Category: narrative lectionary

Extinguishing of Lights Worship & Nailing Our Sins to The Cross
(Yes we nontraditionally do communion, because my worshiping community does not do Maundy Thursday, feel free to disclude)

Call to Worship  

L  The Lord be with you.
P  And also with you

THE NAIL OF BROKENNESS*                                      

“We are a resurrection people” we like to say
And we say it often
“But resurrection doesn’t erase or replace the real life that happens before, during and after, the real life that we all know. 
The places where we are broken
Where we are grieving
Where we are sad
Where we are angry
Where we are hurting
Where we are anxious
Where we are lonely
Where we are human—fully
And we each carry around the experiences of trauma, and loss and hurt, that are a real part of our life. 
Those experiences live within us, and they exist before, during and after resurrection. Yes, we are a resurrection people
But we are also human—fully.
And that means that we know death, just as surely as we know life.
Death is real, it is excruciating, and painful, and it is a part of life. 
But God is not afraid of death. God is big enough to hold us in our hurt, in our brokenness, in those places of death where we cannot hold ourselves. When we find ourselves in those places, when we cannot imagine ever feeling joy again, may we remember, that although God will not erase the pain, God will hold us, God will stand with us. 

THE NAIL OF BETRAYAL           Matthew 26:48-50 

. ⁴⁸Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, ‘The one I will kiss is the man; arrest him.’ ⁴⁹At once he came up to Jesus and said, ‘Greetings, Rabbi!’ and kissed him. ⁵⁰Jesus said to him, ‘Friend, do what you are here to do.’ Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and arrested him.

NAIL OF HATRED                                                         Matthew 27:27-31

27 Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor’s headquarters,^* and they gathered the whole cohort around him. ²⁸They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, ²⁹and after twisting some thorns into a crown, they put it on his head. They put a reed in his right hand and knelt before him and mocked him, saying, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’ ³⁰They spat on him, and took the reed and struck him on the head. ³¹After mocking him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him. 

Sung Response:

      Were you there when they crucified my Lord? 

      Were you there when they crucified my Lord? 

      O Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble;

      Were you there when they crucified my Lord?(silence)

Silent Meditation: Extinguishing of the Light  

THE NAIL OF STUMBLING                                          Matthew 26:69-75

69 Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. A servant-girl came to him and said, ‘You also were with Jesus the Galilean.’ ⁷⁰But he denied it before all of them, saying, ‘I do not know what you are talking about.’ ⁷¹When he went out to the porch, another servant-girl saw him, and she said to the bystanders, ‘This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.’^{* 72}Again he denied it with an oath, ‘I do not know the man.’ ⁷³After a little while the bystanders came up and said to 

Peter, ‘Certainly you are also one of them, for your accent betrays you.’ ⁷⁴Then he began to curse, and he swore an oath, ‘I do not know the man!’ At that moment the cock crowed. ⁷⁵Then Peter remembered what Jesus had said: ‘Before the cock crows, you will deny me three times.’ And he went out and wept bitterly.

Sung Response

      Were you there when they left him on the cross?  

      Were you there when they left him on the cross? 

      O, Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble;

      Were you there when they left him on the cross? (silence)

THE NAIL OF DEATH                                                Matthew 17:45-50

45 From noon on, darkness came over the whole land^* until three in the afternoon. ⁴⁶And about three o’clock Jesus cried with a loud voice, ‘Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?’ that is, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ ⁴⁷When some of the bystanders heard it, they said, ‘This man is calling for Elijah.’ ⁴⁸At once one of them ran and got a sponge, filled it with sour wine, put it on a stick, and gave it to him to drink. ⁴⁹But the others said, ‘Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.’ ⁵⁰Then Jesus cried again with a loud voice and breathed his last.

Sung Response

      Were you there when the sun refused shine?  

      Were you there when the sun refused shine? 

      O, Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble;

      Were you there when the sun refused to shine? (silence)

Silent Meditation: Extinguishing of the Light

                     THE RESPONSE

ACT OF CONFESSION                                           

     You are invited to have your sins nailed to the cross

Sung Response

      Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?  

      Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?  

      O, Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble;

      Were you there when they nailed him to the tree? (silent)

Silent Meditation: Extinguishing of the Light  

RESPONSIVE READING: THE PROMISE OF MERCY*       

O God of my heart, remind us that this was the day the temple’s curtain was torn in two, breaking open the divide between the divine and human. God’s mercy 

Let hold onto what centurion and those who were keeping watch said “Truly this man was God’s Son.” (Matthew 27:51, 54)

Communion

The Lord be with you
And also with you
Lift up your hearts
We lift them up to the Lord
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God

It is right to give our thanks and praise….(Pastoral Prayer & Lord’s Prayer: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for Thine is the power and the kingdom and the glory forever. Amen.
Jesus came into the world, not to judge it, but to save it.
We are so grateful for God’s infinite love, and we celebrate with all of creation, the saving work, of our Suffering Savior. On the night before he was nailed to the merciless cross,
Jesus shared His last meal with His friends. He took the bread, He broke it, and He gave thanks, and then He passed it among them saying,
This is my body which is broken for you. Eat it and remember Me.
He took the wine, and He gave thanks, and then He passed it among them saying,
This is my blood which is shed for you. Drink it and remember Me.
And so, we take, we eat and drink, and we remember:
There is no greater love, than this sacrifice which You, Jesus, made for us 
God is with us, even when we fear.
Come, let us taste and see the Lord.

Sung Response: Extinguishing the Light

      Were you there when they crucified my Lord? 

      Were you there when they crucified my Lord? 

      O Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble;

      Were you there when they crucified my Lord? (silence)

*Prayer from Dying Liturgy of NextChurch national gathering 2018