Good Friday 2026

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Murillo, The Crucifixion, circa 1675.
Click to enlarge.

Fernando Ortega gives a deeply moving performance of the well-known hymn from Bach's St. Matthew Passion.

The Lessons Appointed for Use on

Good Friday

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Good Friday, 2025

Cristo Crucificado, Velazquez, 1632

The Lessons Appointed for Use on

Good Friday

See Father David's Good Friday talk "Why Did Jesus Die?" here.

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Good Friday, 2024: He Was Despised

Cristo Crucificado, Velazquez, circa 1632,

 

 

The Lessons Appointed for use on 

Good Friday

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The Crucifixion by Velazquez

Good Friday

He was despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.

Cristo crucificado, Digeo Velazquez, 1632.

Polish countertenor Jakub Josef Orlinski performs the poignant 23rd movement from Handel's Messiah:

Fr. Christopher Whitehead offers a brilliant meditation upon this painting in the second part of the video below:

Holy and gracious Father: In your infinite love you made us

for yourself, and, when we had fallen into sin and become

subject to evil and death, you, in your mercy, sent Jesus

Christ, your only and eternal Son, to share our human

nature, to live and die as one of us, to reconcile us to you, the

God and Father of all.

He stretched out his arms upon the cross, and offered himself,

in obedience to your will, a perfect sacrifice for the whole

world.

-- The Book of Common Prayer

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Good Friday: He Never Said a Mumblin' Word

The Lessons for Good Friday

The Crucifixion, oil sketch by Murillo, ca. 1675.
Click to enlarge.

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.

--Isaiah 53:7

The late, great American soprano Jessye Norman sings the poignant spiritual at Carnegie Hall in 1990:

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Good Friday 2019: There Is a Green Hill Far Away

The Descent from the Cross, Peter Paul Rubens, ca. 1616

The Choir of King's College, Cambridge, sings the 1848 hymn by Cecil Frances Alexander:




Text from The Hymnal, 1982:

1. There is a green hill far away,
outside a city wall,
where our dear Lord was crucified
who died to save us all.

2. We may not know, we cannot tell,
what pains he had to bear,
but we believe it was for us
he hung and suffered there.

3. He died that we might be forgiven,
he died to make us good,
that we might go at last to heaven,
saved by his precious blood.

4. There was no other good enough
to pay the price of sin,
he only could unlock the gate
of heaven and let us in.

5. O dearly, dearly has he loved!
and we must love him too,
and trust in his redeeming blood,
and try his works to do.

Good Friday 2018: Alas! and Did My Savior Bleed

Velasquez, Christ Crucified, circa 1632.
Click to enlarge.

Good Friday, 2016: There Is a Green Hill Far Away

Christ on the Cross, Carl Heinrich Bloch, 1870.

A hymn by Cecil Frances Alexander, 1848, as performed by the Choir of King's College, Cambridge:

Psalm 22

1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? *
and are so far from my cry
and from the words of my distress?
2 O my God, I cry in the daytime, but you do not answer; *
by night as well, but I find no rest.
3 Yet you are the Holy One, *
enthroned upon the praises of Israel.
4 Our ancestors put their trust in you; *
they trusted, and you delivered them.
5 They cried out to you and were delivered; *
they trusted in you and were not put to shame.
6 But as for me, I am a worm and not a man, *
scorned by all and despised by the people.
7 All who see me laugh me to scorn; *
they curl their lips and wag their heads, saying,
8 “He trusted in the LORD; let him deliver him; *
let him rescue him, if he delights in him.”
9 Yet you are the one who took me out of the womb, *
and kept me safe upon my mother’s breast.
10 I have been entrusted to you ever since I was born; *
you were my God when I was still in my mother’s womb.
11 Be not far from me, for trouble is near, *
and there is none to help.
12 Many young bulls encircle me; *
strong bulls of Bashan surround me.
13 They open wide their jaws at me, *
like a ravening and a roaring lion.
14 I am poured out like water;
all my bones are out of joint; *
my heart within my breast is melting wax.
15 My mouth is dried out like a pot-sherd;
my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; *
and you have laid me in the dust of the grave.
16 Packs of dogs close me in,
and gangs of evildoers circle around me; *
they pierce my hands and my feet;
I can count all my bones.
17 They stare and gloat over me; *
they divide my garments among them;
they cast lots for my clothing.
18 Be not far away, O LORD; *
you are my strength; hasten to help me.
19 Save me from the sword, *
my life from the power of the dog.
20 Save me from the lion’s mouth, *
my wretched body from the horns of wild bulls.
21 I will declare your Name to the community; *
in the midst of the congregation I will praise you.

. . . . . . . . . .

Good Friday 2015: The Old Rugged Cross

Francisco de Zurbarán, Christ on the Cross, 1627

This poignant old hymn, performed here live by country music great Alan Jackson, has a particular significance for your Head Trucker: a favorite of my Papaw's, when it was played at his funeral when I was a young fellow, it moved me to tears. It still does.

Good Friday: Were You There?

A memorable rendering of the American spiritual from the September 6, 1969, episode of The Johnny Cash Show, featuring Johnny backed by the Carter Family and the Statler Brothers:

Good Friday 2013

The Crucifixion

Anthony Van Dyck, 1622

Psalm 22

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
and are so far from my cry
and from the words of my distress?
O my God, I cry in the daytime, but you do not answer;
by night as well, but I find no rest.
Yet you are the Holy One,
enthroned upon the praises of Israel.
Our forefathers put their trust in you;
they trusted, and you delivered them.
They cried out to you and were delivered;
they trusted in you and were not put to shame.
But as for me, I am a worm and no man,
scorned by all and despised by the people.
All who see me laugh me to scorn;
they curl their lips and wag their heads, saying,
“He trusted in the LORD; let him deliver him;
let him rescue him, if he delights in him.”
Yet you are he who took me out of the womb,
and kept me safe upon my mother’s breast.
I have been entrusted to you ever since I was born;
you were my God when I was still in my mother’s womb.
Be not far from me, for trouble is near,
and there is none to help.
Many young bulls encircle me;
strong bulls of Bashan surround me.
They open wide their jaws at me,
like a ravening and a roaring lion.
I am poured out like water;
all my bones are out of joint;
my heart within my breast is melting wax.
My mouth is dried out like a pot-sherd;
my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;
and you have laid me in the dust of the grave.
Packs of dogs close me in,
and gangs of evildoers circle around me;
they pierce my hands and my feet;
I can count all my bones.
They stare and gloat over me;
they divide my garments among them;
they cast lots for my clothing.
Be not far away, O LORD;
you are my strength; hasten to help me.
Save me from the sword,
my life from the power of the dog.
Save me from the lion’s mouth,
my wretched body from the horns of wild bulls.
I will declare your Name to my brethren;
in the midst of the congregation I will praise you.

A Meditation from Andrew Sullivan

I pray today for my friend, David Kuo, whose long battle against a brain tumor is in its final days. And for all those enduring war or plague or illness or despair. Especially despair. In one Gospel, Jesus himself seems to feel the loneliness of that despair on the cross. He had to go there to show how deeply he is still with us – perhaps especially in the valleys of our life when the sky itself recedes from view.

From Messiah (Handel, 1741)

"He was despised and rejected of men." Lynn Dawson sings with the Choir of King's College, Cambridge:

Good Friday

Christ of St. John of the Cross
by Salvador Dali

A reading from the Gospel of Mark, chapter 15:

And it was the third hour, and they crucified him.

And the superscription of his accusation was written over, THE KING OF THE JEWS.

And with him they crucify two thieves; the one on his right hand, and the other on his left.

And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, And he was numbered with the transgressors.

And they that passed by railed on him, wagging their heads, and saying, Ah, thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days,

Save thyself, and come down from the cross.

Likewise also the chief priests mocking said among themselves with the scribes, He saved others; himself he cannot save.

Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe. And they that were crucified with him reviled him.

And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.

And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

From the Great Thanksgiving:

Holy and gracious Father:
In your infinite love
you made us for yourself,
and, when we had fallen into sin
and become subject to evil and death,
you, in your mercy, sent Jesus Christ,
your only and eternal Son,
to share our human nature,
to live and die as one of us,
to reconcile us to you, the
God and Father of all.

He stretched out his arms upon the cross,
and offered himself, in obedience to your will,
a perfect sacrifice for the whole world.

Agnus Dei, composed by Samuel Barber:

Good Friday: He Was Despised

Agnus Dei

Good Friday

My only Lenten offering this year.  And my favorite classical piece, which will be played one day at my funeral.  Some of you know it as the Adagio for Strings.

Peace to you all.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis.
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis.
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, dona nobis pacem.

O Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us.
O Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us.
O Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the world, grant us thy peace.