letters from the dead

Group, Mar/Apr 2004

A YOUTH-LED GOOD FRIDAY SERVICE

Prepare your teenagers to present this mosaic of powerful music, heartbreaking letters, and "dark" psalms as an unforgettable Good Friday worship service for everyone in your church.

THE SET

You'll need to build something that looks like a tomb. You can use painted cardboard and a roll-away cardboard stone. Or you can be more abstract and frame a black door at the altar to represent a tomb. If you're going the cardboard route, be sure the tomb doesn't look cartoonish. The end result must be something big enough for your teenagers to walk through. Don't build an enclosed space.

MUSIC SUGGESTIONS

Use these suggestions for music throughout the service.

* "Wondrous Love" by Blue Highway, from the album Wondrous Love-it makes a nice opening piece.

* "So You Are to Me" by EastMountainSouth, from the album Eastmountainsouth-it makes a great offeratory, or use it as background music if you decide to do communion.

* Other songs that would work well for openings and closings: "All I've Ever Wanted" by Lost and Found, from the album Something and "Your Memory" (the acoustic version) by Lost and Found, from the album Something Different.

* "It Is Well With My Soul" -This song is the focal point of the service. It must be done live and a cappella. If you don't have a singer or singers who can pull this off, use the Eastmountainsouth song as your closer. Have your soloist sing the first verse "lightly" between the readings of the letters. At the end have the soloist "let go" and put as much feeling in the song as possible. This is where you can bring your congregation to tears.

THE PSALM READINGS

I've included my own paraphrases of some of the darker psalms. They bring a "creepy" sort of feel to the service. Recruit three of your young people to be the Readers. Then recruit five or six teenagers to stand behind the Readers, repeating the words in a whisper. The whisper should sound more like a reverb than an echo. Have them practice until the whisper is succinct and tight.

COSTUMES

Costumes are not necessary, but you could have all of your students in black T-shirts and black jeans if you want. You could dress your Letter Readers to look like the people they're playing.

THE SERVICE

Begin with a darkened sanctuary. Place one candle at the front.

Play your opening music ("Wondrous Love"). Have a candle lighter carry a light from the back and light the candle in the front during the second verse of the song, then exit through the "tomb." Wait for the third verse to send the rest of your group in from the back. They should sit somewhere near the front.

Have Psalm Reader #1 walk to the altar and either read aloud or recite this paraphrase of Psalm 22.

PSALM READER #1:

Where are you, God? Where are you, God? Where are you. God? I'm alone in a concrete room, and the walls are getting closer. You seem so far away. You came to those people in the Bible. All they had to do was ask and you showed up. Why do I feel alone? I am nothing. People tell me just to pray to you and you'll make it right. Sometimes it feels like people are waiting for me to screw up. They can't wait to laugh at me. I'm tired of fighting. I'm tired of being laughed at. Don't stay away, Lord. I know I'm not alone. Eventually, everyone on this earth will know you. We will sing your songs. We will read your words. I'll continue to pray to you. Even though I feel like nothing. I'll pray to you. I'll receive your blessings. Amen

Psalm Reader #1 should exit the altar through the tomb.

Have one of your kids enter, read aloud Luke 22:39-48, then exit through the tomb.

Have Letter Reader #1 (must be a female) walk onto the stage with an envelope. She should pull a letter out of the envelope, then read it aloud.

LEHER READER #1:

Dear Charley,

I'm pregnant.

I'm living over on East 9th Street above that little bookstore we used to drive by on the way to get doughnuts on Sundays. Do you remember? I've stopped taking drugs. I'm done for good this time. I don't drink anymore, either. I've got this new guy in my life. He has a job working at the stadium, but he's a musician. He plays trombone in a jazz band on the weekends. Sometimes he takes me dancing. He says that he loves me. Even though it's not his baby, he says he'll raise the baby up right just like it was his own. He even gave me his mother's ring.

Charley, I think about you every time I pass that diner you used to be the cook in. Their food ain't been the same since you left. People sit there at the counter and talk about how good the burgers used to be. I still have that CD you gave me of Little Anthony and the Imperials. I listened to it all the time until someone stole the player out of my car. The neighborhood has really gone into the sewer.

Charley, I almost went insane after Mario got himself arrested. I actually moved back to Kansas to live with my parents. But everyone I remember from back then was either dead or married and trying to live that pretty little Huxtable life, so I just left. I came back to Cleveland, and I think this time I'm gonna stay.