The Sounds of Good Friday Fanlobbus Union of Parishes Patrick Hewitt Fanlobbus Union of Parishes County Cork, Ireland. fanlobbus@cork.anglican,org The first part of what follows is the Order of Service that the congregation was given. Each section had a little line drawing giving the eye something to dwell on during the meditation. (Roman soldiers in armor, a spilled bag of coins, a cockerel's head, a hammer hitting a nail, etc.) Part Two contains the meditations. PART ONE THE SOUNDS OF THE PASSION During the three hours we are focusing our thoughts on some sounds from the Passion of our Lord. Apart from the introduction and the conclusion, each section of the service is built around a meditation on one of the sounds. Each section lasts about twenty minutes and follows the same pattern: A reading from one of the gospels; A meditation on the particular sound; A short period of quiet during which you may wish to: simply be quiet, or read slowly through a passiontide hymn, or read a portion of a psalm or read part of the gospel accounts of the Passion from the Prayer Book (Bible references are printed at the end of this order of service); or read the related passages in brackets at each section A prayer; A hymn. People who have to leave during the service are asked to go out while a hymn is being sung, leaving bibles and prayer and hymn books on the table at the back of church. At 3 o'clock the service concludes with a few final thoughts and prayers and the congregation departs in silence. ORDER OF SERVICE Hymn 67 When I survey the wondrous cross Introduction to the service Prayer Hymn sheet: O come and stand beneath the cross 1. THE SOUND OF SOLDIERS Reading: John 18. 1 - 14 Meditation During the silence Ps 18. 1 - 7 & 30 - 38; Ephesians 6.10 - 20 Hymn 219 Soldiers of Christ, arise 2. THE SOUND OF THE COCK CROW Reading: John 18.15-27 Meditation During the silence John 13.36-38; John 21.1-19; Psalm 55.1-14; Hymn 394 Lord of all hopefulness 3 THE SOUND OF FALLING SILVER COINS Reading: St Matthew 27. 1-10 Meditation During the silence John 12.1-8; Acts 1.16-20 Hymn 246 Just as I am, without one plea 4 THE SOUND OF THE CROWD'S ROAR Reading: Luke 23.1-5 & 13-24 Meditation During the silence Mark 11.1-10 Hymn 63 My song is love unknown 5 THE SOUND OF POURING WATER Reading: St Matthew 27. 15-26 Meditation During the silence John 1.24 - 34; John 4. 1-15; John 13.1-15 Hymn 135 Rock of ages, cleft for me 6 THE SOUND OF SILENCE Reading: Matthew 27.11-14 Meditation During the silence John 1.1-14; Philippians 2.3-11 Hymn 115 Dear Lord and Father of mankind 7 THE SOUND OF THE HAMMER AND NAILS Reading: John 19 14 - 24 Meditation During the silence Matthew 27.32-44; Psalm 22) Hymn 71 O dearest Lord, thy sacred head 8 THE SOUND OF CRYING Reading: Luke 23.26-49 Meditation During the silence John 11. 1-44; Luke 7.36-50 Hymn sheet: Drop, drop slow tears (sung through twice) 9 THE SOUND OF THE ROLLING TOMBSTONE Reading: John 19. 31-42 Meditation During the silence Psalm 51 Hymn 93 (vv 1-5 only) Were you there 10 HE WHO HAS EARS TO HEAR .... Concluding comments Prayers Hymn 68 O sacred head, surrounded Dismissal <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> Instead of the suggested readings in brackets at each section, you might prefer to read through the passion narrative as a whole in one or more of the gospels: Matthew 26. 30 - 27.66 Mark 14.32 - 15.47 Luke 22.39 - 23.56 John 18 .1 - 19.42 PART TWO MEDITATIONS 1. The sound of soldiers Reading: John 18. 1 - 14 (During the silence read Psalm 18. 1 - 7 & 30 - 38; Ephesians 6.10 - 20 ) The sound of soldiers keeps cropping up through the story of our Lord's Passion. It is rather like a regular refrain, as regular as the marching of their feet. Here they come, rudely breaking the prayerful silence in the Garden of Gethsemane. They handcuff Jesus and take him to the High Priest to be tried by the Sanhedrin, the Jewish religious court. Then later we find them taking Jesus to be tried by the Roman governor, Pilate. Later still, when Pilate discovers that Jesus comes from Galilee, Herod's territory, the soldiers march him off to Herod as Pilate tries to pass the buck. Then once again they form the detachment that escorts Jesus back to Pilate when they and Herod get tired of taunting him. They drive him up the hill to Calvary as he carries the cross on which he is to be crucified, and then sit at the foot of the same cross, gambling for his garments. Finally soldiers keep a watch over the tomb, to dissuade his followers from breaking in and to guard against grave robbers. Think of the sounds those soldiers would have made in their working lives: The sound of their feet - that rhythmic beat as their legions marched mile after mile at a disciplined pace. Shoes were a vital part of a soldier's equipment - they had to be of the best quality to take the punishment they were given. In fact it was for marching soldiers' feet that the great, straight Roman roads were built, even our own Devil's Causeway that crosses Main Street in nearby Lowick. Those roads weren't built to help civilians move about or to make trade easier. Their primary purpose was to enable troops to be delivered as quickly as possible to the trouble spots of the Roman Empire. And Judea was a notorious trouble spot because the Jews had never accepted Roman rule without a great deal of qualification. They were renowned for breeding discontents, what we would call freedom fighters or terrorists or guerrillas - depending on our view of them. It is quite clear that some people, perhaps even some of the disciples, interpreted Jesus' references to a new kingdom in terms of a political, Rome-free state. Passover time was always a period of anxiety for the Roman governor, so he would have left his cool and comfortable palace on the coast, to be in Jerusalem personally. And at Passover the Jerusalem garrison would have being reinforced and kept at a state of red alert, ready for the first sign of any insurrection or rebellion. That is why Judas had no difficulty getting soldiers to back up his betrayal. And the sound of their feet would have been commonplace in the streets of the city. It was a sound that meant force, superior numbers and power. Another sound is the jangle of their armor and weaponry. The metal protective armlets; the breast plate and the helmet; the sword swinging to the rhythm of the march and the scabbard clanging against the armored leather skirt. It is interesting how we have taken the imagery of armor to convey the sense we have of God's protection - you can find it in the Ephesians passage in brackets in the order of service. But Jesus seems to have no such protection that first Good Friday - or if he has, he doesn't avail himself of it. "Do you think that I cannot appeal to my father and he will at once send me more that twelve legions of angels?" Here, in the middle of an armed platoon, Jesus stands unarmed and unshod. Unprotected. Vulnerable. So easily hurt. And don't we just know that feeling! There are many times we feel very vulnerable. We like to present to the world a pretence of not caring, of being unhurtable, but inside we feel the pain. And how do we respond when we are hurt? Don't we tend to increase our armour, to protect ourselves, to make sure we can't be hurt again? Forget shoes, we put the boot in! We increase our weapons. We make what military commanders call pre-emptive strikes - in other words we hurt others first, just in case they were about to hurt us. And what we sometimes do on a personal level, nations do to each other on a much larger scale. Confronted by the soldiers, by their mocking and spitting and whipping, by their force of numbers and by their love of violence, Jesus remains calm and peaceful. In the quiet now, think of Jesus, the Prince of Peace, surrounded by the soldiers - men of violence. Think of the times you are tempted to be violent, even if only in words, and then remember the example of him who's impossible instruction to his followers was that they must be prepared to turn the other cheek. If you read the passage from Ephesians, think of the role armor, and of the protection we get, not from power, but from our vulnerable dependence upon God. SILENCE Let us pray. Equip us, Lord, for the spiritual conflict of this world with your heavenly armor: the shield of faith, the sword of the Spirit, the helmet of salvation, the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, that we may be able to stand in the evil day. And grant that having our feet shod with the gospel of peace, we may be able to maintain our ground unflinching to the end, through the might of Jesus Christ, the Captain of our salvation. Hymn 219 (Soldiers of Christ arise) 2. The sound of the cock crow Many of us round here are used to the sound of cock crow at first light. The cockerel letting the world, and his hens, know that the new day is starting. It is a common and, yes, a cosy sound, for all that there are times when you want to put your head under the pillow and hold back the dawn. At the sound of cock crow everyone knows that things are coming to life again after the night's sleep. It is a time of re-awakening. Daybreak is often seen as a time for new beginnings. A time for hopefulness. A time when we can start again and put the mistakes of yesterday behind us. For many it is a time when all those fears and fantasies that loomed so large in the night, dissolve in the light of day and fall once more into their true perspective. You know how it is. At night, in the wee small hours, any slight worry grows out of all proportion. Small molehills of worries grow into mountainous problems and the future seems so bleak and forbidding. Even familiar shapes in the bedroom seem threatening. But then the light returns through the window. The tractor chugs past to plough a field before breakfast, and the sounds of people starting their daily routine reassures us that the world is returning to normal. But not so for Peter. True enough, the night had been full of terrors. There had been the arrest of Jesus in the garden. What anger Peter had felt then! In fact he had drawn a sword and attacked one of the people who had come to arrest Jesus, cutting off his ear. Then, despite the danger, he had secretly followed Jesus and the soldiers right into the courtyard of the High Priest's house. There, when he had been cornered, he had denied knowing his master, not just once, but three times. Just as Jesus had said he would. What a terrible night it had been. And yet this daybreak was to bring no relief. At the very time when things should have been taking on a brighter appearance, at cock crow, when the frightening shadows of the night were dissolving, he had lied. He had lied to save his own skin, when his Master had been in even greater danger. The cock crow reminded him that Jesus had known him better than he knew himself. That morning at the sound of the cockerel, Peter was confronted with his own cowardice. A little bit like a cockerel was our Peter. Cocky indeed. All swagger and boast that he would never deny Jesus. But it had come to nothing. I suspect that every succeeding dawn was a reminder of that particular daybreak. Memories are like that. A particular tune, a turn of phrase, even a smell, can remind us of something from the past and suddenly the memories come flooding back. Peter would never be able to forget that daybreak. Every cock crow for the rest of his life would have made his memory go through an action replay of the drama in that courtyard. Now this could have crippled him. It could have stopped him from ever trying anything again in the light of such a dismal failure. And I suspect we all know people who are imprisoned by a sad or bitter event from their past. The weight of that memory drags them down and saps their will to enjoy the promise of a new day. But thankfully Peter didn't respond like that. Significantly, it was again at dawn a few days later, by the lakeside after a futile night's fishing, that Peter felt restored when the risen Lord commissioned him to tend the flock of Christ. But on this particular Friday morning, there in the courtyard, Peter's world fell apart. Saint Luke tells us that Jesus turned and simply looked at Peter. It is one of those phrases that brings me out in goosebumps! What a chill that glance must have sent through Peter! No wonder he went out and wept bitterly. The cock crow that could have brought good news, was a reminder of Peter's failure. In the quiet now, let us think of Peter. Let us also think of our own failures and the times we have let down those close to us. Let us also be honest with ourselves about the times we have let God down. And let us thank God that, although he only has people like you and me and Peter to depend on, he still finds a way of working his purposes out, for all our failures and failings. SILENCE Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, look upon us with those eyes of yours, the eyes with which at cock crow you looked upon Peter in the courtyard. That with Peter we may repent, and by your great love be forgiven and restored; for your mercy's sake. Hymn 394 (Lord of all hopefulness, Lord of all joy) 3. The sound of falling silver coins It was quite a tidy sum! Judas would have found it a very welcome bit of cash. It took over four months' hard work to earn that sort of money. And it was his for just a brief evening encounter. Just one kiss, that's all it took, yes, just one kiss! All he had to do was to show the soldiers and the temple guards where Jesus was - ideally, when no-one else was about. Thirty pieces of silver - and in return for so little. There are many theories about Judas and about just what motivated him to hand Jesus over to the authorities. Was he a frustrated Zealot - one of the people fighting to free Israel from the domination of Rome - angry with Jesus for not capitalizing on the enthusiasm of the crowd on Palm Sunday when the city greeted him as a hero? Was he trying to push Jesus into showing his hand. Did he want to force him to call up miraculous powers to get himself out of trouble? Was he simply greedy, with an eye open for the chance to make a fast buck - sorry - shekel? The gospels don't really give us any clues as to what made him do what he did. But this afternoon let's just listen to the sound of those coins on the temple floor. What do they speak of? Listen to them as they crash onto the stone flags and then spin and roll with that distinctive sound that only coins make, as the spin gets lower and the beat of the tinkle gets faster. Instead of thinking about how Judas EARNED the coins, let's ask ourselves, "Why did he want to get RID of them?" It wasn't that he didn't want to be paid for the job. He had been quite happy about that before the betrayal. I don't even think it was disgust at what he had done, for all that St Matthew says it was. It wasn't that he didn't want to be beholden to the authorities, as if returning the money stopped them having a hold on him. Could it be something much more common? Was it guilt that made him go back to the temple and throw down those pieces of silver. Guilt at the thought that he had brought this innocent man to the point of no return in a trial that would inevitably lead to his death? Now guilt is something we all know only too well. And it is an important emotion. It comes into play when we have done something wrong. It can goad us into putting it right, into making up for it, or at least it can push us to say sorry for the wrong we have done. Guilt and our conscience go hand in hand to help us avoid selfish temptations. When guilt comes into play like that it is a positive and valuable emotion. But feelings of guilt can be manipulated and contrived. I know I've told my little tale before, but it is worth repeating in this context. I like to eat marmalade on my bread, you taste the orange more sharply. But from being a small child, we only ever had marmalade out at breakfast time and for breakfast we had toast! For some reason we never had marmalade at tea time and we never had bread at breakfast. So I've grown up with the feeling that somehow marmalade and bread don't go together. But I still like it! And even now when I sneak a helping of marmalade on bread, I almost look over my shoulder. I feel I'm doing something a bit naughty. In other words, I feel guilty. But guilt can be manipulated in more sinister ways. How often we do things to other people to MAKE them feel guilty. Even just sullen silence when they have upset us is intended to make them sorry for offending us. When we succeed, we feel that they are somehow in our power then. And to forgive them would be to relinquish that power, so we don't forgive them, despite our frequent repetition of that phrase from the Lord's Prayer - "forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us". But those silver coins rolling about in the temple speak of an even more poisonous sort of guilt. The sort of guilt that will not allow for forgiveness at all. Judas was eaten up by his guilt - so much so, that he couldn't even give forgiveness a chance. To make sure that no opportunity for forgiveness remained, he went out and hanged himself! His death made it impossible for things to be put right. Very often after a death, the hardest feelings for bereaved people to cope with are the feelings of guilt. The sense of estrangement that was never reconciled. The words said in anger that were never taken back. Or even the words of love and affection that were never, or too rarely, uttered. They lead to that common, sad, guilty refrain, "If only I'd .........." In the silence now, listen to those silver coins bouncing on the floor and remember the destructive guilt of Judas. Then think about those things about which you feel guilty, even things from the distant past that have been carefully submerged deep in your memory. But don't just let the guilt fester. Resolve to put things right, even if the only path open to you is to say sorry to God. And if the death of someone seems to stop you being able to do that, be assured that not even death can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, and that forgiveness can still be offered and received in him. Whatever our guilt we come to him as we are and he welcomes, pardons, cleanses and relieves us. And that is, as our next hymn puts it, a promise we can believe. SILENCE Let us pray: O God, our heavenly Father, who to redeem the world delivered up your only Son to be betrayed by one of his disciples; and for thirty pieces of silver to be sold to his enemies; take from us, we pray, all greed and hypocrisy; and so strengthen us that loving you above all things we may be freed from our guilt and remain steadfast in faith to the end; through him who gave his life for us, our Saviour Jesus Christ. Hymn 246 ( Just as I am, without one plea) 4. The sound of the crowd's roar Crowds can be great fun. They can also be very frightening. I remember the sound of the crowds at Oxford-Cambridge rugby matches at Twickenham. It was a roar that rose and fell with the excitement of the game. You couldn't be in that stadium and remain detatched from the atmosphere. You were caught up in the to and fro of the game, urging on the pack in the scrummage; cheering the dash to catch a risky up-and-under; silent at a crucial throw in two yards from the line. By contrast I remember being caught up in London in one of the student marches of the sixties - quite by mistake I assure you! I'd just come up out of the underground at the wrong time. The police and the students were facing each other and the atmosphere was tense and hostile. It was as if everyone was waiting for a fizzing fuse to reach the dynamite. I beetled back into the tube station before the violence exploded, but I am certain that there were young people there, on both sides of the thin blue line, who ended up doing things they would never have dreamed of doing in other situations. They too will have been carried along by the crowd. Two crowds with two very different moods. It was rather like that in Jerusalem.. On Palm Sunday the crowd was good natured, cheering, happy. It was in carnival mood as Jesus rode into the city. Some palm and olive branches were torn from the trees and waved in excitement. Others were thrown on the ground to make a carpet for the procession formed by Jesus, the disciples and the adoring crowd. And those shouts of "Hosanna" would have sent a thrill of anticipation through the disciples. What a privilege to be caught up in the mission of this great teacher! What a joy to experience such a great welcome. Just think what could be possible now, with this sort of support! Then five days later, what a contrast! Gone the sense of welcome; gone the joy; gone the carnival atmosphere. Now there is no support from the crowd. Instead there is that oppressive feel of a crowd on edge. The roar has an ugly note to it. The emotions are quite different. The manipulators have been at work. There is jealousy about, suspicion, the desire for revenge and it erupts into the bloodthirsty cry, "Crucify him! Crucify him!" Just like those crowds in Twickenham and London, the people in Jerusalem would have been swept along on the tide of the crowd. In a crowd people lose their inhibitions and are willing to display extremes of emotion they often keep in check. And it doesn't take a big crowd to do that either. We all know of occasions when a small group of four or five youngsters in the village can get up to mischief that none of them would have dared to do on their own. In the silence now listen to the contrasting roars of the crowds in Jerusalem. Think of how they changed. Think of what made them change. And then let us think of ourselves and of the way we can be fickle in our faith - claiming allegiance to Christ when it suits or is easy because of supporting company, but wavering so easily when the things are not easy or the tide pulls us in the opposite direction. Think how easily our good intentions evaporate and how we can be tempted to run with the hare and hunt with the hounds. SILENCE Let us pray: O Lord Christ, to whom the lips of children made sweet Hosannas ring; accept the prayers and praise which we offer you; forgive our readiness to follow the crowd when times are hard, and grant that we may be strong in the strength which God supplies through you, our crucified Saviour and our Redeemer. Hymn 63 (My song is love unknown) vv 1,2,3 & 7 5. The sound of Silence If what I have asked you to imagine up to now has been easy, I now want to ask the impossible. I want you to listen to silence. The silence when Jesus is accused! He gave no answer! ............................ Silence! What a contrast to the rowdy crowd scenes we've been listening to so far. It is disturbing when an accused person doesn't bother to offer any defense, especially when the allegations are so serious. You don't know what to make of him. Normally a person, whether guilty or not, will be quick to offer a defense, or at the very least, to plead mitigating circumstances. And when what is at stake is your life, surely you would say something, ...... anything! ..... to save yourself. "Do you not hear how many things they testify against you" said Pilate. But Jesus gave no answer, not even to a single charge. He never said a murmuring word. Not a word, not a single word. Yet how powerful a word could have been. In this trial, a few carefully chosen words would have won Jesus his freedom and Barabbas would have been kept under lock and key. Ask any journalist and you will hear about the power of words to influence people and sway public opinion. Unscrupulous journalists know how easy it can be to destroy a politician, or at least to make things difficult for him, simply by innuendo. During the last war there was a non-commissioned officer who was learning to drill the soldiers on the grassy slope above the chalk cliffs at Beach Head overlooking the English Channel. Backwards and forwards the men went, turning and wheeling, first one way then another. What a feeling it was to have power over those men. They did whatever he told them. Suddenly the officer had a terrifying thought. It almost paralyzed him. The soldiers were heading straight towards the edge of the cliff. He realized that if he didn't stop them, they were so well disciplined they would probably march right over the edge, and the man behind would be pushing the one in front! He pictured them as a stream of lemmings. In panic he shouted, "STOP". Nothing happened. "COME BACK!" They kept going. "TURN AROUND!" But they kept their back to him marching towards the cliff. In his blind terror he had forgotten the one word that would stop them. What was that word? Nothing else would work. They were only yards from the cliff edge when the sergeant major's voice bellowed from behind him, "COMPANY, HALT!" That was the word - halt! Powerful things words. And yet here we have Jesus refusing to use a single word. It is remarkable, after all, we call him THE Word - the Word made flesh. St John's gospel begins with that beautiful passage we read at midnight at Christmas, where he portrays this all-powerful Word, the Word that brought about creation, leaving behind all the splendour and light and becoming human. The powerFUL becoming powerLESS. St Paul puts it beautifully in his letter to the Philippians - "Christ Jesus was in the form of God, but he did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave". In the bowed-headed silence of Jesus we can hear that self- emptying Paul and John are on about. In the Upper Room he laid aside his own garments and put on a towel, the garb of a slave. Here before Pilate he laid aside his defense and took on silence - a sign of his solidarity with all who are weak and powerless, those who have no voice, or whose voice is drowned out in the clamor or simply ignored. But unlike the signs of Judas and Pilate, this self-emptying of Jesus is not an empty sign. He is not putting on a show. This is for real. He is really not going to offer a defense. He is putting aside his power even at the cost of his own life. The silence 'says' it all! In the silence now, think of the silence of Jesus. Wonder at his willingness to be powerless. And let us confess our own love of power and our fear of losing whatever power we have - whether at home, in the wider family, in the community, even in the church. And let us contrast our quickness to speak with Jesus' willingness to remain silent. SILENCE Let us pray: We worship you, O Christ, the eternal Word, because for our sake you laid aside your power and glory and clothed yourself in the garment of our humanity, to live in poverty here on earth and to suffer death upon the cross. Speak to us through your silence. Teach us the lesson of your humility and empty our lives of all pride and selfishness; that we may find our joy and fulfillment in serving others in your name and for your sake. Hymn 115 (Dear Lord and Father of mankind) 6. The sound of pouring water Listen to the sound of water falling into the basin. One of Pilate's servants would have come out at his bidding with a bowl and ewer of water. And as he poured the water into the bowl, Pilate would have rinsed his hands in the cascading stream. Water falling into a basin is a very homely sound, isn't it! You heard it this morning as you filled the basin before washing your face and again as you rinsed your toothbrush. Later as you prepared your cup of tea and washed up after breakfast. You would be surprised at the number, if you counted every time you ran water during the course of a day. Water is so much a part of our everyday life. In its three most common uses: It refreshes us. It nourishes us. It cleans us. Pilate was trying to use it in the last of those three senses. For him it was a ritual act to convince the crowd (and I suspect to convince himself too!) that he was washing himself clean of all guilt. He wanted to make it quite clear that he wasn't to blame for the death of this innocent victim. It was all due to forces outside his control. And everyone there would have immediately understood what Pilate was trying to do. Isn't it interesting - Judas was so overwhelmed by his guilt, while Pilate only understood it so superficially that he thought the outward sign of washing his hands was all that was necessary to cleanse him from its guilt and power. In your mind hold on to that sound of pouring water. Go back to the early part of the evening, to the gospel we had last night( (Maundy Thursday). There's that sound again! Can you hear it? St John tells us that at supper with his disciples in the Upper Room, Jesus had assumed the role of a servant. He had poured water into a bowl and had washed the disciple's feet. Very important, when you wore only sandals on the dusty Palestinian roads. Very dirty, when you consider that the streets were also the sewers. In a very minor way, I know something of that because after our Maundy Thursday Eucharist at Ancroft last night, I went straight on to Fenwick Village Hall where the pilgrims who had walked from Hexham were spending the night before crossing to Holy Island this morning. I got there just as they reached the ceremony of the washing of feet - and the room stank!! as a dozen sweaty feet were washed! At the time of Jesus it was a job fit only for the lowest of the slaves. Yet Jesus, the Master, washed the filthy feet of his disciples. You couldn't get anything more different from Pilate's haughty, remote act. For Jesus it was a sign of involvement and service. And yet the symbolism intended by Jesus is the same as that Pilate sought - cleansing. But the pouring of water on its own isn't enough. It demands a response, a commitment from those who are washed. Peter's feet were washed, but the sound of the cockcrow reminded him that he had not been as committed as he thought. Judas' feet had been washed, but the sound of the tumbling silver coins tell of his lack of commitment too. Pilate sought innocence as he washed his hands, but as he was the only one who held real power in Jerusalem, he was a guilty as anyone else involved in the conspiracy. It was only in his fond imaginings that he had no involvement. And what about us? Most of us won't remember it, but run the story of our lives backwards, almost to the beginning. There! Can you hear it ? It's that sound of pouring water again. It is the moment you were baptised. Water was poured over you partly as a sign of cleansing, and partly as a sign of commitment to fight against evil and to follow Christ. You were brought to baptism in faith that you might be a be follower of him who is described in John's gospel as offering Living Water, the one whose teaching can be for us a spring of water welling up into eternal life. We may well have been committed to follow Christ, but isn't there the deny-er, the betrayer and the sham innocent in each of us as well. We all have an element of Peter, of Judas and of Pilate in our make-up. The amazing thing is that we, like Peter, are forgiven and restored if we wish to be and if we open ourselves to that cleansing stream. In the quiet, let us be honest with God and with ourselves. Admitting our failures, admitting our manifold sins and wickedness, and seeking God's forgiveness. Let us resist the temptation to white'wash' ourselves like Pilate. Rather, like Peter (and is it Persil[washing powder]) let's go for deep down cleanliness, "Lord, wash not only my feet, but my hands and head as well!" SILENCE Let us pray: God our Father, your gift of water brings life and freshness to the earth; it washes away our sins and brings eternal life. Bless and hallow our use of water, renew the living spring of water within us, and protect us who have been washed in the water of baptism, that we may serve you in cleanness of body, heart and mind, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Hymn 135 (Rock of ages, cleft for me) 7. The sound of crying Let us now turn to a sound that seems to fit in so appropriately with the emotions of the Passion and with the word passion itself. It is the sound of deep passion, the sound of crying. Let us begin with these people following Jesus to the place of crucifixion. So often the climb to Calvary is portrayed as Jesus on his own, perhaps with Simon of Cyrene carrying the cross, being followed by a great weeping crowd. But Jesus wasn't the only one due for execution that afternoon. From the earliest traditions we are told that there were two others with him. They, too, would have had their families and friends going along to witness the last sad moments of the person they knew. So it is not just the followers of Jesus who would have been grief stricken, there would certainly have been people accompanying the two criminals. And of course it would have been the most natural thing for them to give vent to their feelings by crying. We've seen it recently in the tear stained face of the mother of pleading fruitlessly for clemency for her son in the United States. With heavy hearts the crowd would have made a sad little procession. There would have been few dry eyes. Tears would have been running down their cheeks. Tears are very important for us. I don't mean the tears that flow across our eyes all day to keep them safe and moist, though of course those are essential to prevent damage and avoid discomfort. I am thinking more of the tears we cry at times of emotion. I remember coming home one evening a few years ago to find Lorna watching a television program that was investigating the value of tears. Apparently tears of emotion have a different chemical composition to the normal tears that flow when you are facing the wind or when there is dust in your eye. The researchers for this program had made volunteers sit through one of the great all time weepy movies - "The Day They Gave Babies Away" (described by Barry Norman as a "five hankie" movie). As they cried their way through the film, their tears were collected for analysis. I'm afraid the chemistry lost me, but from what I understood, it seems that tears of emotion are actually the body's way of getting rid of a particular protein and the researchers were arguing that in this way tears really ARE therapeutic. They do positive good and help to reduce stress. For the involved spectators of the crucifixion, the tears would have been helping them, in some small way, to cope with the horror of the situation. And there are times when we need that same therapy. At times of heightened emotion we NEED to be able to cry. But what makes us cry? All sorts of different things can trigger that response. I remember a widow telling me that she had cried more over a dead mouse her cat brought in, than she had when her husband died. So while crying can help us, it is not necessarily a sign of how distressed we are. The gospels contain only two accounts of Jesus weeping. One occasion was when his friend Lazarus died. He quite clearly felt the sense of loss we all experience at the death of someone close to us. In his sorrow, words could only say so much, and when he was at a loss for words, just like us, Jesus burst into tears. Those who were nearby were prompted to say, "See how dearly he loved him" In much the same way, the woman who anointed Jesus' feet in the house of Simon the Pharisee found that words weren't enough and she added her tears to the costly perfume with which she anointed Jesus and then used her hair to wipe his feet. The other time when Jesus is reported as weeping was when he looked out over Jerusalem and mourned their stubborn refusal to listen to his gospel, for he could see that such an attitude would lead to their destruction and to the destruction of innocents in the city as well. I am sure the crucifixion itself will have brought him to tears. His cry of frustration "My God, my God why have you forsaken me?" will have been watered with tears. Again, words could only say so much at a time like that. And it must have been the same for those who stood at the foot of the cross. Which of them would have been able to put their feelings into words. I suspect that all they could do was cry. In the quiet now, let us offer to God those moments of tearfulness we have known. The times when our sorrow has been for ourselves, the times when it has been for others whom we love. Let us pray that our tears may help to bring us healing. And let us acknowledge that words can only take us so far, and in silence remember the great cost at which our salvation has been bought. SILENCE Let us pray: Lord Jesus, by the lonliness of your suffering on the cross be near to all who are desolate and in pain or sorrow, those who keep vigil by the dying and all who watch or wait or weep. Let your presence transform their sorrow into comfort and their lonliness into fellowship with you; for your tender mercies' sake. Hymn sheet: (Drop, drop slow tears) -sung through twice 8. The sound of hammer and nails We come back to the soldiers for a while, but not to a particularly soldierly sound. I want us to focus for a while on the sound of the hammer striking the nails into the wood. There have been times in the Church's history when people have taken a distinctly unhealthy interest in the gruesome details of crucifixion. When preachers tried to make worshippers go through the very agony themselves and then played upon all sorts of confused feelings of guilt and grief. Having said that, I wonder if perhaps we haven't gone too far the other way now. There is a danger that we pretty up our worship and take away from it all those nasty things that can upset us. I remember someone who started coming to one of the churches in our group and then asked why it was that in church we always had to mention sins and the things we do wrong. Surely, they suggested, we should be concentrating on the good things. I think that person was reflecting a trend in modern liturgical revisions. We don't want to be reminded of the bad things we do. But although it is right that our worship should be a celebration of all that is good and happy in our lives, that shouldn't be all there is to it. There should also be room to explore in worship the darker side of our personalities and the disturbing experiences of life. To face our sense of frustration and our anger and to acknowledge that there are fightings and fears within as well as without. So on one level the sound of the hammer and nails reminds us of the inhumanity of people and of the violent tendencies that we all have. It also reminds us of the difficulty we have of coping with those whose views differ from our own, and of the violence confrontational situations elicit. It reminds us that we so often think that the way to eliminate a problem is to eliminate the problem MAKER. But of course that is never a real answer. And let's not fall into the trap of dismissing the crucifixion simply as something the Roman authorities allowed at the instigation of the Jewish religious leaders. We Christians, and the Christian Church, have been guilty of equal evils in our history - think of the Inquisition, of the Crusades, of Bosnia or Northern Ireland and yes, even here in our own Republic of Ireland. No, our hands aren't clean either. The hammer and the nails force us to face the violence we know within ourselves, however carefully hidden it may be for most of the time. But the sound can also provide us with a great deal to think about on another level. Not only was it one of the last sounds Jesus would have heard in this life, it would probably have been one of the very first sounds he was conscious of - as a baby and as he grew up. Joseph was a carpenter and his carpenter's shop would probably have just been part of the family home. And through all his wondrous childhood Jesus would have heard Joseph hammer nails into wood. He would probably have grown up helping in the workshop with hammer and nails in his hands as he served an apprenticeship to Joseph. But in the hands of Joseph and Jesus the tools would have been used constructively. They would have fashioned ploughs and hoes for farmers, carts for traders, all sorts of odds and ends for their neighbors. They would have been helping people. But on that Friday at noon, the soldiers were using them destructively as they crucified the Son of God between two robbers. The very same implements, but used - oh so differently! It is the same with all the gifts God gives us, whether personal skills and abilities or the resources of the earth. We have the freedom to choose how to use them - for good or for evil. If we use them for good we find ourselves using them creatively, sharing in the creativity of God. If we use them for evil we are working against him and that is when we mar and destroy his creation. Yet despite all our thoughtlessness and even our deliberate destruction, God is always seeking to work through them for good. Go back to the Old Testament, to the story of Noah - there the same sounds could be heard as hammer and nails were used to build the ark. There they were used to save people from destruction. Agonizing and painful though the sounds were on Good Friday, they have still come to be seen as the means by which God continues to save people. God turned the evil to good effect. That is why we call it GOOD Friday and not Black Friday. For all the bad that we do, God is always working for good through us and our actions. In the silence, think of the sound of hammer and nails in wood. Let us try to be aware of the violence within ourselves - both the violence that does at times flare up and hurt those around us, as well as the violence we so often pretend isn't there, or that we try to hide. Think also of the way in which we can use the gifts of God for good or for evil. And then think of any gifts and talents that we are hiding and are not using to God's glory. SILENCE Let us pray: Lord Jesus, who grew up in a carpenter's shop and learned to use hammer and nails to good effect; wield well your tools in our world today, bless all human endeavour in daily work; grant that we may always seek to use our tools for good that we may co-operate with you and your heavenly Father in the continuing work of creation. We ask this for your name's sake. Hymn 71 (O dearest Lord, thy sacred head) 9. The sound of the rolling tombstone Listen in your mind's ear to the sound of the stone that sealed the tomb. Listen as that rolling ball of rock runs heavily along the groove that had been cut out for it in the ground. Hear the hollow echo come back from the darkness of the tomb. Then the dull thud as the stone bangs into place. All those sounds have a deathly finality about them. It was all over now. The great teacher and healer, whose life and ministry had seemed to promise so much, was dead. The man whose life had started in a borrowed stable had now come to an end in a borrowed grave. With the thud of that great stone, all the hopes of the disciples and of the faithful women followers were buried. Their three year pilgrimage with Jesus through Galilee in the north and then down to Jerusalem had all been for nothing. They could have no hope for the future. They will have gone home disconsolate, depressed, dejected. You can picture them slowly turning away from the tomb with the same range of emotions experienced by mourners at a grave side nowadays. That mixture of reluctance, guilt and that feeling that they were somehow being unfaithful in turning their back on their dead loved one. And that is where we leave the Sounds of the Passion. Weeping men and women, from whom the meaning of life had been snatched away. All the promise of the triumphal entry of Palm Sunday had evaporated since supper last night. They could only trust that God was still there - despite all the evidence to the contrary. And we, like those men and women, can do nothing except put our trust in God - even in our darkest moments. For of ourselves we can do nothing. (Very slowly) The soldiers' feet on the streets of Jerusalem; the cock crowing in the courtyard outside the High Priest's house; Judas throwing down the silver pieces on the temple floor; the roar of the crowd outside the Governor's residence; the silence of Jesus in the face of accusation; the pouring of water over Pilate's hands; the sound of weeping; the hammer banging nails into the wood of the cross and the rolling of the stone across the entrance to the tomb. Nine sounds heard by those who followed the passion of Jesus. But I hope they have also spoken to us of emotions and experiences we know in our own lives: of violence, denial, guilt, unreliability, vulnerability, pretence, sorrow, despair. But it is not all bad! They are all sounds that tell us THAT is where God is to be found. He is not remote from the pain and rough and tumble of our lives. At times we may wish to cry our with Jesus, "Why, O God, why have you forsaken me?" But in those dark times we cling to the hope that the love of God is greater than the blackness all around us. Greater than we can ever imagine. And that the power of God's love works though the worst that human beings can do. In the silence now, let us think of the feelings of those disciples after the tomb was banged shut. For a few moments let's pretend that we haven't peeked at the last chapter of the story. Let us offer to God our anger at him for the unfairness of life - and be honest! we do feel like that at times. Allow yourself to be cross with God for the way that good so often seems to be defeated; for our sense of powerlessness when we try to do good; for the cruel way we seem to have been treated by him and by other people. And let us be assured that God is big enough, and loving enough, to take our anger. Let us remind ourselves that he knows that impotence and anger too, for he shared it on the hill outside Jerusalem. He shared it on the cross. SILENCE Let us pray: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, in the evening hour you lay in the tomb and so hallowed the grave to be a bed of hope for all who trust in you; give us such sorrow for our sins which were the cause of your passion, that when our bodies lie in the dust our souls may live with you; who with the Father and the Holy Spirit reign, God for ever. Hymn 523 (Were you there when they crucified my Lord?) Concluding comments What is it we have heard as we have listened our way along the path to the cross and the tomb. It hasn't only been the sounds of our Lord's Passion, but also the sounds of our own lives with all their ups and downs. For a short while we have had the opportunity to turn aside from all the business of today and, cocooned in this ancient and beautiful church, we have focused our thoughts on the noises we might have heard in Jerusalem almost two thousand years ago. But while we have been in here, have any of the sounds of today's world broken into our thoughts at all? Have we noticed the occasional car or tractor pulling up the hill to Ford bank? Have we heard the planes fly overhead? or the larks sing in the churchyard? The world around us has been going about its usual business. Unaffected. Unimpressed. Just as it did in Jerusalem then. If the world doesn't bother to take notice of us, what should our attitude be to the world? It was at the end of the parable of the sower that Jesus said, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear". If we have really heard and understood the sounds of the Passion, then we will realize that they are sounds that have to be shared. They are sounds that have to be sown in the ears of those who are deaf to the still, small, loving voice of God. We cannot afford the luxury of imagining that our Good Friday discipline is over when we leave the church after this spell of comparative quiet. Good Friday is Good News not just for us but for all the world. Christ died for ALL, so that the living should live no longer for themselves, but for him who died for them. It is through the sounds that we make outside there in the world, that others will come to hear the good news (or not, as the case may be!). Let us have ears that hear: hear the sounds of God's love in the Passion of our Lord, hear the cries of others who are desperate to hear of that love, and let us share in the mission of him who came to open the ears of the deaf. (No silence) Let us pray: Hear us, merciful Jesus, as we remember the hour in which you commended your spirit into the hands of your heavenly Father; By this your most precious death help us, that being dead to the world we may live to you alone; and that at the hour of leaving this mortal life we may be received into your eternal kingdom, there to reign with you for ever. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, set your passion, cross and death between your judgement and us, now and at the hour of our death. Give mercy and grace to the living, rest to the souls of the departed to your holy church, peace and concord and to us sinners eternal life and glory. As our Saviour taught us, so we pray: Our Father, which art in heaven ........... Hymn 67: (When I survey the wondrous cross) Dismissal (From the altar) Most merciful God, who by the death and resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ delivered and saved mankind: grant that by faith in him who suffered on the cross we may triumph in the power of his victory; through Jesus Christ our Lord. The cross is our salvation the cross is our hope the cross is our union with God the cross is the victory won for us over sin and death God forbid that we should boast save in the cross of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Amen. Amen. (Place cross flat)