Good Friday

The Good Friday Liturgy begins as it ended on Maundy Thursday: with silence and austerity. The chancel is bare, There is no organ music except to accompany hymns. Everything is focused on the adoration of the Crucified Lord, reigning from the throne of the cross.

The opening of the liturgy includes no praise, but proceeds directly to the Prayer of the Day and the lessons. The Passion according to St. John details the events of this day and is followed by the Bidding Prayer for the needs of our world.

Then a large cross is brought into the church in solemn procession and placed centrally in the chancel. It becomes the focus of adoration of the crucified Christ. The words of meditation are the ancient Reproaches, in which God directs his reproach at us, his people, who have crucified his Son by our sin (cf. Micah 6:3-5).

The liturgy does not end on a note of reproach, however. The closing versicles and prayer emphasize the triumph and redemption that comes through the cross. God will have the final word, but we must wait.

Again, all depart in silence, without benediction.

Other topics in the Handbook Of Lent:

• An Invitation to Lent 
• What Is Lent?
• The Discipline of Lent
  • Lent and Repentance
  • Lent and Prayer
  • Lent and Fasting
  • Lent and Works of Love
  • Lent and Beginning Your Discipline
  • Lent and Keeping Your Discipline
• Lent And How To Make the Sign of the Cross
• Lent and Confession: Should I Go to Confession?
• How to Go to Confession During Lent
  • from Martin Luther's Small Catechism
• Lent and The Tradition of the Stations of the Cross
• Lent and The Triduum - The Three Sacred Days
  • Lent and Maundy Thursday
  • Lent and Good Friday
  • Lent and The Great Vigil of Easter
• Lent and Blessings over Food at Easter

Source: The Rev. Thomas L. Weitzel - Evangelical Church in America

• Handbook For Lent - Good Friday