When I was younger the only shops that I remember being open were our local Fishmonger (Mr Langley) and the Bakers (Lyle’s). MR Langley opened so we could buy fresh fish, the staple of Good Friday; meat was never eaten and bakers opened to sell Hot Cross Buns. Roads were empty and homes quiet. I think pubs were closed. It was a day of reflection or I suppose for many children a day
of boredom! And, what about Church? The thing that sticks in my mind was the Vicar kneeling at the Litany Desk and reciting the whole of the 1662 Litany, here is a sample:
THE LITANY
Here followeth the Litany, or General Supplication, to be sung or said after Morning Prayer, upon Sundays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and at other times when it shall be commanded by the Ordinary.
O GOD the Father of heaven: have mercy upon us miserable sinners.
O God the Father of heaven: have mercy upon us miserable sinners.
O God the Son, Redeemer of the world: have mercy upon us miserable sinners.
O God the Son, Redeemer of the world: have mercy upon us miserable sinners.
O God the Holy Ghost, proceeding from the Father and the Son: have mercy upon us miserable sinners.
O God the Holy Ghost, proceeding from the Father and the Son: have mercy upon us miserable sinners.
O holy, blessed, and glorious Trinity, three Persons and one God: have mercy upon us miserable sinners.
O holy, blessed, and glorious Trinity, three Persons and one God: have mercy upon us miserable sinners.
Remember not, Lord, our offences, nor the offences of our forefathers; neither take thou vengeance of our sins: spare us, good Lord, spare thy people, whom thou hast redeemed with thy most precious blood, and be not angry with us for ever.
Spare us, good Lord.
From all evil and mischief; from sin, from the crafts and assaults of the devil; from thy wrath, and from everlasting damnation,
Good Lord, deliver us.
From all blindness of heart; from pride, vain-glory, and hypocrisy; from envy, hatred, and malice, and all uncharitableness,
Good Lord, deliver us.
From fornication, and all other deadly sin; and from all the deceits of the world, the flesh, and the devil,
Good Lord, deliver us.
From lightning and tempest; from plague, pestilence*, and famine; from battle and murder, and from sudden death,
Good Lord, deliver us.
*Particularly appropriate at the moment
For Christians – the whole Church, Good Friday is a day of great solemnity, there is nothing like it throughout the Church’s Year, a day of reflection and attempting to understand the Sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. For a moment focus on that very simple yet beautiful Spiritual believed to have been written by American Slaves.
Where you there when they Crucified my Lord
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?
Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?
Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?
Were you there when they laid him in the tomb?
Were you there when they laid him in the tomb?
Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they laid him in the tomb?
Were you there when he rose out from the tomb?
Were you there when he rose out from the tomb?
Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when he rose out from the tomb?
I remember Rachel Barlow singing this is the silence of the Cathedral at an Ecumenical Good Friday Service some years ago; it was exceptionally moving. It not only causes us to tremble, tremble, tremble, it hits us between the eyes as Christians in that for us this Holy Weekend is the most momentous in the history of the World. Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Day define what we are as Christians and taken with the birth of our Lord from which our Calendar is set, the impact of Jesus Christ on the whole World is incalculable. Even though in some cases the terms BCE Before the Common Era and CE. Common Era instead of BC (Before Christ) and AD (In the year of our Lord) they set a milestone in the History of the human race in that the pivotal point that stems from BCE (BC) and CE (AD) is the birth of Jesus Christ and here we In Holy Week and Easter Day we commemorate his death and his Rising; we have encompassed our Lord’s earthly life. In 1 Corinthians 15: 1 – 5 St Paul tells us: Now I should remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand, through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you—unless you have come to believe in vain. For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.
But now, what’s in a name: Our name Good Friday comes we think to early English and Dutch, the only two languages that use this term, which etymologists say is likely an alteration of the Germanic word, “Goddes,” meaning “God’s” or “Holy.” That term does not mean “good.” The day is called Holy Friday in nearly all other languages in the world.
Good Friday marks the day when wrath and mercy met at the cross. That’s why Good Friday is so dark and yet so Good as it proclaims God’s purpose of loving and redeeming the world even in the face of human rejection and cruelty through the cross of our Lord, Jesus Christ. It is a day that is holy and makes us holy because God was drawing the world to himself in Christ