Upper Room Good Friday Service, March 29, 2024 - Presiders:Kathie Ryan, Dennis McDonald, Denise Hackert-Stoner

Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82512159155 
phone-in for (audio only) Phone Number: (646) 558-8656
Meeting ID: 825 1215 9155

        Good Friday Remembrance: “The Ones Left Behind”

Opening song: Adagio for Strings by Samuel Barber

https://youtu.be/VLR7s8Rq7Dw?si=o1AlSgGQMrRYshgk 

Opening Prayer: 

We remember the death of Jesus, while we grieve those we have lost. We stand together with compassion in solidarity, support, and love. We know we are not alone, as we experience Love’s Presence. Amen.

A Reading from Mary Magdalene – At the Cross  (Bauckman/Hart)

"There is a way to experience the cross that is similar to what Mary Magdalene may have endured.  Sometimes in our own darkness or in that of the world we can find only the darkness that Jesus endured. We feel without God, and we continue to do so.  We find no hope or consolation.  We simply find ourselves there in the darkness with Jesus in His desolation.  Like Mary, all we can do is stay in the darkness, waiting and not knowing there is anything to wait for.  Mary’s love and faithfulness are all that keep her there.  Because of her love and faithfulness, she has nowhere else to go."

Psalm 22, adapted from Psalms for Praying by Nan Merrill

Refrain: Beloved, come close to me.

O my Beloved, why have you forsaken me? Why are You so far, abandoning me as I groan in misery?

O my Beloved, I cry by day, but You do not answer; and by night, but find not rest.

Refrain: Beloved, come close to me.

Yet You are holy, praised through generations. In You our parents trusted; they trusted, and You did come to their aid. To You they cried, and were heard; in You they trusted, and were not disappointed.

Refrain:  Beloved, come close to me.

You are the One who took me from the womb; and kept me safe. You have been my strength.  Come close to me, for trouble is near and there is none to help. 

O Beloved, be not far off. You, who are my help, hasten to my aid. 

Refrain: Beloved, come close to me

For our loving Creator does not turn away from the afflicted and does not hide from them; but cries are heard, their prayers rise up to heaven. 

And all the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to Love’s way.

Refrain: Beloved, come close to me.

A Gospel adapted from Matthew and John

The women who accompanied Jesus from Galilee went home to prepare the spices and ointments for his burial. 

Many of the disciples who had fled in fear were in a locked room, hiding from the Temple authorities. As they discussed what had happened, they were in a panic, feeling alone and defeated.  

Homily Starter

The friends huddled together behind closed doors in the room where he now wasn’t.  From where he was now absent.  Where they were alone, without him.  Here, in this familiar room that had become their refuge, they were accompanied only by their loss, their grief, their overwhelming fear, and one another.  

I imagine them waiting for the knock on that door.  The bursting in, the accusations, the torments that their fears concocted.  The brutal consequences for being his followers.  For being his friends.  For being his.  

I imagine them in this time of desolation, this time of shame for having abandoned him, this time of fear for what might come next. I imagine them looking to one another for solace.  For understanding.  For forgiveness.  For assurance.  For the presence of one human being to another. A presence that would not change their circumstances in any way, but might at least change their perspective.  They were not left to face this uncertain future alone.  They had one another.  

This is their story, those friends of Jesus, in their time of grief.  We each and every one of us have our own stories; our own fears, our own shame, our own sense of loss and grief.  What happens when these moments strike?  When we run behind our own closed doors?  What happens when we see these moments strike others?  How does human presence change our perspective during these times?

I invite you to share your own thoughts about how the presence of another can help ease the burdens life inevitably hands us. 

 

Let us raise our hands as we bless one another.

We bless each other with love, as we go out once again into the darkness of the world, and into our personal darkness. May we remember we are never left behind; we are never left alone. The Holy One is present now and always. Amen

Song: Sanctuary by Carrie Newcomer

https://youtu.be/HjOioWTVAl4?si=WiyeHvPUNMkPQfJI