This year we're hosting a special Good Friday service which is a blend of two ancient forms of Christian worship: Tenebrae and the Seven Last Words.
Tenebrae, which is a Latin word meaning "shadows," has been observed in the Christian church since the fourth century. It involves the gradual blacking out of the church building by the extinguishing of candles.
Meanwhile, the Seven Last Words, is a Good Friday worship tradition that dates back to 16th century Spain. It focusses on the seven final sayings of Jesus from the cross as recorded in the Gospels.
As we gather to remember the death of Jesus we will be combining these two traditions into our own style of worship.
As we pause to hear each of Jesus’ last words, we will extinguish the candles on the communion table, one by one. The gradual extinguishing of the candles will be accompanied by prayers, songs or music, and readings from Scripture. Following the final song, the Christ candle will be extinguished to signify Christ's death. After the church bell tolls thirty-three times, representing Jesus' thirty-three years of life on earth, the Christ candle will be re-lit as a foretaste of the resurrection that we will celebrate on Easter Sunday.
From there all present are invited to stay for silent prayer and meditation or to exit quietly without speaking.
