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Easter is a time when we have enjoyed record participation in our Sunday service as well as our highest giving during the offering. Please consider giving cheerfully and generously this joyous season, whether in person, online, or by mail. Download the service bulletin here.
Find all Holy Week services here.
LEADER: On this day we gather to remember Jesus our Savior who loved us and gave himself for us. Let us draw near in full assurance of God's endless love and mercy.
ALL: We give our thanks and praise to Jesus Christ who carries our sorrows, heals our wounds, and redeems us from sin and death.
written by Marlene Kropf, in Jesus Keep Me Near the Cross: Good Friday Service
But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Matthew 6:6 NIV
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.
Romans 8:26 NIV
Silence. There is so little of it in these times. Children have been raised with so much noise around them that many feel more comfortable with music playing while they study because they can’t handle the quiet. We have added more and more noise and distraction into our lives that when we are placed in silence we tend to become uncomfortable.
I often think of Jesus during his 40 days in the desert. As a mom, the thought of 40 days of silence sounds miraculous, but could I really be silent? We all have things in our lives that pull at us and keep us from any form of silence. But, in reality, if we take more than a few minutes of silence, we start to stress and get anxious, left wandering through our thoughts certain that there must be something more that we have to get done.
Throughout scripture we are called to become silent in the presence of our God. It’s in the silence that we can really hear, can really sense, can really connect with our God. Scripture even tells us that if we are unable to pray in that silence the Holy Spirit will intercede in our prayers for us.
I think of Daniel, praying every day in secret. I think of Esther who was forced to keep her religion hidden and silent. And I think of Jesus who begged his disciples to be quiet and pray in the garden with Him. In the silence, in the still, we can connect on a deeper level than we could ever imagine
Are you slowing down enough to allow for growth and transformation? Make a time for meditation each day. Start with a deep breath.
Join us for the virtual Good Friday Tenebrae service tonight at 7:00 p.m. This somber Good Friday service is characterized by gradually diminishing light to symbolize the darkness of Jesus' death and the hopelessness in a world without God.
Gather seven candles today so that you can take part in the dimming light of the service this evening by extinguishing a candle at the end of each prayer.
Tag your #onebasket2020 photos for the Virtual Easter Egg Hunt tomorrow. Re-read the Easter story then post a picture that includes an Easter egg along with what Easter means to you and the hashtag. Tag #2ndpc too or email your picture to Jordyn to be included in the hunt.
NOTE: Make sure we can see your posts! An individual Facebook posts can be set to public. On Instagram, your account must be public for us to see your photo. And, as always, use discretion on social media and supervise your children as you would with any other time on the internet.
Tenebrae (Latin for "darkness") is an ancient Christian tradition that takes place in the days leading up to Easter. This somber Good Friday service is characterized by gradually diminishing light to symbolize the darkness of Jesus' death and the hopelessness in a world without God. In years past, the service has concluded in darkness and worshipers then leave in silence to ponder the impact of Christ's death and await the coming resurrection and the festival service of Easter morning.
This year we gather in the shadows, as it were, surrounded by the darkness of COVID-19. Despite this virus' impact on our lives, our families and our communities, we are children, not of darkness, but of the light. There is a light that saves us and we can come together in spirit to ponder the impacts of a world gone dark knowing that the light will return- that Sunday's coming!
If you'd like, you can recreate aspects of a Tenebrae service at home by arranging 7 candles to be extinguished one at a time as the service progresses. If you don't have candles, you can begin with all the lights on so that the room is as bright as possible and you can dim the lights after each prayer so that you are left to end the service in darkness.
The video will be posted here Friday, April 10th at 7:00 p.m.
A Good Friday message from Pastor Cress Darwin. Special thanks to Dr. Julia Harlow, Lee Lingle, Clarissa Rider and Joel Dettweiler for contributing haunting choral music (at safe social distance).
Dear Lord, though we would that you have forgiven us, this truth needs to penetrate our hearts in new ways. Help us to know with fresh conviction that we are fully and finally forgiven, not because of anything we have done, but because of what you have done for us. May we live today as forgiven people, opening our hearts to you, choosing not to sin because the power of sin has been broken. Amen.
Lord Jesus, how we wonder at your grace and mercy! When we cry out to you, you hear us. When we ask you to remember us when you come into your kingdom, you offer the promise of paradise. Your mercy exceeds anything we might imagine. It embraces us, encourages us, it heals us. O Lord, though our situation differs from the criminal who cried out to you, we are so like him – in need of mercy. Today we live, trusting you and you alone. Our lives, now and in the world to come, are in your hands. And so we pray: Jesus, remember us when you come into your kingdom! Jesus, remember us today as we seek to live within your kingdom! Amen.
Lord, the presence of your mother at the cross breaks our hearts. You are dying for the love of your created, yet you are also fully human -- a son with a mother. Thank you for loving us to your death. Because you have given us all that you are, we give you our praise, our love, our hearts . . . all that we are. All praise be to you, dear Jesus, fully God and fully human, Savior of the world. Amen.
Lord Jesus God, though we can never fully grasp the horror of your isolation, every time we read this phrase we are overtaken with gratitude. We thank you for how you loved us. What can we do but to offer ourselves to you in praise and in gratitude? Thank you for loving us so.
Lord God, we acknowledge the searing thirst you endured as you assumed our humanity that you might take away our sin. Sweet Jesus, we, too, are thirsty for the new wine of your kingdom to flood our souls that we might be refreshed by your living water. We yearn for your Spirit to fill us once again. Amen.
Jesus, God - You did it. You finished that for which you had been sent, faithful in life, faithful in death. You accomplished that which no one else could, you bore the sin of the world upon your sinless shoulders. All praise be to you, gracious Lord. All praise be to you, dear Jesus, for redeeming us! Alleluia! Amen.
Gracious Lord, even as you once entrusted your Spirit into the hands of the Father, so we give our lives to you. We trust you and you alone. We submit to your sovereignty and will live for your glory. Because of your love we no longer despair. In your strength and compassion we live in hope. Amen.
Good Friday March 30th
A Service of tenebrae at 7pm.