You’ll need about an hour to engage with this service, as it invites you to listen and reflect on the story that shapes the heart of Christian faith and offers us a model for our own transformative path in life.
I’ve tried to make sure all the links to Taize chants on youtube below are ad free, but if you subscribe to Spotify or some other music streaming service, I suggest you make a playlist of the five songs below and use that to support your response through music and song.
Lighting the Christ Candle
As a symbol of hope in dark places We light the flame.
As a sign of trust in things unseen We light the flame.
the flame is lit
The light shines in the darkness And the darkness cannot overcome it.
Opening responses
Into the shadows of chaos the Light of the world steps;
from the silence of death the Word of God breaks free;
for the emptiness of our souls, the Bread of the world is broken.
Through imagination, metaphors and images we attempt to convey the mystery, power and significance of Jesus’ death,
knowing that ultimately death is swallowed up in life, through self – giving love.
Come let us worship.
The story of Holy Week in words, song and symbol
Listen to the Taize chant Christe Lux Mundi – Christe lux mundi, qui sequiturte, habebit lumen vitae, lumen vitae.
The Story – Watch and pray
You can read the text here, or listen to the clip below
Listen to the Taize chant Stay with me, remain here with me, watch and pray, watch and pray
The Story – Betrayed, Tried and Denied
The text is here, or listen to the audio below.
Listen to the Taize chant O Lord, hear my prayer and sing along if you like
O Lord, hear my prayer, O Lord, hear my prayer; when I call answer me. O Lord, hear my prayer, come and listen to me.
The Story – Pilate and the crowds
The text is here, or listen to the audio below.
The Story – Crucified
The text is here, or listen to the audio clip below.
Listen to the Taize chant crucem tuam
Crucem tuam adoramus domine. resurrectionem tuam, laudamus domine. Laudamus et glorificamus, resurrectionem tuam laudamus domine.
The Story – Dead and Buried
The text is here, or listen to the audio clip below.
Listen to the Taize chant Jesus, remember me, when you come into your kingdom.
The candle is extinguished.
Reflecting on Jesus’ words from the cross
The last words of Jesus, spoken from the cross, are gathered from each of the four accounts of the gospel and together they offer us a doorway into prayerful reflection on our own lives, and the way that we are engaging with the transformative path of faith, and journeying towards our own death.
It is both wise and kind to recognise that the more willing we are to accept and offer forgiveness, the more honest we are with ourselves and others about our hopes and our fears, the more we attend to the quality of our relationships and the breadth and depth of our trust in God, the more we will find ourselves able to live with grace and in faith.
Word 1: Father forgive them. They do not know what they are doing.
Question: Where in my life do I feel like I do not know what I am doing? What help might I need to ask for? Whose wisdom can I trust?
Prayer: Forgive us, for so often we do not know what we are doing…. We offer you our broken lives, that you may make of us wounded healers in your name and likeness.
Word 2: I tell you the truth…Today you will be with me in paradise.
Question: if I were to ask Jesus to remember me, what would I hope to be remembered for?
How do I hold the hope of Jesus’ promise?
Prayer: Remember us, not for our achievements or our failures, but as your children, as your beloved, as your own….and may we learn to live with you, in you now and at the hour of our death.
Word 3: When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Dear woman, here is your son,” and to the disciple, “here is your mother.”
Question: How do I express the tenderness of my love and compassion?
Where am I noticing the invitation to widen and extend my understanding of family?
Prayer: Restore our relationships with family and neighbour, may we have the courage to live in the vulnerability of love and joy and the wisdom and humility to seek reconciliation where there is division.
Word 4: And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
Question: Where in my life do I have a sense of being abandoned by those I depend upon?
Have I ever abandoned parts of myself?
Prayer: Comfort us in suffering and anguish …may we know the security of being held by your faithful and boundless love.
Word 5: Jesus knew that everything was now finished, and to fulfil the Scriptures he said, “I am thirsty.”
Question: What am I thirsty for? Where do I look to satisfy that thirst, and how might I open to receive?
Prayer: Satisfy our inner thirst for you… may we learn to accept the limitation of mind and body and may we yet nurture the longing and yearning for something more – the sense of the fullness of eternity within the limits of our earthly time.
Word 6: …he said, “It is finished!”
Question: do I trust that Jesus has indeed reconciled the whole of creation?
If sometimes I try to be worthy by my own efforts, what is the story I’m telling about myself?
Prayer: Complete in us the work of the cross… letting go of our efforts at control may we submit ourselves willingly to your easy yoke and your light burden.
Word 7: Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.
Question: there is deep trust in this final word, as the Son of God enters into the depths of godforsakenness… What helps me to continue to trust in the presence of despair?
How do I express my commitment?
Prayer: Lord Christ, we entrust our lives to you that we may be oned with you just as you are oned with God the Father.
May our community know the fullness of communion with you and with one another, sharing in joys and sufferings, forgiving and reconciling, restoring and re-forming into the likeness of your holy communion; Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer God.
Amen.
Go into the day and grieve the loss of Love; grieve the triumph of cruelty…and let us stay with our Lord in the darkness.
May you hold your hearts wide open so you may share in the suffering of our world without fear, and together let us learn the way of compassion. Amen.
