I propose that the Presbyterian Church designate that a Good Friday service from noon until 3 p.m. be included in all Good Friday worship services.
I am a regular church member who believes that the Bible is the word of God. I start with the fact that the foundations of the Christian Church are the birth of Christ, his crucifixion, and his resurrection. The Bible tells us the place where these events took place and the days of the week of the crucifixion and resurrection. The Bible tells us Christ was born in Bethlehem and was crucified in Jerusalem at a place called Golgotha. It was within walking distance of where Pilate washed his hands of any responsibility and said to the chief priest and the elders, I am innocent of this man’s blood, … It is your responsibility! (Matt. 27:24). We are told that after the crucifixion he was buried in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea and from there he arose three days later sometime between midnight and toward the approach of dawn on the Sunday following the crucifixion.
The Bible does not tell us the dates of any of these events, however both Matthew and Mark tell us that the crucifixion occurred on a Friday and the resurrection occurred on a Sunday. But of equal significance, if not more so, Matthew and Mark tell us of the exact time that Christ was on the cross, which was noon until 3 p.m. (Roman time, the sixth to the ninth hour). There is no other reference in the New Testament with respect to the exact time of the occurrence of any event other than the crucifixion. Why else would God tell us of the day and the exact time that Jesus suffered and died on the Cross other that it was intended that was the time we were to commemorate the crucifixion and its purpose?
God left it to the Church to determine the date in which we were to honor and celebrate the date of Christ’s birth and resurrection. There is much history and many disagreements as to how the Church ultimately settled on December 25 as the birthday of Christ and that Easter would fall on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Spring Equinox, which have remained the dates ever since. Although God left it to the Church to determine the dates we were to commemorate the birth of Christ and his resurrection he did not leave it to others with respect to the day and the time we were to commemorate the crucifixion and its purpose, when he specifically set the day and the time it occurred.
Today some Presbyterian churches are canceling the Good Friday noon to 3 p.m. services because of poor attendance and are holding services in the evening. I urge that the leadership of the Presbyterian Church enact the appropriate document to state that all Presbyterian churches are to observe, or to urge that that they observe, the crucifixion of Christ on Good Friday with services held from noon until 3 p.m., the hours that God tells us that Christ suffered and died on the cross. This would not prevent other Good Friday services also being held at different time.
C.D. WARD is a Presbyterian church member living in Washington, D.C.
