Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church
Tucson, Arizona April 18, 2025
Welcome to Grace!
Our mission at Grace is to teach the inspired and inerrant Word of God, to proclaim that Jesus Christ is the crucified and risen Savior of the world, and to nurture believers for lives of Christian service.
Check out the GRACE WEBSITE at GraceLutheranSAZ.org
WORSHIP NOTES
The order of worship we will follow is printed in this worship folder for you to follow along and participate. The worship service is printed in its entirety in this folder for you tonight, including the hymns. If you desire to sing from a hymnal, you will find the blue Christian Worship hymnals in the racks in each pew. Those wishing to leave an offering can do so at either exit today or give online at GraceLutheranSAZ.org/give. (You can also scan the QR code to the right to access the online giving page.) There is no cost to park in our parking lot during worship services. If you receive a citation by mistake, please let our office staff know so it can be cleared.
LENTEN SERIES
During this Lenten season, the theme for our midweek services has been “Reflections on Repentance.” This series of Lenten reflections has explored the depths of our sinful depravity, the brokenness of our relationship with God, our dire need for rescue, and the good news of forgiveness, cleansing, and rejoicing in our restored relationship with God and the promise of eternal life through Jesus our Savior. We have focused on David’s great penitential Psalm 51, penned following his affair with Bathsheba and the murder of Uriah. The Lord is not slow to do what he promised Instead, he is patient for your sakes, not wanting anyone to perish, but all to come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9)
TENEBRAE
Tenebrae is the Latin word for “darkness.” The Service of Darkness is a devotional and meditative service held on Good Friday to commemorate the crucifixion and death of Jesus. The Service of Darkness is not a funeral service for Jesus but a time for adoration of the Lamb of God in which we celebrate his sacrifice on the cross of Calvary. The darkness in the church symbolizes the miraculous Tenebrae, the darkness which surrounded the cross and darkened the earth from noon until three o’clock on the day Jesus died.
SEVEN CANDLES
The seven candles in the front of the church are lit prior to our service this evening. Throughout the service the candles are extinguished and the lights are dimmed representing the extinguishing of the life of Jesus. The seventh candle is not extinguished but it is removed from the chancel. Just as Christ’s body was hidden in the grave until the third day so also is the seventh candle removed from sight for a short time. It is returned to its place at the end of the service as a reminder of Christ’s return from death to life.
SILENCE
In keeping with the solemnity of the day, there is no pre-service or post-service music. The service begins in silence and ends in silence. Worshipers are invited to remain after the service for as long as they wish for prayer and meditation. All are asked to leave the sanctuary, the courtyard, and the parking lot in silence. The stillness and darkness of tonight are intended to contrast with the bright and glorious celebration of Easter morning.
ORDER OF WORSHIP FOR GOOD FRIDAY
WorshipersÊgatherÊinÊsilenceÊforÊmeditationÊandÊreflection.
PleaseÊstand
RESPONSIVE READING
Be gracious to me, God, according to your mercy. Erase my acts of rebellion according to the greatness of your compassion.
Scrub me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin.
For I admit my rebellious acts. My sin is always in front of me.
Against you, you only, have I sinned, and I have done this evil in your eyes.
So you are justified when you sentence me. You are blameless when you judge.
Certainly, I was guilty when I was born. I was sinful when my mother conceived me.
PsalmÊ51
Since you desire truth on the inside, in my hidden heart you teach me wisdom.
Remove my sin with hyssop, and I will be clean. Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and gladness. Let the bones you have crushed celebrate.
Hide your face from my sins. Erase all my guilty deeds.
Create in me a pure heart, O God. Renew an unwavering spirit within me.
Do not cast me from your presence. Do not take your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation. Sustain me with a willing spirit.
I will teach rebels your ways, and sinners will turn to you.
Deliver me from bloodshed, O God, the God who saves me. My tongue will shout for joy about your righteousness.
Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.
For you do not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it. You do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
The sacrifices God wants are a broken spirit. A broken and crushed heart, O God, you will not despise.
As it pleases you, do good for Zion. Build up the walls of Jerusalem.
Then you will be pleased with righteous sacrifices, burnt offerings and whole offerings.
Then bulls will be offered up on your altar.
PRAYER
Lord, we confess our sins to you and plead for your mercy. We acknowledge that sin runs too deep in our nature for us ever to rid ourselves of it, but we thank you that Jesus has done what we could not do, washing us clean of every stain. We plead that your Spirit would give us the strength to live a new life; through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
PleaseÊbeÊseated
MESSAGE
Text: tr. August Crull, 1845–1923, alt.; Sigmund von Birken, 1626–1681. Tune: Melchior Vulpius, c. 1570–1615. Text and tune: Public domain.
Text: tr. August Crull, 1845–1923, alt.; Sigmund von Birken, 1626–1681. Tune: Melchior Vulpius, c. 1570–1615. Text and tune: Public domain.
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? My groaning does nothing to save me.
In you our fathers trusted. They trusted and you delivered them. They cried out to you, and they were rescued. They trusted in you, and they were not disappointed.
But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people.
All who see me mock me. They sneer. They shake their heads.
They say, “Trust in the L . Let the L deliver him. Let him rescue him, if he delights in him.”
Like water I am poured out. All my bones are pulled apart.
My heart has become like wax. It has melted in the middle of my chest.
My strength is dried up like broken pottery, and my tongue is stuck to the roof of my mouth. You lay me in the dust of death.
A band of evil men has encircled me. They have pierced my hands and my feet.
They divide my garments among them. For my clothing they cast lots.
But you, O L , do not be distant. O my Strength, come quickly to help me.
HYMN—Son of God, by God Forsaken
Herman G. Stuempfle, Jr., 1923–2007 © 1993 GIA Publications, Inc. Used by permission: OneLicense no. 710199. Tune: Gross Catolisch Gesangbuch, Nürnberg, 1631. Tune: Public domain. The first candle is extinguished.
Text:
SACRIFICE PROPHESIED
MEDITATION
SCRIPTURE READING
13 Look, my servant will succeed. He will rise. He will be lifted up. He will be highly exalted.
IsaiahÊ52:13-53:12
14 Just as many were appalled at him his appearance was so disfigured that he did not look like a man, and his form was disfigured more than any other person—
15 so he will sprinkle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of him, because they will see something they had never been told before, and they will understand something they had never heard before.
53 Who has believed our report, and to whom has the arm of the L been revealed?
2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot and like a root from dry ground. He had no attractiveness and no majesty. When we saw him, nothing about his appearance made us desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man who knew grief, who was well acquainted with suffering. Like someone whom people cannot bear to look at, he was despised, and we thought nothing of him.
4 Surely he was taking up our weaknesses, and he was carrying our sufferings. We thought it was because of God that he was stricken, smitten, and afflicted,
5 but it was because of our rebellion that he was pierced. He was crushed for the guilt our sins deserved.
The punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all have gone astray like sheep. Each of us has turned to his own way, but the L has charged all our guilt to him.
7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth. Like a lamb he was led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent in front of its shearers, he did not open his mouth.
8 He was taken away without a fair trial and without justice, and of his generation, who even cared?
So, he was cut off from the land of the living. He was struck because of the rebellion of my people.
9 They would have assigned him a grave with the wicked, but he was given a grave with the rich in his death, because he had done no violence, and no deceit was in his mouth.
10 Yet it was the L ’s will to crush him and to allow him to suffer.
Because you made his life a guilt offering, he will see offspring. He will prolong his days, and the L ’s gracious plan will succeed in his hand.
11 After his soul experiences anguish, he will see the light of life. He will provide satisfaction. Through their knowledge of him, my just servant will justify the many, for he himself carried their guilt.
12 Therefore I will give him an allotment among the great, and with the strong he will share plunder, because he poured out his life to death, and he let himself be counted with rebellious sinners. He himself carried the sin of many, and he intercedes for the rebels.
But you, O L , do not be distant.
O my Strength, come quickly to help me.
HYMN—Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted
The second candle is extinguished.
Text: Thomas Kelly, 1769–1855, alt. Tune: Geistliche Volkslieder, Paderborn, 1850. Text and tune: Public domain.
SACRIFICE FOR US
MEDITATION
SCRIPTURE READING
GalatiansÊ3:10-13
10In fact, those who rely on the works of the law are under a curse. For it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the book of the law.” 11Clearly no one is declared righteous before God by the law, because “The righteous will live by faith.” 12The law does not say “by faith.” Instead it says, “The one who does these things will live by them.”
13Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. As it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.”
RESPONSE
But you, O L , do not be distant. O my Strength, come quickly to help me.
PsalmÊ22:9
Text: AÊGeneralÊSelectionÊofÊ.Ê.Ê.ÊHymnsÊandÊSpiritualÊSongs, Lynchburg, 1811, alt. Tune: SouthernÊHarmony, New Haven, 1835, ed. William Walker. Text and tune: Public domain.
The third candle is extinguished.
SACRIFICE
MEDITATION
SCRIPTURE READING
JohnÊ19:17-24
17Carrying his own cross, he went out to what is called the Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. 18There they crucified him with two others, one on each side, and Jesus in the middle.
19Pilate also had a notice written and fastened on the cross. It read, “Jesus the Nazarene, the King of the Jews.”
20Many of the Jews read this notice, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, Latin, and Greek.
21So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that ‘this man said, “I am the King of the Jews.” ’ ”
22Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”
23When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier. They also took his tunic, which was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. 24So they said to one another, “Let’s not tear it. Instead, let’s cast lots to see who gets it.” This was so that the Scripture might be fulfilled which says: They divided my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing. So the soldiers did these things.
RESPONSE
But you, O L , do not be distant. O my Strength, come quickly to help me.
PsalmÊ22:9
Down the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem that day, the soldiers tried to clear the narrow street; but the crowd pressed in to see the man condemned to die on Calvary.
He was bleeding from a beating, there were stripes upon his back, and he wore a crown of thorns upon his head; and he bore with every step the scorn of those who cried out for his death.
Down the Via Dolorosa, called “The Way of Suffering,” like a lamb, came the Messiah, Christ the King; and he chose to walk that road out of his love for you and me, down the Via Dolorosa all the way to Calvary.
The blood that would cleanse the souls of all men made its way through the heart of Jerusalem! Down the Via Dolorosa, called “The Way of Suffering,” like a lamb, came the Messiah, Christ the King.
Down the Via Dolorosa, called “The Way of Suffering,” like a lamb, came the Messiah, Christ the King; and he chose to walk that road out of his love for you and me, down the Via Dolorosa all the way to Calvary.
The fourth candle is extinguished.
SACRIFICE COMPLETED
MEDITATION
SCRIPTURE READING
JohnÊ19:25-30
25Jesus’ mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene were standing near the cross.
26When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son!”
27Then he said to the disciple, “Here is your mother!” And from that time this disciple took her into his own home.
28After this, knowing that everything had now been finished, and to fulfill the Scripture, Jesus said, “I thirst.”
29A jar full of sour wine was sitting there. So they put a sponge soaked in sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth.
30When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished!” Then, bowing his head, he gave up his spirit.
RESPONSE
But you, O L , do not be distant.
O my Strength, come quickly to help me.
PsalmÊ22:9
TheÊchoirÊwillÊsingÊstanzasÊ3ÊandÊ5.
5 In perfect love he dies; for me he dies, for me! O all-atoning Sacrifice, you died to make me free!
6 In ev’ry time of need, before the judgment throne, your works, O Lamb of God, I’ll plead, your merits, not my own.
The fifth candle is extinguished.
Text: Henry W. Baker, 1821–1877, abr., alt. Tune: William Daman, c. 1540–1591. Text and tune: Public domain.
SACRIFICE FULFILLED
MEDITATION
SCRIPTURE READING
JohnÊ19:31-37
31Since it was the Preparation Day, the Jews did not want the bodies left on the crosses over the Sabbath (because that Sabbath was a particularly important day). They asked Pilate to have the men’s legs broken and the bodies taken away. 32So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man who was crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other man.
33But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34Instead, one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear. Immediately blood and water came out. 35The one who saw it has testified, and his testimony is true. He knows that he is telling the truth, so that you also may believe. 36Indeed, these things happened so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, “Not one of his bones will be broken.” 37Again another Scripture says, “They will look at the one they pierced.”
RESPONSE
But you, O L , do not be distant.
O my Strength, come quickly to help me.
PsalmÊ22:9
–
–
The sixth candle is extinguished.
Text (st. 1): Friedrich von Spee, 1591
1635; (sts. 1, 4): tr. Catherine Winkworth, 1827
1878, alt.; (sts. 2–3): tr. Joseph Herl, b. 1959, alt.; (sts. 2–4): Johann Rist, 1607–1667, abr. Tune: Himmlische Harmony, Mainz, 1628 Text (sts. 2–3): © Joseph Herl. Used by permission: OneLicense no. 710199. Text (sts. 1, 4) and tune: Public domain.
SACRIFICE HONORED
MEDITATION
SCRIPTURE READING
JohnÊ19:38-42
38After this, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate to let him remove Jesus’ body. When Pilate gave him permission, he came and took Jesus’ body away. 39Nicodemus, who earlier had come to Jesus at night, also came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-two pounds.
40They took Jesus’ body and bound it with linen strips along with the spices, in accord with Jewish burial customs.
41There was a garden at the place where Jesus was crucified. And in the garden was a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid. 42So they laid Jesus there, because it was the Jewish Preparation Day, and the tomb was near.
The seventh candle, the Christ Candle, is not extinguished, but it is removed from view, just as Christ was, for a time, hidden from sight in the tomb.
The Christ Candle is returned to the chancel, foreshadowing the Resurrection. Even on Good Friday we worship the living Christ.
VOCAL SOLO—Were You There
God Most Holy, look with mercy on this, your family, for whom our Lord Jesus Christ was willing to be betrayed, be given over into the hands of the wicked, and suffer death upon the cross. Keep us always faithful to him, our only Savior, who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.
SILENT PRAYER AND MEDITATION
SILENT DISMISSAL
YouÊareÊinvitedÊtoÊremainÊinÊtheÊchurchÊfollowingÊtheÊserviceÊforÊprayer andÊmeditation.ÊWhenÊyouÊchooseÊtoÊleave,ÊpleaseÊleaveÊtheÊsanctuary, courtyard,ÊandÊparkingÊlotÊinÊsilence.
THOSE ASSISTING IN WORSHIP TODAY
Minister................................................................................................................... Pastor Nathan Kassulke
Accompanist.............................................................................................................................. Deb Bakken
Vocalist.................................................................................................................................Naomi Kassulke
Choir Director.........................................................................................................................Paul Kassulke
Choir Accompanist................................................................................................................Teri Guenther
Saxophone ............................................................................................................................ Jeremy Snavely
Clarinet ............................................................................................................................Missy Wiechmann
Recorder.......................................................................................................................................Jim Bakken
Trumpet ............................................................................................................................. Nathan Kassulke
Candles.....................................................................................................................................Sam Kassulke
Lighting....................................................................................................................................... Zach Miller
Ushers............................................................................................................... Danny Koehler, Chris Stuhr
Sound and Recording Technicians ....................................................... Jeremy Snavely, Danny Koehler
Acknowledgements:
Please join us at one of our sites on Easter Sunday to worship our Risen Savior!
Grace-Tucson
830 N. 1st Avenue, 85719
Sunrise Service 7:00 AM
Breakfast 8:00 AM
Easter Concert 9:00 AM
Festival Worship 10:00 AM
Grace-Sahuarita 75 W. Sahuarita Road, 85629 Worship 7:45 & 10:00 AM
Breakfast 9:00 AM
Grace-Benson 451 W. Duane Street, 85602 Worship 7:30 AM
Fellowship following worship
Grace-Vail 9400 S. Atterbury Wash Way, 85747
Breakfast 9:00 AM Worship 10:00 AM