HOLMBURY
ST MARY
SELF-SERVICE for GOOD FRIDAY, 2nd APRIL 2021
STATIONS OF THE CROSS
An invitation to walk with Jesus
GOOD FRIDAY 2021
Jesus told his disciples, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.’
Matthew 16: 24,25
Living God,
Whose Son died on the cross for everyone who lives:
Meet us under the shadow of his cross,
Deepen our wonder,
Enlarge our understanding,
And rekindle our love for you.
To the glory of Him who died
That others may live. Amen.
First Station: Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane
We watch with you, O Christ, with wonder,
Because by your cross you have redeemed the world.
A reading from the Gospel according to Mark
Click and listen, or read Mark 14:32–36:
Silence
HYMN Click and listen, or read the words below the image
Stay with me (Taizé)
Stay with me, remain here with me,
Watch and pray, watch and pray.
Stay here and keep watch with me. Watch and pray, watch and pray!
The spirit is eager, but the flesh is weak.
My heart is nearly broken with sorrow. Remain here with me, stay awake and pray.
Father, if this cannot pass me by without my drinking it, your will be done.
Stay awake, be ready: the Lord is coming!
Jacques Berthier (1923–1994)
Second Station: Jesus betrayed by Judas and arrested
We watch with you, O Christ, with wonder,
Because by your cross you have redeemed the world.
A reading from the Gospel according to Mark
Click and listen, or read Mark 14:43–46:
Silence
HYMN Click to join in or listen:
My song is love unknown
My song is love unknown,
My Saviour’s love to me,
Love to the loveless shown,
That they might lovely be.
O who am I,
That for my sake
My Lord should take
Frail flesh, and die?
Sometimes they strew his way,
and his sweet praises sing;
resounding all the day
hosannas to their King.
Then ‘Crucify!’
is all their breath,
and for his death
they thirst and cry.
They rise, and needs will have
my dear Lord made away;
a murderer they save,
the Prince of Life they slay.
Yet cheerful he
to suffering goes,
that he his foes
from thence might free.
Here might I stay and sing:
no story so divine;
never was love, dear King,
never was grief like thine!
This is my Friend,
in whose sweet praise
I all my days
could gladly spend.
Samuel Crossman (1624–1683)
Third Station: Peter denies Jesus
We watch with you, O Christ, with wonder,
Because by your cross you have redeemed the world.
A reading from the Gospel of Matthew
Click and listen, or read Matthew 26:69–75:
Silence
HYMN Click to listen:
Drop, drop, slow tears (Orlando Gibbons)
Drop, drop, slow tears,
and bathe those beauteous feet,
which brought from heaven
the news and Prince of Peace.
Cease not, wet eyes,
his mercies to entreat;
to cry for vengeance
sin doth never cease.
In your deep floods
drown all my faults and fears;
nor let his eye
see sin, but through my tears.
Phineas Fletcher (1582–1650)
Fourth Station: Jesus judged by Pilate
We watch with you, O Christ, with wonder,
Because by your cross you have redeemed the world.
A reading from the Gospel according to Mark
Click and listen, or read Mark 15:14–15:
Silence
Anthem Click and listen:
God so loved the world (Chilcott)
God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son
That whoso believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.
John 3:16
Fifth Station: Jesus flogged and crowned with thorns
We watch with you, O Christ, with wonder,
Because by your cross you have redeemed the world.
A reading from the Gospel of John
Click and listen, or read John 19:1–3:
Silence
Hymn Click and join in or listen:
A purple robe, a crown of thorn
A purple robe, a crown of thorn,
a reed in his right hand;
before the soldiers’ spite and scorn
I see my Saviour stand.
He bears between the Roman guard
the weight of all our woe;
a stumbling figure bowed and scarred
I see my Saviour go.
Fast to the cross’s spreading span,
high in the sunlit air,
all the unnumbered sins of man
I see my Saviour bear.
He hangs, by whom the world was made,
beneath the darkened sky;
the everlasting ransom paid,
I see my Saviour die.
He shares on high his Father’s throne,
who once in mercy came;
for all his love to sinners shown
I sing my Saviour’s name.
Timothy Dudley-Smith (b. 1926)
Sixth Station: Jesus carries the cross
We watch with you, O Christ, with wonder,
Because by your cross you have redeemed the world.
A reading from the Gospel of John
Click and listen, or read John 19:6,15–17:
Silence
HYMN Click to join in or listen:
When I survey he wondrous cross
When I survey the wondrous cross
on which the Prince of glory died,
my richest gain I count but loss,
and pour contempt on all my pride.
Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast
save in the cross of Christ my God;
all the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to his blood.
See from his head, his hands, his feet,
sorrow and love flow mingled down;
did e'er such love and sorrow meet,
or thorns compose so rich a crown!
Were the whole realm of nature mine,
that were a present far too small;
love so amazing, so divine,
demands my soul, my life, my all.
Isaac Watts (1674–1748)
Seventh Station: Jesus is crucified
We watch with you, O Christ, with wonder,
Because by your cross you have redeemed the world.
A reading from the Gospel of Luke
Click and listen, or read Luke 23:33:
Silence
HYMN Click and join in or listen:
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Oh! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble,
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they laid him in the tomb?
Were you there when they laid him in the tomb?
Oh! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble,
Were you there when they laid him in the tomb?
Spiritual
Eighth Station: Jesus promises the kingdom to a penitent thief
We watch with you, O Christ, with wonder,
Because by your cross you have redeemed the world.
A reading from the Gospel of Luke
Click and listen, or read Luke 23:39–43:
Silence
HYMN Click and join in or listen:
Such love
Such love, pure as the whitest snow;
such love weeps for the shame I know;
such love, paying the debt I owe;
O Jesus, such love.
Such love, stilling my restlessness;
such love, filling my emptiness;
such love, showing me holiness;
O Jesus, such love.
Such love, springs from eternity;
such love, streaming through history;
such love, fountain of life to me;
O Jesus, such love.
Graham Kendrick (b. 1950)
Ninth Station: Jesus on the cross; his mother and his friend
We watch with you, O Christ, with wonder,
Because by your cross you have redeemed the world.
A reading from the Gospel according to John
Click and listen, or read John 19:26–27:
Silence
Anthem Click and listen:
Ave verum corpus (Elgar)
Ave verum corpus, natum
Ex Maria Virgine,
Vere passum, immolatum
In cruce pro homine.
Cuius latus perforatum
Vero fluxit sanguine:
Esto nobis praegustatum
Mortis in examine.
O Iesu dulcis, O Iesu pie,
O Iesu, fili Mariae.
Translation:
Hail, true Body, born
of the Virgin Mary,
having truly suffered, sacrificed
on the cross for mankind,
from whose pierced side
thy true blood flowed:
Be for us a foretaste [of the Heavenly banquet]
in the trial of death.
O sweet Jesus, O holy Jesus,
O Jesus, son of Mary.
Mediaeval sequence for Corpus Christi
Tenth Station: Jesus dies on the cross
We watch with you, O Christ, with wonder,
Because by your cross you have redeemed the world.
A reading from the Gospel of Luke
Click and listen, or read Luke 23:44–46:
Silence
HYMN Click to join in or listen:
It is a thing most wonderful
It is a thing most wonderful,
almost too wonderful to be,
that God's own Son should come from heaven,
and die to save a child like me.
I sometimes think about the cross,
and shut my eyes, and try to see
the cruel nails and crown of thorns,
and Jesus crucified for me.
But even could I see him die,
I could but see a little part
of that great love which, like a fire,
is always burning in his heart.
It is most wonderful to know
his love for me so free and sure;
but 'tis more wonderful to see
my love for him so faint and poor.
And yet I want to love thee, Lord;
O light the flame within my heart,
and I will love thee more and more,
until I see thee as thou art.
William Walsham How (1823–1867)
Prayer of Richard of Chichester
Thanks be to you, Lord Jesus Christ,
For all the cruel pains and insults you have borne for us;
For all the many blessings you have won for us.
Holy Jesus, most merciful Redeemer, friend and brother,
May we know you more clearly, love you more dearly,
And follow you more nearly, day by day. Amen.
A reading from the Gospel of Luke
Click and listen, or read Luke 23:47–49:
As those who watched the crucifixion one by one left and made their way home, so today, we leave quietly, ready to meet again on Sunday, to share the wonder of Easter Day.