Monday, May 5, 2014

Crucify Him - Good Friday 2014

To be perfectly honest, my favorite day of Holy Week is Good Friday.  For some reason I feel closer to God through the suffering and anguish of Jesus on Good Friday.  How many times have I asked the same questions as Jesus in the garden?  "Lord take this cup from me," I don't want to do this, why do I have to go through this?  But Jesus continues on and prays a prayer that I would hope everyone could bring themselves to say: "Yet, not my will Lord, but your will be done."

This is why I love Good Friday.  I love the questions, the darkness, the suffering, the pain.  I love that Jesus knows my pain and suffering in my life because of the excruciating ordeal he went through in order for us to spend eternity together in heaven.  Without Good Friday there is no Easter!  

A few years back I attended a Good Friday service at The Upper Room and I was moved in ways that filled my soul with a true meaning and depth of what Jesus did for us.  Their use of video clips, smells, the cross, and the sound of nails pounding created a multi-sensory experience that I wanted to recreate at Word of Peace.



The Passion Experience is a small experiential worship service held in a large back room that can fit about 60 people.  The service is media based and all instructions, prayers, video clips and words to songs are projected on the wall.  The room is decorated with candles, a cross and mood lighting.  The chairs have a black piece of paper and a pencil for use during the service.  The video clips are taken from The Passion of Christ movie.  I edited them down and incorporated Bible verses that a narrator reads.  The music during the service is one voice and a guitar.  The simplicity is powerful.  

At one point during the service the congregation is invited to write down sins and nail them to the cross while we sing Jesus Paid it All and the Wonderful Cross.  Once again...powerful.  



The end of the service is the most important part.  Even though people know Easter is coming we leave the worship service as a cliffhanger.  There is no hint of the resurrection and only an invitation to finish the story on Sunday morning.  

The service is prayerful and very introspective for those that attend and I am excited that it has become a tradition for a small number of worshippers at Word of Peace.  The content of the video is more mature, but because of the way I have edited the clips children as young as 5th grade have come to the service.  

Continually look at Holy week as an opportunity to explore the story of Jesus.  It is rich and full of meaning.  Focus on the sights, sounds, smells and feelings that took place those final days of Jesus' life.  Bring the story to life and have people participate in more than just song during the service.  You might just be surprised how meaningful this can be to people and their faith.

Blessings,

Dain

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