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The 2003 Calvin Worship Symposium celebrated a Tenebrae service on Friday night, January 10, and a celebration of the resurrection on Saturday morning. The conference worship book included all the music; most of the songs can be found in Sing! A New Creation.

Friday January 10, 2003, 8:00 p.m.
Tenebrae:  A Service of Worship for Good Friday
Selected portions from Gospels

The service of Tenebrae, meaning "darkness" or "shadows," has been practiced by the church since medieval times. Once a service for the monastic community, Tenebrae later became an important part of the worship of the common folk during Holy Week. We join Christians of many generations throughout the world in using the liturgy of Tenebrae.

Tenebrae is a prolonged meditation on Christ's suffering. Readings trace the story of Christ's passion, music portrays his pathos, and the power of silence and darkness suggests the drama of this momentous event. As lights are extinguished, we ponder the depth of Christ's suffering and death; we remember the cataclysmic nature of his sacrifice as we hear the overwhelming sound of the "strepitus"; and through the return of the small but persistent flame of the Christ candle at the conclusion of the service, we anticipate the joy of ultimate victory.

Please enter in silence.

The Approach to God

Prelude               

Wondrous Love                  arr. Charles Callahan
Choral Dorien                    Jehan Alain
Passion Chorale                arr. Max Reger

*Greeting                    

Leader:        Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
People:       Amen.
Leader:        Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
                     the Father of mercies and the God of all consolation,
                     who consoles us in all our affliction,
                     so that we may be able to console those who are in any affliction
                     with the consolation with which we ourselves are consoled by God.
People:       For just as the sufferings of Christ are abundant for us,
                     so also our consolation is abundant through Christ.

*Hymn                    Christ, the Life of all the Living  (Psalter Hymnal 371)
                               stanza 1 - all in harmony, st 2 - all in unison, st 3 - all in harmony

Text: Ernst C. Homburg, 1659; tr. Catherine Winkworth, 1863, alt.
Tune: Jesu, meines lebens Leben, Das grosse Cantionale, Darmstadt, 1687

*Prayer

Leader:        The Lord be with you.
People:       And also with you.
Leader:        Let us pray.

The Service of the Word

Scripture Reading  
                               Luke 23:26-31
Meditation                   
                              "Pity or Penance?"                                 
Choral Response
                              All You Who Pass This Way                         J. Berthier          

The Service of Shadows

The Shadow of the Agony of Spirit  

Reading                 Luke 22:39-46
Response             Go to Dark Gethsemane  (Psalter Hymnal 381)

stanza 1 - all in harmony
stanza 2 - all in canon: women begin, men follow after one measure
stanza 3 - all in harmony

Text: James Montgomery, 1825, all.
Tune: Ajalon/Gethsemane/Petra/Redhead 76, Richard Redhead, 1853

The Shadow of Arrest           

Reading                  John 18:1-8
Response              Ah, Holy Jesus  (Psalter Hymnal 386)                                              
                                     stanza 1 - all in harmony, st 2 - men in unison, st 3-4 - all in unison

Text: Johann Heermann, 1630; tr. Robert Bridges, 1899, alt.
Tune: Herzliebster Jesu, Johann Crüger, 1640

The Shadow of Denial           

Reading                   Matthew 26:69-75, 27:1-5

Response               Judas, Peter                                       poem by Luci Shaw

The Shadow of Accusation   

Reading                  Mark 15:1-15
Response              Kyrie Eleison   (Lord, Have Mercy)  (Sing! A New Creation 53) 
                                       one time choir, two times all

Text: early Greek liturgy
Tune: Dinah Reindorf (20th cent), Ghana; arr. Sing! A New Creation
Music © 1987, Dinah Reindorf; arr. © 2001 CRC Publications

The Shadow of Mockery

Reading                 Matthew 27:27-31
Response             O Sacred Head  (Psalter Hymnal 383)
                                     stanza 1 - all in unison, st 2 - choir, st 3 - all in harmony

Text: Latin, medieval; German tr. Paul Gerhardt, 1656; tr. James W. Alexander, 1830, alt.
Tune: Herzlich tut mich Verlangen, Hans L. Hassler, 1601; adapt. and harm. J. S. Bach in St. Matthew Passion, 1729

The Shadow of Crucifixion

Reading                 Matthew 27:32-44
Response              Sarabande from Cello Suite No. 2                    J. S. Bach

The Shadow of Death           

Reading                 Luke 23:44-49
Response             When I Survey the Wondrous Cross   (Psalter Hymnal 384)                        
                                    stanza 1 - all in harmony, st 2 - all in unison, st 3 - all in harmony

Text: Isaac Watts, 1707
Tune: Hamburg, Lowell Mason, 1824; alt. tune Rockingham

The Christ Candle is removed

The Shadow of Burial           

Reading            
                              Mark 15:42-46
Solo Response            
                              Were You There?

Silent meditation

Strepitus

The Christ Candle is restored

*Hymn                    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.

*Dismissal

Leader:        May Jesus Christ
                    who for our sakes became obedient unto death,
                    even death on a cross,
                    keep you and strengthen you.
People:      Amen.

The people leave in silence