Black Friday

Blessed be our God forever and ever.

Amen.

The Lord be with you.

Let us pray.

Almighty God, we pray you graciously to behold this your family, for whom our Lord Jesus Christ was willing to be betrayed and given into the hands of sinners and to suffer death upon the cross, who now lives and reigns with you in the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever.

Amen.

See, my servant shall prosper.

He shall be exalted and lifted up, and shall be very high.

Just as there were many who were astonished at him, so Marred was his appearance beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of mortals, so he shall startle many nations, kings shall shut their mouths because of him.

For that which had not been told them they shall see, and that which they had not heard they shall contemplate.

Who has believed what we have heard?

And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground.

He had no form or majesty that we should look at him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

He was despised and rejected by others, a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity.

And as one from whom others hide their faces, he was despised, and we held him of no account.

Surely he has borne our infirmities, carried our diseases, yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God and afflicted.

But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our crushed for our inequities.

Upon him was a punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed.

All we like sheep have gone astray.

We have all turned to our own way, and the Lord has laid on him the inequity of us all.

He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth, like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like sheep that before its shears is silent, so he did not open his mouth.

By a perversion of justice he was taken away.

Who could have imagined his future?

For he was cut off from the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people.

They made his grave with the wicked and his tomb with the rich, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.

Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him with pain.

When you make his life an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring and shall prolong his days.

Through him the will of the Lord shall prosper.

Out of his anguish he shall see light, he shall find satisfaction through his knowledge.

The righteous one, my servant, shall make many righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.

Therefore I will allot him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out himself to death and was numbered with the transgressors.

Yet he bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors.

Hear what the Spirit is saying to God's people.

Psalm twenty-two.

We will read responsively by the half verse.

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Oh my God, I cry in the daytime, but you do not answer.

Yet you are the holy one.

Our forebears put their trust in you.

They cried out to you and were delivered.

But as for me, I am a worm and less than human.

All who see me laugh me to scorn.

You trusted in God for deliverance.

Yet you, O God, are the one who took me out of the womb.

I have been entrusted to you ever since I was born.

Be not far from me, for trouble is near.

Many young bulls encircle me.

They open wide their jaws at me.

I am poured out like water.

All my bones are out of joint.

My mouth is dried out like a pot shred.

My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth.

Packs of dogs close me in, and gangs of evildoers circle around me.

They stare and gloat over me.

Be not far away, O God.

Save me from the sword.

Save me from the lion's mouth.

I will declare your name to my people.

May all who fear you, O God, give praise.

For you do not despise, nor bore the poor in their poverty, neither do you hide your face from them.

My praise is of you and the great assembly.

The poor shall eat and be satisfied, and those who seek you shall praise you.

All the end of the earth shall remember and turn to you.

For yours is the royal power, O God.

To you alone, all who sleep in the earth, bow down and worship.

My soul shall live for you, my descendants shall serve you.

They shall come and make known to a people yet unborn.

I will put my laws in their hearts and I will write them on their minds.

The Spirit also adds, I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.

For there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.

Therefore, my friends, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that He opened for us to the curtain, that is, through His flesh.

And since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us approach with a true heart and full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering.

For he who has promised is faithful.

And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day approaching.

Hear what the Spirit is saying to God's people.

After Jesus had spoken these words, he went out with his disciples across the Kidron Valley to a place where there was a garden, which he and his disciples entered.

Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place, because Jesus often met there with his disciples.

So Judas brought a detachment of soldiers together with police from the chief priests and the Pharisees, and they came there with lanterns and torches and weapons.

And then Jesus, knowing all that was to happen to him, came forward and asked them, Whom are you looking for?

They answered, Jesus of Nazareth.

Jesus replied, I am he.

Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them.

When Jesus said to them, I am he, they all stepped back and fell to the ground.

Again he asked them, Whom are you looking for?

And they said, Jesus of Nazareth.

Jesus answered, I told you that I am he, so if you are looking for me, let these men go.

This was to fulfill the word that he had spoken.

I did not lose a single one of those whom you gave me.

And then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it, struck the high priest's slave, and cut off his right ear.

The slave's name was Malchus.

Jesus said to Peter, Put your sword back into its sheath.

Am I not to drink the cup that the Father has given me?

So the soldiers, their officer, and the Jewish police arrested Jesus and bound him.

First they took him to Annas, who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest that year.

Caiaphas was the one who advised the Jews that it was better to have one person die for the people.

Simon Peter and another disciple followed Jesus.

Since that disciple was known to the high priest, he went with Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest.

But Peter was standing outside of the gate.

So the other disciple who was known to the high priest went out, spoke to the woman who guarded the gate, and brought Peter in.

The woman said to Peter, You are not also one of this man's disciples, are you?

Peter said, I am not.

Now the slaves and the police had made a charcoal fire because it was cold, and they were standing around it and warming themselves.

Peter also was standing with them and warming himself.

And then the high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and about his teaching.

Jesus answered, I have spoken openly to the world.

I have always taught in synagogues and in the temple where all the Jews come together.

I have said nothing in secret.

Why do you ask me?

Ask those who heard what I said to them.

They know what I said.

When he'd said this, one of the police standing near struck Jesus on the face, saying, Is that how you answer the high priest?

Jesus answered, If I've spoken wrongly, testify to the wrong.

But if I've spoken rightly, why do you strike me?

And then Annas sent him down to Caiaphas the high priest.

Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself.

They asked him, You are not also one of his disciples, are you?

Peter denied it and said, I am not.

One of the slaves of the high priest, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, asked, Did I not see you in the garden with him?

Again Peter denied it, and at that moment the cock crowed.

Then they took Jesus from Caiaphas to Pilate's headquarters.

It was early in the morning.

They themselves did not enter the headquarters so as to avoid ritual defilement and to be able to eat the Passover.

So Pilate went out to them and said, What accusation do you bring against this man?

They answered, If this man were not a criminal, we would not have handed him over to you.

Pilate said to them, Then take him yourselves and judge him according to your law.

The Jewish leaders replied, We are not permitted to put anyone to death.

This was to fulfill what Jesus had said when he indicated the kind of death he was to die.

And then Pilate entered the headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, Are you the king of the Jews?

Jesus answered, Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?

Pilate replied, Well, I am not a Jew, am I?

Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me.

What have you done?

Jesus answered, My kingdom is not from this world.

If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish leaders, but as it is, my kingdom is not from here.

Pilate asked him, So you are a king?

Jesus answered, You say that I'm a king.

For this I was born, and for this I came into the world to testify to the truth.

Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.

Pilate asked him, What is truth?

After he'd said this, he went out to the Jewish leaders again and told them, I find no case against him, but you have a custom that I release someone for you at the Passover.

Do you want me to release for you the king of the Jews?

They shouted in reply, Not this man, but Barabbas.

Now Barabbas was an insurrectionist.

Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged, and the soldiers wove a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they dressed him in a purple robe.

They kept coming up to Jesus, saying, Hail, King of the Jews, and striking him on the face.

Pilate went out again and said to them, Look, I'm bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no case against him.

So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe.

Pilate said to them, Here is the man.

When the chief priests and the police saw him, they shouted, Crucify him, crucify him.

Pilate said to them, Take him yourselves and crucify him.

I find no case against him.

The Jewish leaders answered him, We have a law.

And according to that law, he ought to die because he has claimed to be the Son of God.

Now when Pilate heard this, he was more afraid than ever.

He entered his headquarters again and asked Jesus, Where are you from?

But Jesus gave him no answer.

Pilate therefore said to him, Do you refuse to speak to me?

Do you not know that I have power to release you and power to crucify you?

Jesus answered him, You would have no power over me unless it had been given you from above.

Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.

From then on, Pilate tried to release him, but the Jewish leaders cried out, If you release this man, you are no friend of the emperor.

Everyone who claims to be a king sets himself against the emperor.

When Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus outside and sat on the judge's bench at a place called the stone pavement, or in Hebrew Gabbatha.

Now it was the day of preparation for the Passover, and it was about noon.

Pilate said to the Jewish leaders, Here is your king.

They cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him.

Pilate asked them, Shall I crucify your king?

The chief priest answered, We have no king but the emperor.

Then he handed him over to them to be crucified.

And so they took Jesus and carrying the cross by himself, he went out to what is called the place of the skull, which in Hebrew is called Golgotha.

There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, with Jesus between them.

Pilate also had an inscription written and put on the cross, it read, Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.

Many of the Jews read this inscription because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Hebrew, in Latin, and in Greek.

And then the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, Do not write the King of the Jews, but this man said, I am the King of the Jews.

Pilate answered, What I have written, I have written.

When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, one for each soldier.

They also took his tunic.

Now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from the top, so they said to one another, Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see who will get it.

This was to fulfill what the Scripture says.

They divided my clothes among themselves, and for my clothing they cast lots.

And that is what the soldiers did.

Meanwhile, standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother's sister, Mary, the wife of Clopus and Mary Magdalene.

When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple, whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, Woman, here is your son.

And then he said to the disciple, Here is your mother.

And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home.

After this, when Jesus knew that all was now finished, he said, in order to fulfill the scripture, I am thirsty.

A jar full of sour wine was standing there, so they put a sponge full of the wine on a branch of hyssop and held it to his mouth.

When Jesus had received the wine, he said, It is finished.

And then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Since it was the day of preparation, the Jewish leaders did not want the bodies left on the cross during the Sabbath, especially because that Sabbath was a day of great solemnity.

So they asked Pilate to have the legs of the crucified men broken and the bodies removed.

And then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who had been crucified with Jesus.

But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs.

Instead, one of the soldiers pierced his side with the spear, and at once blood and water came out.

He who saw these things has testified so that you also may believe.

His testimony is true, and he knows that he tells the truth.

These things occurred so that the scripture might be fulfilled.

None of his bones shall be broken.

And again, another passage of scripture reads, They will look on the one whom they have pierced.

After these things, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, though a secret one, because of his fear of the Jewish leaders, asked Pilate to let him take away the body of Jesus.

Pilate gave him permission, so he came and removed his body.

Nicodemus, who had at first come to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes weighing about a hundred pounds.

They took the body of Jesus and wrapped it with the spices and linen cloths according to the burial custom of the Jews.

So because it was the Jewish day of preparation and the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

Acknowledge, we humbly beseech you a lamb of your own fold, a sheep of your own flock, a sinner of your own redeeming.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Please be seated.

So we have to say that the word in the bulletin is probably not quite right.

It says the reflection, and I'm not sure there's a singular reflection on a day like today.

So a few threads.

And maybe if nothing else, when I come to this day each year, uh perhaps the most gripping testament to the day is in the words of the African American spiritual.

Were you there when they crucified my Lord?

Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.

We've called the day Good Friday for about 250 years, but for the first 1,500 years, the day was called Black Friday.

We've turned that into a shopping day.

But of course, it's Black Friday today because when Jesus was crucified, according to the Gospel of Mark and Matthew and Luke, the sky grew dark even at noon.

It's a dark day because we now know how the story ends, but the people who lived that story did not know there would be any sort of reversal.

And so they gathered to see, frankly, all of their hopes for Jesus die with him.

It's a day when maybe we're tempted to say, God, why is it that you allow suffering of this sort?

And today, I think, begs the question to be framed, reframed by us.

God, why do you choose to suffer with us like this?

Why do you choose to not only feel our pain, but to open your heart?

Of course, this is all metaphoric language.

Why do you choose to open your heart, God, to pain like this?

Today is a day for us to be honest, not just to be sad.

It's a day for us to be disappointed.

Jesus' own disciples were disappointed.

Peter was ready to fight.

And Jesus said, That's not what I've got in mind.

The disciples are disappointed that Jesus is not going to replace the king, the emperor that they loathe.

They're disappointed that he is not going to institute fair government policies immediately and rapidly.

The people gathered in town are also disappointed.

Notice who they ask for.

They ask Pilate to release another known insurrectionist named Barabbas, which in Aramaic means son of the Father.

The crowd has picked the wrong son of the father.

They have picked the ones who would replace one king with another.

And as we hear Jesus say, and I think it's very fair to be honest, it's sometimes disappointing.

Jesus says, My kingdom is not of this world, and I don't fight with the weapons of this world.

Maybe that's liberating, but sometimes it's disappointing.

And the day is dark.

Today is a day in which we're invited not to fast forward to Sunday.

Today is a day that affirms, however, you've heard the story growing up, contrary to much of tradition, sin and hell are not separation from God.

Today is a day in which God is never separate from us, whether we're abandoned or grieving or hurt or lost.

Today is a day in which God fills even the godlessness of our world with God's presence.

Today is a day in which our death enters inside of God.

Today is a day in which God is the ground in whom we live and move and have our being because Jesus entered into the literal hills of our world.

Today is a day in which we're invited not to fast forward in our own stories of loss and disappointment and grief, because quite honestly, Sunday is two days away.

There is a practice in the Jewish community called the sitting Shiva.

That is, when someone whom you know well dies, especially if they're a family member of yours, your commitment is to grieve for up to seven days, and you do in fact sit and grieve, and it is the job of the community to tend to your needs, to bring you food and to bring you water, so that you are not distracted by regular tasks.

So the community can be woven together.

Of course, maybe you can cook your own meals, but going on autopilot is a way of escaping grief.

Today is a day in which God not only says it's okay to grieve, this is part of our Christian story.

We don't have to fast forward.

Today is a day in which the darkness is allowed to come out.

Today is also a day that did not happen just once upon a time long ago.

Quite frankly, if this were a one-off occurrence, it would be worth remembering.

But today is a day to ask where you are in this story and how the story continues to play itself out.

Perhaps you're one of the disappointed.

Perhaps you're somebody like Peter who wants to fight for Jesus.

Perhaps you find yourself from time to time asking the question Pilate does, maybe even sincerely.

What is truth?

But this story isn't just a one-off.

This is a story about people who are tried in kangaroo courts, who are unjustly and uncivily executed.

This is a story about people like George Floyd and Brianna Taylor.

This is a story about people who have been unjustly and unfairly killed, even if intentions were good.

And this is a story that invites us not just to remember something that happened to Jesus long ago.

This is a story that begs our compassion so that this story does not continue to play out in our own lifetimes.

This is a story that asks us to consider the injustice of the world we live in.

I don't know where your spirit goes on this dark day.

This is the one day of the Christian year in which the Eucharist cannot be celebrated or consecrated.

And so to nourish your spirits for the day, there are holy leftovers from yesterday, bread that hopefully will nourish not only your body, but with your spirit.

Especially in your own Black Fridays, wherever they may be, whether today or a week from now or far behind in your past.

So I invite you to wait in that space together here.

Dear people of God, our Heavenly Father sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, that the world through him might be saved, that all who believe in him might be delivered from the powers of sin and death and become heirs with him of everlasting life.

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

For its unity in witness and service, for all bishops and other ministers and the people whom they serve.

For Andy, Hector, Jeff, Kay, our bishops, and all the people of this diocese, for all Christians in this community.

That God will continue, 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 body, church, that in their vocation and ministry they may truly and devoutly serve you through our Lord Savior Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Let us pray for all nations and peoples of the earth, and for those in authority among them, for Job, 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 concord.

Almighty God, kindle, we pray, in every heart the true love of peace and guide with your wisdom those who take counsel for the nations of the earth, that to 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 all who suffer and are afflicted in body or in mind, for the hungry and the homeless, the destitute and the oppressed, for the sick, the wounded and the crippled, for those in loneliness, fear and anguish, for those who face temptation, doubt and despair, for the sorrowful and the bereaved, for prisoners and captives and those in mortal danger, that God's mercy and comfort and relieve them will comfort and relieve them, and grant them the knowledge of his love, and stir up in us the will and patience to minister to their need.

Gracious God, the comfort of all who sorrow, the strength of all who suffer.

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 Him who suffered for us, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Let us pray for all who have not received the gospel of Christ, for those who have never heard the word of salvation, for those who have lost their faith, for those hardened by sin or indifferent, for the contemptuous and the scornful, for those who are enemies of the cross of Christ and 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, creator of all the people of the earth and lover of souls, have compassion on all who do not know you as you are revealed in your Son Jesus Christ.

Let your gospel be preached with grace and power to those who have not heard it.

Turn the hearts of those who resist it and bring home to your fold those who have gone extremely, that there may be one flock under one shepherd.

Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

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

O God of unchangeable power and eternal highlight, look favorably on your whole church.

That wonderful and sacred mystery, by the effectual working of your providence, carry out in tranquility the plan of salvation.

Let the whole world see and know that things which were cast down are being raised up, and things which have grown old are being made new, and that all things are being brought to their perfection by him through whom all things were made.

Your Son, Jesus Christ, I'm the Lord, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.

Amen.

We glory in your cross, O Lord.

May God be merciful to us and bless us.

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

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 forever and ever.

Amen.

I invite you to receive nourishment for your own Black Friday by coming to the aisle closest to your right, coming down forward to receive bread or a blessing, and returning to your seat on the far side.

Give mercy and grace to the living, pardon and rest to the dead, to your holy church peace and concord, and to us sinners everlasting life and glory.

For with the Father and the Holy Spirit, you live and reign, one God, now and forever.

Amen.

It causes to tremble, tremble, and then you can't get a lot of the same.