GOOD FRIDAY • APRIL 15, 2022 • 12 PM
ENVISIONING THE PASSION
Click here if you'd like to get a behind-the-scenes tour of some of the images that will be featured in today's "Envisioning the Passion" service. In this introductory video the program's artistic coordinator, Lucy Durkin, shares some of the images and highlights some of the remarkable features of the inspiring artworks she has chosen.
Welcome to Asbury First United Methodist Church as we experience the Word by joining scripture, music and art. Today’s service is a bit different from the past few years, as we have chosen not to use a narrative approach to retelling the Good Friday story. Instead, we drew on the traditional Seven Last Words of Christ on the Cross as the starting point for meditations which, in several instances, reach beyond the events of Good Friday itself. For example, one of the meditations explores the parallel between the story of Jonah, who spent three days in the belly of a “great fish” as Jesus spent three days in the tomb; another connects the importance of water as a metaphor of eternal life to rituals from around the world that all include the gift of water. A third goes all the way back to the correspondence between Adam and Jesus, the original sinner and the Redeemer who died to take away that sin. We truly enjoyed exploring a number of images that recall these long traditions and associations. As a result, the artworks we have selected span over 1,700 years, which testifies to the lasting truths they present. We hope that this broad approach will open new paths for you to consider, as it has for us. — Lucy Durkin, Artistic Coordinator — Carl Johengen, Director of Music Ministry — Stephen Cady, Senior Minister
Above: Emblem of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine Cover Image: Ulyana Tomkevych, Crucifixion, 2020, private collection
INTRODUCTION
Prelude
"Adagio for Strings" — Samuel Barber (1910-1981), arr. William Strickland
All the images of the Passion story which accompany the prelude are by Ukrainian artists. Much information about the whereabouts of the works is missing as the communications are disrupted by the continuing strife. Many of the artists represented are contemporary; we can only pray that somehow they and their works survive.
Mykhailo Boychuk: Last Supper, 1911, Lviv Hanna Kolisnyk: Judas Kiss, 2015, location unknown Ivanka Demchuk, Pilate and Jesus, c. 2014, collection of the artist, Lviv unknown artist: Christ Bearing the Cross, no date, Lychakiv Cemetery, Lviv Ilya Repin: Jesus with the Crown of Thorns, 1913, private collection Sviatoslav Vladyka: King of Glory, 2015, location unknown Ilya Repin: Golgotha, 1869, Kyiv National Museum anonymous Ukrainian monks in the style of Father Juvenaly Mokritsky: The Life-Giving Cross, c. 1980, Nanovic Hall, Notre Dame University, South Bend Stanitsa Luganskaya: Face of Christ, 2012, location unknown unknown Ukrainian: Crucifixion with Donors, late 17th century, Kyiv National Museum Yonia Fain: Crucifixion, 1966, Hofstra University Art Museum, Hempsted Ulyana Tomkevych: Crucifixion, 2020, private collection Geza Gyorke: Crucifix, 2021, private collection, Lviv Nikolai Ge: Crucifixion, 1892, Musée d’Orsay, Paris Sergeii Radkevych: Christ Space, 2012, location unknown Rostyslav Garbar: Another Side of the Cross, 2017, location unknown unknown Ukrainian: The Lamentation, 17th century, Museum of Volyn Icon, Lutsk Ivanka Demchuk, Pietà, c. 2015-20, collection of the artist Danylo Movchan: Lamentation, 2020, location unknown Marie Bashkirtseff: Women Bearing Myrrh to the Tomb, 1883, Radishchev State Art Museum, Saratov
Call to Worship Based on Psalm 22
You, O Lord, are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. In you our ancestors trusted, and you delivered them. All the ends of the earth shall remember, and turn to the Lord. All the families of the nations shall worship before him.
12 pm • April 15, 2022
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Good Friday Envisioning the Passion
Hymn
#288 "Were You There", vv. 1, 2, 5 Words and Music: Traditional spiritual, arr. William Farley Smith
Second Word
"Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise."
Hannah-Cheriyan Varghese: Jesus, Remember Me When You Come into Your Kingdom; 2004, private collection
This meditation explores the connection between Adam and Jesus. The reading is the last stanzas of a poem by John Donne which links them through the tree that grew over Adam’s grave. Traditional legends maintain that the wood of that tree provided the wood of the cross, and there are many images of the crucifixion that include Adam’s skull near the base of the cross. Boris Ord’s lyrical setting of "Adam Lay Ybounden" echoes the connection, joyfully concluding that if the apple had never been taken, there would be no need for Mary or Jesus to come to earth.
Prayer of Invocation
José Rafael Aragon: Crucifix, c. 1840, Brooklyn Museum of Art
First Word
"Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing."
Greg Weatherby: Crucifixion, 2008, private collection
Reading
Matthew 26:14-16, 48-50; 27:1-14 Romare Bearden: The Payment of Judas, 1945-46, Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville, ME Sascha Schneider (J.S. Weber, wood engraver): Judas Iscariot, 1895 Indianapolis Museum of Art Harriet Powers: The Bible Quilt - Judas Iscariot, c. 1886 National Museum of American History (Smithsonian), Washington, D.C. Alice Sielle: Christ Before Pilate, 2004, linocut
Choral Music
"Have mercy upon me, O God" — Thomas Tomkins (1572-1656) (Psalm 51:1) Have mercy upon me, O God, after thy great goodness, and according to the multitude of thy mercies, do away mine offenses. Georges Rouault: Christ Scourged, 1936, aquatint, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh Antonello da Messina: Christ at the Column, c. 1480, Louvre, Paris Jaes Janknegt: Man of Sorrows, 1990, collection of the artist Bartolomé Murillo: Christ After the Flagellation, 1665, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston unknown German: Man of Sorrows, 1465-70, Art Institute of Chicago Wolfgang Lettl: The High Council, 2004, Lettl Collection of Surrealist Art, Augsburg
Third Word
“Woman, here is your son.” “Here is your mother.”
Giovanni del Biondo: Crucifixion with God the Father, c. 1375-80 Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester
Both works highlighted in this meditation are in the collection of the Memorial Art Gallery in Rochester. In The Crucifixion with God the Father, the Virgin Mary stands on the left in blue, Mary Magdalen is at the foot of the cross in red, and St. John is on the right. Rembrandt’s etching is notable not only for his technical mastery, but the stunning individuality of each of the 28 figures captured in an image that is just a little over half the size of a piece of paper.
John Donne, from "Hymn to God, My God, in my sickness" (c. 1630) unknown Flemish: Adam and Eve with the Crucifixion, c. 1455 Newberry Library, Chicago Cima da Conigliano: Christ Crowned with Thorns, c. 1510, National Gallery, London
"Adam Lay Ybounden" — Boris Ord (1897-1961) Adam lay ybounden, bounden in a bond; Four thousand winter, thought he not too long. And all was for an apple, an apple that he took. As clerkes finden written in their book. Ne had the apple taken been, the apple taken been, Ne had never our ladie abeen heav'ne queen. Blessed be the time That apple taken was, Therefore we moun singen Deo gratias! Claude Mellan: Adam and Eve at the Foot of the Cross, c. 1647, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Masaccio: Expulsion of Adam and Eve, 1424-27, Brancacci Chapel, Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence Berthold Furtmeyr: Tree of Life + Death from the Archbishop of Salzburg Missal, 1489, State Library, Munich Vladimir Baranov-Rossine: Adam and Eve, 1912, Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Madrid
Fourth Word
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
Lieven van Lathem: Entombment with Scenes from the Story of Jonah, c. 1471, Getty Art Center, Los Angeles
According to the gospel of Matthew, Jesus directly compared himself to Jonah. (“For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so for three days and three nights the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth.” Matt 12:38-42) This illuminated bible page links the two directly as in the main scene, Christ is lowered into the tomb, and in the smaller scene on the bottom left, Jonah is thrown into the sea to be swallowed by the “great fish.”
Matthew 12:46-50 Rembrandt: Christ Preaching, c. 1652, etching, Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester
"Stabat Mater" — Grzegorz Gerwazy Gorczycki (c. 1665-1734) The sorrowful mother was standing beside the Cross weeping, while the Son was hanging. Whose moaning soul, depressed and grieving, the sword has passed through. Come now, O Mother, fountain of love, make me feel the power of sorrow that I might mourn with you. Grant that my heart may burn in loving Christ the God that I might please him. Emil Frei Company (designer): Woman Behold Thy Son, mid 20th century, Church of St. Gabriel, St. Louis Gerardo Dottori: Crucifixion, 1927, Collection of Modern Religious Art, The Vatican Charles Wilbert White: Mater Dolorosa, 1946, private collection Pedro de Mena: Mater Dolorosa, 1674-85, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Currier & Ives: Mater Dolorosa, 19th century, colored lithograph H. Siddons Mowbray: Crucifixion, 1915-25, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C. Luis de Morales: Mater Dolorosa, 1560-70, Prado Museum, Madrid unknown Netherlandish: Glorification of the Virgin with the Instruments of the Passion, c. 1490-95, Boijmans van Beuningen Museum, Rotterdam
Jonah, chapter 1 Emil Nolde: A Prophet, 1912, Museum of Modern Art, New York Marcus Behmer: Jonah on the Ship, 1929, Museum of Modern Art, New York unknown Byzantine: Prophet Jonah, 12th century mosaic, San Marco, Venice Jacob Cornelisz. van Oostsanen: Jonah Leaning Out of the Ship, 1514 British Museum, London Albert Pinkham Ryder: Jonah, c. 1885-95, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.
"Prayer of Jonah" (Jonah, chapter 2) — Anglican Chant “I called to the LORD out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice. You cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me; all your waves and your billows passed over me. Then I said, ‘I am driven away from your sight; how shall I look again upon your holy temple?’ The waters closed in over me; the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped around my head at the roots of the mountains. I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever; yet you brought up my life from the Pit, O LORD my God. As my life was ebbing away, I remembered the LORD; and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple. Those who worship vain idols forsake their true loyalty. But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Deliverance belongs to the LORD!” Hilda Katz: Jonah and the Whale, c. 1978, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C. Sargis Babayan: Jonah the Prophet, c. 2010, private collection John Flannagan: Jonah and the Whale - Rebirth Motif, 1937 Minneapolis Institute of Art unknown late Roman: Jonah Cast Up, c. 280-290 CE, Cleveland Museum of Art
Fifth Word
“I am thirsty.”
James Tissot: Jesus is Given the Vinegar, 1886-94, Brooklyn Museum of Art
John 4:5-14 Horace Pippin: Jesus and the Woman of Samaria, 1940, Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia
"Sicut cervus" — Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c. 1525–1594) (Psalm 42:1) As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God. The living water Christ spoke of in the reading inspired the choices of images that accompany the Palestrina motet "Sicut cervus". Water is central to many joyous rituals around the world, some of which are depicted in these photographs. Buddhist purification rite at Kiyomisu-dera in Kyoto, Japan Water poured over the bride’s hennaed hand in a Hindu wedding Purification for pilgrims to the Wailing Wall, Jerusalem Indigenous North American Nahuatl water ritual Ukrainian bishop tossing a crucifix into the Uzh River during the consecration ceremony Shinnyo Lantern Floating, Hawai’i Rakhain Water Ceremony, Myanmar Baptism in Nogales, Mexico Baptism at Asbury First, April 2022, Sarah Brubaker, photographer
Sixth Word
“It is finished.”
Theyre Lee-Elliott: Crucified Tree Form, 1963, Methodist Modern Art Collection, London (©TMCP, used with permission. www.methodist.org.uk/artcollection)
Mark 15:25-32 Master of the Dreux-Budé Triptych: Crucifixion, c 1450, Getty Art Center, Los Angeles Herbert Anger: Untitled, c. 1920 (wood engraving), Los Angeles County Museum of Art Abraham Rattner: Crucifixion in Yellow, 1953, Cummer Museum of Art, Jacksonville, FL
Instrumental Music
"Song Without Words" — Craig Phillips (b. 1961) Giotto di Bondone: Crucifixion, Jonah Quatrefoil, and Lamentation, c. 1305, Arena (Scrovegni) Chapel, Padua
It’s hard to believe that the Crucifixion and Lamentation frescoes from the Arena Chapel in Padua really are over seven centuries old. The 38 narrative panels display so much heartfelt emotion that they transcend the gap of time from their creation to our detailed exploration of two of them today. In the photograph below, the Crucifixion and Lamentation are visible on the lower left, outlined in red. You also can see a vertical decorative band between the narrative panels which has a smaller scene framed by a quatrefoil (four-leaf clover) shape within. Each of the ten quatrefoils on the north wall depicts an Old Testament scene which was frequently interpreted as foretelling the events of Jesus’ life. The one between the Crucifixion and Lamentation is, not surprisingly, the scene of Jonah being swallowed by the great fish.
Closing Reading
"Betrayed" — Rachel Dupont
Ramón José Lopez: Liturgical Cross, 1998, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.
Departure in Silence
Seventh Word
"Father, into your hands I commend my spirit."
Odilon Redon: Christ on the Cross, c. 1895-1900, private collection
Mark 15:42-47 Simon Bening: Joseph of Arimathea Before Pilate, c. 1525-30, Getty Art Center, Los Angeles Giovanni Savoldo: Christ with Joseph of Arimathea, c. 1525 Cleveland Museum of Art
"In Manus Tuas" — Sebastián de Vivianco (c. 1551-1622) Into your hands, Lord, I commend my spirit. Sybil Andrews: Joseph of Arimathea, 1946, British Museum, London William Johnson: Lamentation, 1944, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C. Jusepe di Ribera: Lamentation Over the Dead Christ, 1620s, National Gallery, London Ford Madox Brown: Entombment, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne Sisto Badalocchio: Christ Carried to the Tomb, after 1609, National Gallery, London
Participants In the Service
Readers: Rev. Dr. Stephen Cady, Rev. Rachel Dupont, Rev. Kathy Thiel, Rev. Pat Dupont, Mike Mullin Speaker: Jordan Bachmann Artistic Coordinator: Lucy Durkin Organist: Duane Prill Cello: Brian Donat Choral Ensemble: Bess Phillips, Brenda Nitsch, Dan McInerney, Jordan Bachmann, Juli Elliot, Heather Holmquest, Robert Cowles, Carl Johengen Director of Music Ministry: Dr. Carl Johengen Audio Operator: Rick Church Video Operator: Kenny Bailey Graphics Operators: Lucy Durkin Technology Support Team: Deb Bullock-Smith, Carolyn Curran, Ted Skomsky Technical Consultant: Justin Ocello
*Childcare is available at these services, (LS) services will be livestreamed
Permissions: Choral Music in the public domain, with the exception of "Adam Lay Ybounden" © 1957 Novello & Co.; Hymns © 1989 The United Methodist Publishing House; OneLicense.net #A-721053. Illustration Credits: Designed by Sarah Brubaker and Freepik, and Sarah Brubaker and Vecteezy.
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Sunday, April 17 7 am SERVICE — Sunrise service held on the East Avenue front lawn 7:30 am — Easter Breakfast for our D&CC guests and congregation 9 am* SERVICE — Traditional service celebrating Easter Sunday 11 am* SERVICE (LS) — Traditional service celebrating Easter Sunday
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