Methodists celebrate Good Friday with ‘Seven Last Words of Christ’

Methodists in the Brooklyn Downtown South Parish of the United Methodist Church (UMC) on Good Friday, March 29, heard the “Seven Last Words of Christ” in the second gathering of the cluster since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Preachers from Vanderveer Park, Fenimore Street, St. Mark’s, St. Paul’s and Kings Highway UMCs brought the message in the perennial three-hour-long worship service at St. Mark’s UMC, on Beverly Road and Ocean Avenue, in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn. The Church of the Redeemer is also part of the Cooperative Parish.

The service was also punctuated with scripture readings, prayers, lofty signing by soloists, choirs and the congregation, and liturgical dances.

“As soon as they pierce you, forgive them Lord for they know not what they do,” preached the Rev. Wendy Paige, pastor of Kings Highway UMC, in bringing the First Word, taken from Luke 23: 33-34.

“If you do anything else, you’re making an assumption,” she added. “Jesus was reiterating that we love each other, as we love ourselves.”

Afterwards, the Cooperative Parish Choir, comprising members from the cluster, sang, accompanied by a liturgical dance, “Forgive Them, Lord, Because They Know Not What They Do,” written by Rev. Paige herself.

Meditating on “Today, You Will Be With Me in Paradise,” the Rev. Melvin Boone, senior pastor of Vanderveer Park UMC and parish coordinator, said: “The way to paradise begins with repentance.”

“When you’re in the presence of God, something happens,” he preached, based on Luke 23: 39-43. “You have to always keep your eyes on Jesus.

“The way to paradise is with reverence with God,” Rev. Boone added. “The way to paradise requires a belief and reverence of Jesus Christ, as Savior and Lord.

“So, I encourage you, beloved, make Jesus your Savior and Lord,” he urged. “Jesus is the way to paradise.”

Rev. Boone then joined Sis. Patricia Senhouse, a Trinidadian-born member of the Chancel Choir at Fenimore Street UMC, in a duet, “At the Cross”, before the Rev. Roger Jackson, pastor of Fenimore Street UMC, brought the Third Word.

Chancel Choir at St. Mark’s UMC offers a selection.Photo by Nelson A. King

“Saints of God, Jesus was saying that, in the midst of pain, we must still show love,” said Rev. Jackson, preaching on “Woman, Behold Thy Son,” based on John 19: 26,27. “If we’re intentional and deliberate in meeting Jesus at the front of the cross, we must begin to mend every households in our lives.

“What Jesus was saying today, we need each other to hold each other up,” he added.

Sis Erlene Williams-King, a soloist and member of the Chancel Choir at St. Mark’s UMC, received a standing ovation after rendering “Hosannah in the Highest” and preceding the Fourth Word from Rev. Sharon Cundy, the Jamaican-born senior pastor at St. Paul’s UMC.

“Have you been rejected by family and friends? asked Rev. Cundy, meditating on “My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me? (Matthew 27: 45-46).  “It hurts.”

“It hurts, especially because kids are in the relationship,” she added. “When spouses break up, you feel rejected.

“On the cross, He was praying for us, even in His rejection,” continued Rev. Cundy, referring to Jesus Christ. “Jesus was rejected so that all others can be accepted.”

The Rev. Janet Cox, a junior pastor at St. Paul’s UMC, noted that Jesus was in the “disintegrating throes of death,” as she preached on the Fifth Word, “I Thirst” (John 19:28).

“Divine Jesus was about to die for you and for me,” she said. “Jesus is thirsting on the cross. Do you desire living water?

“Jesus is suffering,” Rev. Cox added. “Today marks the end of the Lenten journey. How have you been changed? Today is a reminder that God is not contend to love from a distance. I invite you to walk with Jesus.”

Pastors in the UMC Brooklyn Downtown South Parish, from left, Rev. Melvin Boone, Deaconess Gail Douglas-Boykins, Rev. Morais G. Quissico, Rev. Janet Cox, Rev. Wendy Paige and Rev. Roger Jackson. Photo by Nelson A. King

As Jesus is in the process of dying, the Rev. Morais G. Quissico, pastor of St. Mark’s UMC, said Christ’s first miracle was “to turn water into wine.”

“He’s not care what they did to Him, because he’s finished,” said Rev. Quissico, preaching on the Sixth Word, “It is Finished” (John 19:30). “I’m so glad that Jesus is finished.”

Deaconess Gail Douglas-Boykins, junior pastor at Vanderveer Park UMC, said that Jesus used his last words “to commend His last spirit into God’s hands.”

“God is often held up in prayer,” she preached in bringing the Seventh Word, “Father, Into Your Hands I commend My Spirit” (Luke 23:46).

“God is often held up in prayer, but we should also follow His example,” she added. “Those who know him will find comfort.”

The Words – intermingled with singing from, among others, the Corporate Parish Choir – were preceded by high-octane singing from St. Mark’s Praise and Worship Team, rendering, among other songs, “I Worship You”; “Bless The Lord, O My Soul”; and “Every Praise Is to Our Lord.”

On Resurrection Sunday (Easter Sunday), as is customary, each church in the parish conducted its own Easter Sunday Worship Service.

At Fenimore Street UMC, Rev. Jackson urged congregants, in his sermon, based on John 20: 1-18, to “go tell somebody that our Savior is alive.”

“We celebrate the fact that our Savior arose,” he said, preaching on the topic, “Go Tell.” “An empty grace is there to prove He lives.

“Go and tell somebody today that Christ the Lord is risen today,” he added. “God tell somebody that the same resurrection power is keeping us alive.

“Go tell somebody that we serve a living Savior,” Pastor Jackson continued. “Jesus rose from the grace to tell somebody.”