Our Good Friday service this year is a “Service of Surrender.” We’re doing a lot of surrendering this year–giving up our agenda, our desires, our preferences because of a greater good. Jesus walked a path of surrender to the love of the Father, in whom he trusted his life… and his death. And so he shows us how to do the same.
Since we cannot meet in person, we’ve created an online pathway for you through this service through the recorded videos you see below. Start with Tony and Jo Ann’s introduction and meditation, then listen to the song Shawn has chosen for that section, then back to Jo Ann and Tony, and so on. You can pause this anywhere along the way to reflect further. You can come back to any section or song. You can listen anytime you’d like, although we recommend that you do you this on Friday afternoon, which is when Jesus was dying on the cross on that first Good Friday. What is God, in love, inviting you to do today?…
Surrender in
Weariness | Betrayal | Of Burdens | Woundedness | Insecurity | Dying
Opening Prayer
God of power and mercy,
in love you gave your Son, Jesus,
not to condemn the world…
but to save, to rescue, the world through him…
that we all might be reunited
and live with you forever.
Bless us as we reflect in Your Spirit
on our Savior’s suffering and death
that we may learn from his example
the way we should live.
Amen.
Surrender in Weariness
Personal Reflection
- In what ways are you weary from intense sorrow and grief?
- In what ways are you weary from your own or others’ overwhelming pain?
- In what ways are you weary from holding tight to anger or bitterness or fear?
- In what ways is God inviting you to surrender to his love for you… so you can experience hope in even your most exhausting times?
Surrender in Betrayal
Personal Reflection
- In what ways are you feeling betrayed by the world, people, or life right now?
- In what ways are you feeling betrayed by God?
- In what ways are you feeling betrayed by yourself…or your own betrayal of others?
- In what ways is God inviting you to surrender to his love for you… so you can experience acceptance in even your most distressing times?
Surrender of Burdens
Personal Reflection
- What heavy burdens are you carrying that have been placed on you by others?
- What heavy burdens are you carrying that feel like they have been placed there by God?
- What heavy burdens are you carrying that you have placed on yourself?
- In what ways is God inviting you to surrender to his love for you… so you can experience rest in even your most overwhelming times?
Surrender in Woundedness
Personal Reflection
- What wounds are still painfully open within you?
- What wounds have been re-opened recently?
- What wounds are fresh in your life?
- In what ways is God inviting you to surrender to his love for you … so you can experience healing in even your most pain-filled times?
Surrender in Insecurity
Personal Reflection
- What insecurities, anxieties, or fears seem always present in the depth of your being?
- What insecurities, anxieties, or fears have been intensified what you’re going through now?
- What insecurities, anxieties, or fears are new in your life?
- In what ways is God inviting you to surrender to his love for you… so you can experience peace in even your most chaotic times?
Surrender in Dying
Personal Reflection
- Has something died, or is something dying, in your life or soul that might still come to life if given a chance?
- Has something died, or is something dying, in your life or soul that needs to die so that you might live more fully?
- Have you been trying to live while enclosed in a tomb of your own, or another’s, making?
- In what ways is God inviting you to surrender to his love for you… so you can experience release in even your most desperate times?
Closing
Personal Reflection
- How do you see God offering you courage today?
- How do you see God inviting you to surrender to His love?
- How will you respond?
Courageous, Suffering Savior,
your passion and death… your surrender in and to love…
is the sacrifice that unites earth and heaven…
and opens the door to eternal life for the whole world.
May we who have prayerfully reflected on these mysteries today
follow in your steps… and live out your example…
so that the whole world may come to surrender
and share your glory… on earth, as it is in heaven
Amen.