Good Friday Events at
Plymouth Meeting Friends
 

Good Friday – a day of discernment and decision. What is God’s will and how do we live it daily? This was the question before Jesus and his disciples on that Friday years ago. It is the same question before us today. There will be several opportunities to participate in reflective prayerful discernment on Good Friday here at Plymouth Friends Meeting.

• 5:00 pm Peace Vigil at the wall
• 5:45 pm light shared meal and fellowship
• 6:45 pm Reading of the Gospel of Mark

Evening Prayer Vigil for Peace: Those who can gather at the wall in front of the Meeting House there will be a prayer vigil for peace at 5pm. We pray for peace in our families, our workplaces, our neighborhoods, our nation, and our world. We grieve for the violence that occurs in the name of religion and are mindful of the historic use of Good Friday as a day of violence against Jews. Current violence this year spreads across the world involving all faiths (Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, …..) and nonreligious, political and apolitical people. Jesus of Nazareth taught reconciliation, redemption, forgiveness. As we pray for guidance as to how to apply his teachings to the violence in our world we hold all who are suffering from war in our collective prayer for peace.

Light shared meal and fellowship: We will gather (~5:45pm) in the Annie H Wilson room and share a light meal, perhaps of Mediterranean foods. A time of being together and enjoying the shared love and friendship that we have.
 

Shared reading of the Gospel of Mark: (~6:45) As has been our custom, we read the Gospel of John from the beginning to the end sharing the reading around the circle. This becomes a time of letting go of dogma. The short life of Jesus is recorded in this short Gospel. What does it have to say about how the reader is to respond to God’s call? Each year it'd call  is heard differently. Each year there are new hard parts to hear and new insights that open one’s heart to possibilities. We have found that this opportunity is a very different experience from reading a few lines of

scripture. It takes time (1.5 hrs) but the reading has been found to be useful in illumination God’s guidance for how we are to be:

  “patterns, be examples in all countries, places, islands, nations wherever you come; that your carriage and life may preach among all sorts of people, and to them; then you will come to walk cheerfully over the world, answering that of God in everyone; whereby in them you may be a blessing, and make the witness of God in them to bless you.”