Order of Service – Good Friday 2026

The Order of Service follows below.

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Please join us in saying the words printed in bold text. Items in red text are for information and explanation and are not spoken.

Brougham Place Uniting Church
Kardlayirdi Karnungga
A Light on the Hill

9.00am, April 3, 2026
Good Friday. Black.

Welcome to Brougham Place Uniting Church.

We acknowledge the Kaurna people as the traditional carers of the land on which our church is built.

As you wait for worship to begin, please turn your phone to silent.

Prelude

Welcome and Acknowledgement of Country

Naa marni?

(Are you all good?)

Marni Ai!

(Good I am)

Introit

Tree of Life (M. Hauger)

Call to Worship

With heavy hearts and a heavy world,

We meet you this day, O Christ

In your clenched hands, stretched and nailed

You gather us

And so,

we gather in remembrance.

We gather in love.

We gather in peace.

We gather in faith

that you, Christ, the wounded healer, the suffering servant

are among us this day.

Amen

Introduction

We Sing: From Heaven You Came, Helpless Babe

From heaven you came, helpless babe,

entered our world, your glory veiled;

not to be served, but to serve,

and give your life that we might live.

This is our God, the Servant King,

he calls us now to follow him,

to bring our lives as a daily offering

of worship to the Servant King.

There in the garden of tears,

my heavy load he chose to bear;

his heart with sorrow was torn,

‘Yet not my will but yours’, he said.

This is our God, the Servant King,

he calls us now to follow him,

to bring our lives as a daily offering

of worship to the Servant King.

Come see his hands and his feet,

the scars that speak of sacrifice,

hands that flung stars into space

to cruel nails surrendered.

This is our God, the Servant King,

he calls us now to follow him,

to bring our lives as a daily offering

of worship to the Servant King.

So let us learn how to serve

and in our lives enthrone him;

each other’s needs to prefer,

for it is Christ we’re serving.

This is our God, the Servant King,

he calls us now to follow him,

to bring our lives as a daily offering

of worship to the Servant King.

Please be seated

Scripture Reading: The Arrest – John 18:1-12

Time of silence

Response

Good God, what have we done?

When we’ve been blind to your pain, when we’ve been asleep on the job you left us to get on with, when we are not willing to drink from your cup, forgive us.

We do not understand the extent of what we do.

A candle is extinguished

Scripture Reading: The Interrogation – John 18:13-27

Time of silence

Response

Good God, what have we done?

When we betray you with our hearts and with our lips, when we choose to respond with violence instead of understanding, when we carefully claim to be with you only when and where it is safe, and then decry you when things get hard, forgive us.

We do not understand the extent of what we do.

A candle is extinguished

We sing: When I Survey the Wondrous Cross

When I survey the wondrous cross

on which the Prince of glory died,

my richest gain I count but loss,

and pour contempt on all my pride.

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast;

save in the death of Christ my God;

all the vain things that charm me most,

I sacrifice them to his blood.

See from his head, his hands, his feet,

sorrow and love flow mingled down;

did e’er such love and sorrow meet,

or thorns compose so rich a crown?

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.

Scripture Reading: The Trial – John 18:28- 19:16a

Time of silence

Response

Good God, what have we done?

Cruelty and callousness, anger and oppression, use and abuse of power – when we are guilty as sin of being unkind, when we take advantage of our advantages, forgive us. When we wash our hands even though keeping them in the mire might build a new and better outcome, forestall us. Christ, have mercy.

We do not understand the extent of what we do.

A candle is extinguished

We Sing: O Sacred Head Sore Wounded

Sacred head sore wounded,

with grief and shame weighed down;

O kingly head surrounded

with thorns your only crown;

death’s shadows rise before you,

the glow of life decays;

yet hosts of heaven adore you

and tremble as they gaze.

hat language shall I borrow

to praise you, heavenly friend,

for this your dying sorrow,

your mercy without end?

Such agony and dying!

Such love to sinners free!

O Christ, all grace supplying,

turn now your face on me.

In this your bitter Passion,

good Shepherd, think of me,

look on me with compassion,

unworthy though I be:

beneath your cross abiding

for ever would I rest,

in your dear love confiding,

and with your presence blessed.

Lord, be my consolation,

my shield when death is near;

remind me of your Passion,

be with me when I fear.

My eyes shall then behold you,

upon your cross shall dwell,

my heart by faith enfold you;

and who dies thus, dies well.

Scripture Reading: The Crucifixion – John 19:16b-37

Time of silence

Response

Good God, what have we done?

We have watched at a distance and wrung our hands in ineffective sympathy, we’ve been far too ready to mock and judge, and we are so easily swayed.

Christ, have mercy.

We do not understand the extent of what we do.

A candle is extinguished

Choral Anthem

Jesus, Lamb of God, Redeemer (Ave Verum Corpus) -Elgar

Reflection

We Sing: Jesus Remember Me

Jesus, remember me

when you come into your kingdom.

Jesus, remember me

when you come into your kingdom.

Prayers of the People