Good Friday

I don't know if any of you have ever been to a Good Friday Tenebrae service, but I went to one tonight at Fredericksburg United Methodist church. I've been to plenty of them before, but I just wanted to write for a second about how powerful they can be, especially tonight's. I think Tenebrae is solely a Protestant thing, but I could be wrong (so correct me if I am!). Anyway, FUMC did a Tenebrae service tonight, and for those of you who don't know Good Friday, for Christians, it marks and remembers the day that Jesus died on the cross. The service started out with all of the lights on in the sanctuary, numerous candles lit, and the traditional lenten purple garments draped over the lecturns and altars. Scripture about Jesus' final hours, alternating between hymns about his death constituted most of the service. But each time a scripture was finished being read, a few candles were taken out of the sanctuary, and the purple garments were removed. A black cloth was draped over the cross and by the time we got to Jesus' death in the Scripture, the lights had progressively been dimmed to black and the candles were all taken out. When the final Scripture had been read, we were sitting in pitch black, prayerful and silent. All of a the sudden the organ crashed out a very loud, dischordant, and mournful chord, reminiscent of the moment Jesus' soul left his body and an earthquake and thunder rocked the Mount of Olives. Then the church bell rang 33 times, one ring for each year Jesus lived. I could hear other churches ringing their bells as well. The whole time the lights stayed off, and after the bells finished ringing, we left the sanctuary in silence. The service was powerful, but the act of Jesus dying for me, for us all, is the most powerful of them all.