Good Friday is the most somber day of the Christian year. It has only one theme and only one event in mind: Jesus’ death. The flow of the service should systematically emphasize the progression toward death at Golgotha with the service finally ending on the proclamation that the world got what it wanted. Resist the temptation to point toward the hope that comes at Easter. That is for another day. Today is about the Christian doctrine that Jesus did indeed die, and that his death was painful.

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