Tonight we celebrate Good Friday with the last seven (7) statements of Christ. We encourage you to have seven candles lit. One candle for each of the last 7-last-sayings of Jesus from the cross. Also have a different candle lit. A fatter one or one that is visibly different from the other 7, a different color. It is the candle of HOPE—The Hope Of The Resurrection. It will not be blown out. It will be left glowing after the service is over. Also have a large book, it does not have to be a Bible. Make it a chemistry book. It should be open on the table by the candles.
After each last saying of Jesus from the cross, Pastor Mark will instruct us to blow out one candle (never the candle of the Hope in the Resurrection). This means Jesus is one step closer to fulfilling the reason for his coming—death. When the last of the 7 last sayings of Christ (IT IS FINISHED) is reflected upon, the service will be over. The open book needs to be slammed shut, and in your home, the person who does this is to YELL—IT IS FINISHED. At this point, not another word should be said. The service is over. We suggest nothing is said for the next FIVE minutes in the home. Let the silence penetrate your heart.
We encourage you to start this service at sunset. Listen and participate in darkness. The only lights in the home should be the candles. When the service is over, the only light will be the THE CANDLE OF HOPE. Sit in silence in the dark for a few minutes.
In the darkness of Jesus’ death, or the death of our loved ones, like the death of Larry Verhage my good, friend (Larry loved this service), we focus on our hope that resurrection is coming, the only light in the dark. Resurrection came in Jesus and it will come at the end of time!
COVID-19 will not stop the CHURCH—US—from reentering the history of our most fundamental belief. Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again. May this central truth be for us our ultimate hope and vision.
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