The
word 'Tenebrae' derives from the Latin for 'darkness' or 'shadow' and
is the name of a Christian religious service celebrated during Holy
Week, that is the week before Easter, often on the Thursday or Friday
night. The main feature of the service is the gradual extinguishing
of candles, traditionally fifteen, resulting in an accumulation of
darkness, symbolising the betrayal and eventual death of Jesus. The
counter-balance to this is the Kindling of Fire on Easter morning.
This
liturgy simply uses readings from John's Gospel (NRSV) interspersed
with
music.
It is appropriate for use by any group of people, especially after
sharing an evening meal together. If possible, sit around a table
with a large candle in the centre of the table, and a smaller candle
for each person present placed in safe holders around the edges of
the table. You will also need matches and a
candle-snuffer,
and a way of playing some music. (Please don't watch the
YouTube clips – just listen to them!) Please exercise common sense
and ensure everyone's safety with regard to the candles.
Everyone is
invited to join in saying the responsive words in bold
type. Check beforehand that everyone is happy to read a
passage. It would be good to take it in turns round the circle. If
there are more or less than ten people present, please adjust the
readings as appropriate.
You can, of course, still use this liturgy on your own, simply by reading it through and listening to the music. It is good to take time out on our own sometimes, for reflection, especially when commercialism seems to threated to overpower the origins of our annual festivals, and I hope this may be of use.
I
am posting it a few days early, so if you wish to use any or all of
this liturgy you have time to prepare.
The
liturgies, celebrations, ceremonies, prayers, and reflections offered
on this blog are the result of my thoughts, reflections, and
experiences, woven together using my own words and sometimes adapting
the words others have used: I am indebted to their wisdom. Please use
these liturgies freely, adapting them as suits your own context. I am
always pleased to hear from people who have used them.
Opening
Responses:
In
the beginning was the Word,
and
the Word was with God, and the Word was God:
He
was in the beginning with God.
All
things came into being through him,
and
without him not one thing came into being:
What
has come into being in him was life,
and
the life was the light of all people.
The
light shines in the darkness:
and
the darkness does not overcome it.
He
was in the world, and the world came into being through him;
yet
the world did not know him.
He
came to what was his own,
and his own
people did not accept him.
But
to all who received him he gave power to become children of God:
And
the Word became flesh and lived among us,
full of grace
and truth.
The
central candle is lit
Music: Barbra
Streisand: Avinu Malkeinu (Our Father, Our King)
Reading:
Six
days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of
Lazarus. There they gave a dinner for him and Martha served. Mary
took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’
feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the
fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples
said, “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii
and the money given to the poor?” Jesus said, “Leave her alone.
She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial.
You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”
The next day the great crowd that had come to the festival heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord - the King of Israel!”
Music: Ofra
Haza - Yerushalayim Shel Zahav (Jerusalem of Gold)
Reading:
Jesus
said, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very
truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and
dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much
fruit... Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say - Father,
save me from this hour’? No, it is for this reason that I have
come to this hour... Jesus said to the people, “The light is with
you for a little longer. Walk while you have the light, so that
the darkness may not overtake you. If you walk in the darkness, you
do not know where you are going. While you have the light, believe
in the light, so that you may become children of light.”
After
Jesus had said this, he departed and hid from them.
The
reader extinguishes his/her candle.
Reading:
Now
before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had
come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved
his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end... And
during supper Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things
into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God,
got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel
around himself. Then he poured water into a basin and began to
wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was
tied around him...
After
he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to
the table, he said to them, “Do you know what I have done to
you? You call me Teacher and Lord - and you are right, for that is
what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet,
you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an
example, that you also should do as I have done to you...
After
saying this Jesus was troubled in spirit, and declared, “Very
truly, I tell you, one of you will betray me.” The disciples
looked at one another, uncertain of whom he was speaking. One of
his disciples - the one whom Jesus loved - was reclining next to
him; Simon Peter therefore motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he
was speaking. So while reclining next to Jesus, he asked him,
“Lord, who is it?” Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I
give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.” So
when he had dipped the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas son of
Simon Iscariot... and Jesus said to him, “Do quickly what you are
going to do.” So, after receiving the piece of bread, he
immediately went out. And it was night.
The
reader extinguishes her/his candle.
Music: The
Lord's Prayer in Aramaic
When
Judas had gone out, Jesus said, “Little children, I am with you
only a little longer. You will look for me; but where I am going,
you cannot come. I give you a new commandment, that you love one
another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one
another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if
you have love for one another.” Simon
Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus
answered, “Where I am going, you cannot follow me now; but you
will follow afterward.” Peter said to him, “Lord, why can I not
follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” Jesus
answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? Very truly, I
tell you, before the cock crows, you will have denied me three
times.
The
reader extinguishes his/her candle.
Music:
Father Seraphim & Nina Basharuli – Aramaic Hymn
Reading:
After
Jesus had spoken these words, he went out with his disciples across
the Kidron valley to a place where there was a garden, which he and
his disciples entered. Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the
place, because Jesus often met there with his disciples. So Judas
brought a detachment of soldiers together with police from the
chief priests and the Pharisees, and they came there with lanterns
and torches and weapons. Then Jesus, knowing all that was to happen
to him, came forward and asked them, “Who are you looking for?”
They answered, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus replied, “I am he.”
Then
Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it, struck the high priest’s
slave, and cut off his right ear. The slave’s name was Malchus.
Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword back into its sheath. Am I
not to drink the cup that the Father has given me?”
So
the soldiers, their officers, and the Jewish police arrested Jesus
and bound him. First they took him to Annas, who was the
father-in- law of Caiaphas, the high priest that year. Caiaphas was
the one who had advised the Jews that it was better to have one
person die for the people.
The
reader extinguishes her/his candle.
Music: Benedictine
Monks of Solesmes - Zelus Domus Tuae (Zeal for the Lord)
Reading:
Simon Peter and another disciple followed Jesus. Since that disciple was known to the high priest, he went with Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest, but Peter was standing outside at the gate. So the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out, spoke to the woman who guarded the gate, and brought Peter in. The woman said to Peter, “You are not also one of this man’s disciples, are you?” He said, “I am not.”
Now the slaves and the police had made a charcoal fire because it was cold, and they were standing around it and warming themselves. Peter also was standing with them and warming himself. They asked him, “You are not also one of his disciples, are you?” He denied it and said, “I am not.” One of the slaves of the high priest, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, asked, “Did I not see you in the garden with him?” Again Peter denied it, and at that moment the cock crowed.
The
reader extinguishes his/her candle.
The
high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and about his
teaching. Jesus answered, “I have spoken openly to the world; I
have always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all the
Jews come together. I have said nothing in secret. Why do you ask
me? Ask those who heard what I said to them; they know what I
said.” When he had said this, one of the police standing nearby
struck Jesus on the face, saying, “Is that how you answer the
high priest?” Jesus answered, “If I have spoken wrongly,
testify to the wrong. But if I have spoken rightly, why do you
strike me?” Then Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas the high
priest, and then they took Jesus from Caiaphas to Pilate’s
headquarters.
The
reader extinguishes her/his candle.
Music: Taize
– Kyrie 10 (Lord)
It
was early in the morning... and when Pilate had questioned Jesus he
went out to the Jews again and told them, “I find no case against
him. But you have a custom that I release someone for you at the
Passover. Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?”
They shouted in reply, “Not this man, but Barabbas!” Barabbas
was a bandit. Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. And the
soldiers wove a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they
dressed him in a purple robe. They kept coming up to him, saying,
“Hail, King of the Jews!” and striking him on the face. Pilate
went out again and said to them, “Look, I am bringing him out to
you to let you know that I find no case against him.” So Jesus
came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate
said to them, “Here is the man!” When the chief priests and the
police saw him, they shouted, “Crucify him! Crucify him!”
Pilate asked them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief
priests answered, “We have no king but the emperor.” Then he
handed him over to them to be crucified.
The
reader extinguishes his/her candle.
So
they took Jesus; and carrying the cross by himself, he went out to
what is called The Place of the Skull, which in Hebrew is called
Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one
on either side, with Jesus between them. Pilate also had an
inscription written and put on the cross. It read, “Jesus of
Nazareth, the King of the Jews.”
Meanwhile,
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.
After
this, when Jesus knew that all was now finished, he said (in order
to fulfil 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.
The
reader extinguishes her/his candle.
Then
Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, though a secret
one because of his fear of the Jews, asked Pilate to let him take
away the body of Jesus. Pilate gave him permission; so he came and
removed his body. Nicodemus, who had at first come to Jesus by
night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, weighing
about a hundred pounds. They took the body of Jesus and wrapped it
with the spices in linen cloths, according to the burial custom of
the Jews. Now there was a garden in the place where he was
crucified, and in the garden there was a new tomb in which no one
had ever been laid. And so, because it was the Jewish day of
Preparation for the Passover, and the tomb was nearby, they laid
Jesus there.
The
reader extinguishes her/his candle.
All
remaining candles, and the central candle are extinguished.
You
are encouraged to leave in silence.
Please
take with you your small candle, and keep it safe,
to
bring it back/use it again for the Kindling of Fire ceremony
on Easter Eve.
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