Thursday, March 20, 2008
Good Friday lament
John Witvliet in Reformed Worship:
Ideally, worship on Good Friday should include a bit of all three of these elements: We should narrate Jesus’ death. We should sense the profundity of his passion. We should acknowledge the world-changing ramifications of the cross for the salvation of the world. Many typical patterns for Good Friday worship)—such as tenebrae or the stations of the cross— feature some combination of these three elements.
Even so, there may be one essential ingredient that is missing. That ingredient, I would suggest, is lament. Previous articles in this series have explored the importance of liturgical lament in times of crisis and during Advent worship (see RW 44 and 45). These articles suggest that lament is a key ingredient in worship that arises from honest, soul-searching faith. But lament finds its most natural liturgical home on Good Friday.
Related Resource
John Witvliet on Good Friday moralism
Related Poem
This world exhibits no cause for Easter hymns.
Cains are still striking down Abels.
Noahs are still drunk and naked.
Davids are still leering at Bathshebas.Each song of hope smolders like smoke from a guttered candle.
Then the house itself is flattened by the howling storm.
And all is darkness.My God, my God, why have you forsaken us?