Good Friday
Friday in Holy week is the anniversary of the crucifixion. The term Good Friday probably came from "God's Friday" just as good-by comes from "God be with ye." On this day, we commemorate Jesus’ arrest, his trial, crucifixion, suffering, death, and burial. The tradition of Zion is to remove the altar paraments at the end of Good Friday services. The altar symbolizes Christ and the “stripping of the altar” symbolizes the abandonment of Jesus by his disciples and the stripping of Jesus by the soldiers prior to his crucifixion. The lights are gradually extinguished during Good Friday worship and the service we follow is the Tenebrae (Latin for “shadows” or “darkness”). This is to symbolize the growing darkness not only of Jesus’ death but of hopelessness in the world without God.
Good Friday service at Zion this year will include a slide presentation while the choir is singing “Ten Thousand Angels”. The entire Good Friday service is portrayed to allow worshippers to experience some sense of the pain, humiliation and the ending journey of our Savior to the cross. The service ends in darkness
and concludes with a loud noise symbolizing the closing of Jesus’ tomb. The worshippers then leave in silence to wait. Good Friday is not a day of celebration but of mourning, both for the death of Jesus and for the sins of the world that his death represents. Although it is a solemn time, it is not without joyfulness. Although, it is important to place the Resurrection along side of the darkness of Good Friday, the somberness equally should always be seen with the celebration of new life, hope and excitement of Resurrection Sunday – Easter Sunday!
The biblical account of Jesus’ death on the cross, his burial and his resurrection, can be found in the following passages of Scripture: Matthew 27:27-28:8; Mark 
15:16-16:19; Luke 23:26-24:35; and John 19:16-20:30.
