If you visit a Lutheran Church on Good Friday, you are likely to find a very quiet, low-key, serious worship service.
Good Friday is the most solemn day of the church year, the day on which Christ was crucified. In many countries it is a national holiday. On this day Christians around the world gather for prayer and reflection at the hour Jesus died: 3:00 p.m.
Lutherans do not have canon law, so many of the things written here are considered “adiaphora,” or “indifferent things.” That is, they are things neither commanded nor forbidden.
The Good Friday liturgy is on page 326 of the Evangelical Lutheran Worship pew edition and 634 of the Leaders’ Desk Edition.
The Good Friday Service is part of the three days: Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Vigil. Some congregations print all three services in one bulletin. (E.g. https://michaelrinehart.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/the-three-days-20141.pdf)
There are no paraments for Good Friday. They have been removed at the stripping of the altar on Maundy Thursday. The altar is completely bare. Crosses that cannot be removed are veiled.
This is the most solemn day of the year. The service begins and ends in silence.
The service is similar to the Roman Catholic rite, but without the Eucharist: prayer of the day, the three readings, sermon, hymn, bidding prayer, procession of the cross and solemn reproaches. Possibly another hymn. Hymns are sung without accompaniment, or with minimal instrumentation. A solo instrument like flute, recorder or violin is common.
Some congregations omit the solemn reproaches because of the anti-Semitic ways in which they were used in Medieval Europe and earlier. ELW’s reproaches have removed anti-Semitic overtones. This too is a local decision.
Lutherans generally fast from the Eucharist on Good Friday. Offering is not taken. A plate may be left near the door.
In some larger churches, a Passion may be sung, like Bach’s “St. Matthew Passion.”
Some congregations have a monastic-style tenebrae service with readings (of the Passion or the Seven Last Words) and successively extinguished candles. http://members.sundaysandseasons.com/planner_resources_view.php?atom_id=15339
The pastor may be vested in just an alb, without stole, to symbolize the austerity of the service. The earlier Lutheran Book of Worship Manual on the Liturgy discouraged stoles and chasubles as “inappropriate.” (p. 321) Some congregations vest the pastor in a black cassock, With or without the surplice. Roman Catholic rubrics call for red. Some wear purple. So, the practice is all over the map in North American Lutheranism.
3:00 is the tradition time for the Good Friday service, but in societies where people have to work, the service is often done later. In Texas, Good Friday is a state holiday (one of eleven states).
Merciful God, your Son was lifted up on the cross to draw all people to himself. Grant that we who have been born out of his wounded side may at all times find mercy in him, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
The St. Mark Passion at Christ the King Lutheran Church in Houston
