Immaculate Conception Church Commemorates Good Friday with Passionate Bilingual Reenactment

Written by Lynne Halliburton

Clarksville, TN – Good Friday on Franklin Street offered two moving church services to commemorate the death of Jesus Christ.

The first was at Immaculate Conception Church for “Passion, Veneration of the Cross/Pasion, Veneracion a la Cruz.” This was a live reenactment of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ described in the Gospel of John and delivered in Spanish and English. The reenactment featured 14 “stations” of the cross situated around the church campus, with each station being the next step in Jesus’ journey to being crucified and buried.

The series of stations was depicted as follows:

1. Jesus is put on trial and condemned to death. Once he was sentenced, he was flogged by the soldiers who also wove a crown of thorns and placed it on his head. They mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews,” and struck him in the face. According to Jewish law, he had to be crucified because he claimed to be the Son of God.
2. Jesus is made to bear his cross and carry it to what is called “The Place of the Skull” which in Hebrew is called Golgotha.
3. Jesus falls the first time. After being flogged and beaten, the weight of the cross is hard to bear.
4. Jesus meets his mother, Mary. It’s hard to imagine the pain they must have both suffered in that moment.
5. Simon of Cyrene is made to bear the cross. The soldiers were getting impatient with how long it was taking Jesus to make the journey, so they chose someone from the crowd to help him carry the cross.
6. Veronica wipes Jesus’ face. After being beaten and forced to wear the crown of thorns, Jesus’ face was covered in dirt, sweat, and blood. Veronica uses her garment to clean his face.
7. Jesus falls the second time, and the soldiers push him to continue.
8. The women of Jerusalem weep over Jesus, to which he replies “Don’t weep for me; weep for yourselves and your children.”
9. Jesus falls the third time. His strength had waned, and he couldn’t bear the weight of the cross any longer.
10. Jesus is stripped of his garments. The soldiers divided his clothes into four parts, one for each soldier. They also took his seamless tunic, woven in one piece from the top. So they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see who will get it.” This was to fulfill the scripture: “They divided my clothes among themselves, and for my clothing they cast lots.”
11. Jesus is nailed to the cross. This was done by hammering large nails through his hands and feet. He exclaimed, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me”. Standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary, the wife of Clopas and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from that hour, the disciple took her into his own home.
12. Jesus dies on the cross. When Jesus knew that all was now finished, he said (in order to fulfill the scripture), “I am thirsty.” A jar full of sour wine was standing there. So they put a sponge full of the wine on a branch of hyssop and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the wine, he said, “It is finished.” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
13. Jesus is taken down from the cross. His mother, Mary, and some of the disciples remove his body from the cross. The Jews did not want the bodies left on the cross during the sabbath, especially because that sabbath was a day of great solemnity.
14. Jesus is placed in the sepulchre. The body of Jesus was wrapped with spices in linen cloths, according to the burial custom of the Jews.

The service featured parishioners who gave an emotionally moving performance that gave the feeling of truly being there. One could not help but be moved to tears.

The second was at Trinity Episcopal Church for the Good Friday service, which included passages from the Bible (one from the Old Testament, a Psalm, and one from the New Testament), the reading of the Passion of Christ, and a sermon from Rector Chad McCabe.

It was a very somber service as the lights in the church were dimmed, and the altars had been stripped bare. Near the end of the service in the back of the church, there is a loud banging which is to commemorate the nails being hammered through Jesus’ hands and feet into the cross.

The cross is then carried to the front of the church and placed in front of the altar. While the cross is being carried, the following is recited: “Behold the wood of the cross on which was hung the world’s salvation. Come let us adore him”. Upon placing the cross before the altar, Bob Houston sang a beautiful offertory, “Were You There? (When they crucified my Lord)”. African slaves created the song in America, which was first printed in 1899.

Father Chad’s sermon reminded us that “even though we mourn Christ’s death and the sins of the world that his death represents on Friday, we are left with the promise that Sunday is coming when we can celebrate” that He has risen from the grave.

The service can be viewed below: