Good Friday

One might think that Good Friday should be the saddest day of our Church year, and yet we celebrate it with joy. There can be no Resurrection without Death - no empty tomb without the cross of Calvary. We listen to the words of Isaiah: "Because of his affliction he shall see the light in fullness of days; through his suffering, my servant shall justify many and their guilt he shall bear… because he surrendered himself to death and was counted among the wicked; and he shall take away the sins of many, and win pardon for their offences." We stand as the Passion is proclaimed. We listen and remember once again how Jesus suffered and died for our sins. We gaze upon our King, whose throne was the wood of a tree, whose sceptre was a reed soaked in vinegar and whose crown was made, not with precious jewels but from briar and thorn.

The Cross is brought forward in solemn procession - not as an instrument of death but as the means of our salvation. "This is the wood of the Cross, from which hung the Saviour of the World." We do not despise the Cross - rather we venerate it. We come forward; we bow before it, kiss it, touch it with our hand, or stand before it and say a short prayer.

We keep watch in the silence and darkness, and remember the focus of our faith: that by dying Christ destroyed our death and by rising he has restored our life.