemptuous and the scornful, for those who are persecutors of his disciples, for those who in the name of Christ have persecuted others, that God will open their hearts to the truth and lead them to faith and obedience.

Merciful God, the source of lies and fountain of mercy.

Let the gospel of your Son Jesus Christ be preached with grace and with love.

Turn the hearts of the followers of Jesus who have heard others in his name.

Lead all to repentance, the commitment of life, sustain by your loving grace all who lift their eyes to you.

Amen.

Let us commit ourselves to our God and pray for the grace of a holy life that with all who have departed from this world and have died in the peace of Christ, and for those whose faith is known to God alone, we may be a strong table, worthy to enter into the fullness of the joy of our Lord and receive the crown of life in the day of the resurrection.

O God of unchangeable power and eternal light, look favorably on your whole church, that wonderful and sacred mystery.

Let the whole world see and know that things which were cast down are being raised up, and things which had grown old are being made new.

That all things are being brought to their perfection by the one through whom all things were made, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.

Amen.

I invite you to join me in standing as your coach.

We glory in your cross, O Lord, and praise and glorify your holy resurrection, for by virtue of your cross joy has come to the whole.

May God be merciful to us and bless us.

Show us the light of your countenance and come to us.

Let your ways be known upon earth, your safety health among all nations.

Let the peoples praise you, O God, and all the peoples praise you.

We glory in your cross, O Lord, and praise and glorify your holy resurrection, for by the virtue of your cross, joy has come to the Lord.