Genesis 22:1-18
Hebrews 10:1-25
John (18:1-40) 19:1-37
Psalm 22:1-21 or 22:1-11
The Youth Choir led the music for the service of Tenebrae. The word tenebrae is Latin for shadows. The purpose of the Tenebrae service is to recreate the emotional aspects of the passion story. It is a very solemn service. The readings are the narrative of Christ’s Passion, divided into seven, eight, or nine parts, each one assigned to a different reader. Our service tonight had seven readings. At the beginning of the service the church is illuminated with candlelight. There are as many candles as there are readings, plus a white Christ candle. The readers go up one at a time, read their assigned selections, and extinguish one of the candles, until only the Christ candle remains. Then someone reads the first part of Psalm 22, which Jesus quoted on the cross. Then the Christ candle is put out, leaving the congregation in near total darkness—and near total devastation. At this point, the service ends. There is no benediction and the people leave in silence. We had a hymn for each of the readings, and the Youth Choir sang an anthem. There was no sermon.
The first hymn was Beneath the Cross of Jesus by Elizabeth Cecelia Douglas Clephane. The tune is St. Christopher by Frederick Charles Maker.
Beneath the cross of Jesus
I fain would take my stand,
the shadow of a mighty rock
within a weary land,
A home within a wilderness,
a rest upon the way,
from the burning of the noontide heat
and the burden of the day.
O safe and happy shelter!
O refuge tried and sweet!
O trysting-place where heaven's love
and heaven's justice meet!
As to the exalted patriarch
that wondrous dream was given,
so seems my Savior's cross to me
a ladder up to heaven.
There lies beneath its shadow,
but on the farther side,
the darkness of an open grave
that gapes both deep and wide;
and there between us stands the cross,
two arms outstretched to save,
like a watchman to guard the way
from that eternal grave.
Upon that cross of Jesus
mine eyes at times can see
the very dying form of one
who suffered there for me;
and from my stricken heart, with tears,
two wonders I confess:
the wonders of redeeming love,
and my own worthlessness.
I take, O cross, thy shadow
for my abiding place;
I ask no other sunshine than
the sunshine of his face;
content to let the world go by,
to know no gain nor loss,
my sinful self my only shame,
my glory all: the cross.
The first reading was Matthew 26:30-46
The second hymn was Go to Dark Gethsemane by James Montgomery. The tune is Redhead by Richard Redhead.
1. Go to dark Gethsemane,
ye that feel the tempter's power;
your Redeemer's conflict see,
watch with him one bitter hour.
Turn not from his griefs away;
learn of Jesus Christ to pray.
2. See him at the judgment hall,
beaten, bound, reviled, arraigned;
O the wormwood and the gall!
O the pangs his soul sustained!
Shun not suffering, shame, or loss;
learn of Christ to bear the cross.
3. Calvary's mournful mountain climb;
there, adoring at his feet,
mark that miracle of time,
God's own sacrifice complete.
"It is finished!" hear him cry;
learn of Jesus Christ to die.
4. Early hasten to the tomb
where they laid his breathless clay;
all is solitude and gloom.
Who has taken him away?
Christ is risen! He meets our eyes;
Savior, teach us so to rise.
The second reading was Matthew 26:47-56.
The third hymn was What Wondrous Love Is This, an American folk hymn that dates from the early nineteenth century.
What wondrous love is this, O my soul, O my soul!
What wondrous love is this, O my soul!
What wondrous love is this that caused the Lord of bliss
to lay aside his crown for my soul, for my soul,
to lay aside his crown for my soul.
To God and to the Lamb, I will sing, I will sing,
to God and to the Lamb, I will sing.
To God and to the Lamb who is the great I AM,
while millions join the theme, I will sing, I will sing,
while millions join the theme, I will sing.
And when from death I'm free, I'll sing on, I'll sing on,
And when from death I'm free, I'll sing on.
And when from death I'm free I'll sing and joyful be,
and through eternity I'll sing on, I'll sing on,
and through eternity I'll sing on.
The third reading was Matthew 26:57-75.
The fourth hymn was O Love Divine What Hast Thou Done by Charles Wesley. The hymn tune is Selena by Isaac B. Woodbury.
1. O Love divine, what has thou done!
The immortal God hath died for me!
The Father's coeternal Son
bore all my sins upon the tree.
Th' immortal God for me hath died:
My Lord, my Love, is crucified!
2. Is crucified for me and you,
to bring us rebels back to God.
Believe, believe the record true,
ye all are bought with Jesus' blood.
Pardon for all flows from his side:
My Lord, my Love, is crucified!
3. Behold him, all ye that pass by,
the bleeding Prince of life and peace!
Come, sinners, see your Savior die,
and say, "Was ever grief like his?"
Come, feel with me his blood applied:
My Lord, my Love, is crucified!
The fourth reading was Matthew 27:1-14.
The fifth hymn was Ah, Holy Jesus by Johann Heermann, translated by Robert S. Bridges. The hymn tune is Herzliebster Jesu by Johann Cruger.
1. Ah, holy Jesus, how hast thou offended,
that we to judge thee have in hate pretended?
By foes derided, by thine own rejected,
O most afflicted!
2. Who was the guilty? Who brought this upon thee?
Alas, my treason, Jesus, hath undone thee!
'Twas I, Lord Jesus, I it was denied thee;
I crucified thee.
3. Lo, the Good Shepherd for the sheep is offered;
the slave hath sinned, and the Son hath suffered.
For our atonement, while we nothing heeded,
God interceded.
4. For me, kind Jesus, was thy incarnation,
thy mortal sorrow, and thy life's oblation;
thy death of anguish and thy bitter passion,
for my salvation.
5. Therefore, kind Jesus, since I cannot pay thee,
I do adore thee, and will ever pray thee,
think on thy pity and thy love unswerving,
not my deserving.
The fifth reading was Matthew 27:15-32.
The sixth hymn was O Sacred Head Now Wounded. The text was written by Bernard of Clairvaux, translated by by Paul Gerhardt and James W. Alexander. The tune is known as The Passion Chorale by Hans L. Hassler in the sixteenth century and harmonized by J.S. Bach in the seventeenth century. It is main motif of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion
1. O sacred Head, now wounded,
with grief and shame weighed down,
now scornfully surrounded
with thorns, thine only crown:
how pale thou art with anguish,
with sore abuse and scorn!
How does that visage languish
which once was bright as morn!
2. What thou, my Lord, has suffered
was all for sinners' gain;
mine, mine was the transgression,
but thine the deadly pain.
Lo, here I fall, my Savior!
'Tis I deserve thy place;
look on me with thy favor,
vouchsafe to me thy grace.
3. What language shall I borrow
to thank thee, dearest friend,
for this thy dying sorrow,
thy pity without end?
O make me thine forever;
and should I fainting be,
Lord, let me never, never
outlive my love for thee.
The sixth reading was Matthew 27: 33-44.
The seventh and final hymn was the African-American spiritual Were You There?
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 nailed him to the tree?
Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?
Oh!
Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?
Were you there when they pierced him in the side?
Were you there when they pierced him in the side?
Oh!
Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they pierced him in the side?
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?
The seventh reading was Matthew 27:45-54.
No comments:
Post a Comment