Holy Week in Hollywood | Good Friday
Readings and Prayers for Holy Week
Weekend Services
NOTE: Our Good Friday Tenebrae service is tonight. Please join us at 7:30. Tomorrow, we invite you to wear black to church as we remember Holy Saturday, or the Great Sabbath, when Christ rested in the tomb.
Readings and Prayers | Good Friday
 Isaiah 52:13-53:12
Awake, awake, put on your strength, O Zion! Put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city; for the uncircumcised and the unclean shall enter you no more. 2Shake yourself from the dust, rise up, O captive Jerusalem; loose the bonds from your neck, O captive daughter Zion! 3For thus says the Lord: You were sold for nothing, and you shall be redeemed without money. 4For thus says the Lord God: Long ago, my people went down into Egypt to reside there as aliens; the Assyrian, too, has oppressed them without cause. 5Now therefore what am I doing here, says the Lord, seeing that my people are taken away without cause? Their rulers howl, says the Lord, and continually, all day long, my name is despised. 6Therefore my people shall know my name; therefore in that day they shall know that it is I who speak; here am I. 7How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who announces peace, who brings good news, who announces salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.” 8Listen! Your sentinels lift up their voices, together they sing for joy; for in plain sight they see the return of the Lord to Zion. 9Break forth together into singing, you ruins of Jerusalem; for the Lord has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem. 10The Lord has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. 11Depart, depart, go out from there! Touch no unclean thing; go out from the midst of it, purify yourselves, you who carry the vessels of the Lord. 12For you shall not go out in haste, and you shall not go in flight; for the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.
Read the whole passage
Psalm 22
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning?
2O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer; and by night, but find no rest.
3Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel.
4In you our ancestors trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them.
5To you they cried, and were saved; in you they trusted, and were not put to shame.
6But I am a worm, and not human; scorned by others, and despised by the people.
7All who see me mock at me; they make mouths at me, they shake their heads;
8“Commit your cause to the Lord; let him deliver— let him rescue the one in whom he delights!”
9Yet it was you who took me from the womb; you kept me safe on my mother’s breast.
10On you I was cast from my birth, and since my mother bore me you have been my God.
11Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help.
12Many bulls encircle me, strong bulls of Bashan surround me;
13they open wide their mouths at me, like a ravening and roaring lion.
14I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast;
15my mouth is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death.
16For dogs are all around me; a company of evildoers encircles me. My hands and feet have shriveled;
17I can count all my bones. They stare and gloat over me;
18they divide my clothes among themselves, and for my clothing they cast lots.
19But you, O Lord, do not be far away! O my help, come quickly to my aid!
20Deliver my soul from the sword, my life from the power of the dog!
21Save me from the mouth of the lion! From the horns of the wild oxen you have rescued me.
22I will tell of your name to my brothers and sisters; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:
23You who fear the Lord, praise him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him; stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!
24For he did not despise or abhor the affliction of the afflicted; he did not hide his face from me, but heard when I cried to him.
25From you comes my praise in the great congregation; my vows I will pay before those who fear him.
26The poor shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise the Lord. May your hearts live forever!
27All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord; and all the families of the nations shall worship before him.
28For dominion belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations.
29To him, indeed, shall all who sleep in the earth bow down; before him shall bow all who go down to the dust, and I shall live for him.
30Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord,
31and proclaim his deliverance to a people yet unborn, saying that he has done it.
Hebrews 10:16-25
“This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds,” 17he also adds, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.” 18Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin. 19Therefore, my friends, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, 20by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain (that is, through his flesh), 21and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. 24And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, 25not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
John 18:1-19:42
After Jesus had spoken these words, he went out with his disciples across the Kidron valley to a place where there was a garden, which he and his disciples entered. 2Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place, because Jesus often met there with his disciples. 3So Judas brought a detachment of soldiers together with police from the chief priests and the Pharisees, and they came there with lanterns and torches and weapons. 4Then Jesus, knowing all that was to happen to him, came forward and asked them, ‘For whom are you looking?’ 5They answered, ‘Jesus of Nazareth.’ Jesus replied, ‘I am he.’ Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them. 6When Jesus said to them, ‘I am he’, they stepped back and fell to the ground. 7Again he asked them, ‘For whom are you looking?’ And they said, ‘Jesus of Nazareth.’ 8Jesus answered, ‘I told you that I am he. So if you are looking for me, let these men go.’ 9This was to fulfil the word that he had spoken, ‘I did not lose a single one of those whom you gave me.’ 10Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it, struck the high priest’s slave, and cut off his right ear. The slave’s name was Malchus. 11Jesus said to Peter, ‘Put your sword back into its sheath. Am I not to drink the cup that the Father has given me?’
Ready the whole passage
Morning Prayers
Most remarkable God, your love is astounding! As we gather at the foot of the Cross today, give us renewed trust and love.
Teach us that the darkest human hour is the brightest Divine moment, that where human disgrace sinks to its nadir, divine glory reaches its zenith.
Teach us again that there is no limit to your love, and no exclusion zone to your salvation. Through Christ Jesus your holy Son. Amen.
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Loving God, by your Holy Spirit bypass our stock responses and shock us again with the raw, painful glory of your Cross.
Grant that we may never be casual before that awesome love which has overtaxed the skills of even our finest poets and musicians, and left all preachers floundering.
Make us, saving God, reachable and teachable, more responsive to your saving grace and willing captives of the love which grants perfect liberty.
By your cross deliver us from every sin which corrupts us, every weight which pulls us down, and set our face towards the light which comes not to condemn but to save Through this same Christ Jesus our brother and Saviour. Amen!
Weekend Services
 Good Friday, Holy Saturday, Easter Sunday
There are three services this weekend in which we will re-member Christ in sufferings, passion, death and resurrection. Each service is uniquely planned to remember the particular events of Jesus experience and invite each worship to enter those experiences personally and corporately. This is the most important weekend in the life of the church. Please join us for our Holy Week Services.
Good Friday Vespers: Christ’s Passion
7:30 p.m., Fellowship Hall
Experience Christ’s passion as we share the darkness of his sacrifice. Come as you are after work or school.
Holy Saturday: Christ’s Death
11:00 a.m., Sanctuary
"God is Dead" | Matthew 27:57-66
A memorial service for Jesus and our own dreams. Come and mourn with us a while. Wear black attire.
Easter Sunday: Christ’s Resurrection
8:00 a.m., Sanctuary
"To Flee or Follow" | Mark 16:1-8 and 1 Corinthians 15:1-11
A celebration service for the resurrection of Jesus and our own new lives with God and our community. Wear bright colours or white.
Upcoming Events
SONscreen Film Festival | April 16-18, 2009 (Adventist Media Center, Simi Valley, CA)
Adventist Women and the Earth | April 24-26, 2009 (La Sierra University)
Big Sunday | May 3, 2009 (See Nathan French to sign up for a service project in our neighborhood as the whole city comes together for the annual Mayor's Day of Service)
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