Good Friday Family Service

Worship at Shadyside Presbyterian Church offers spiritual refreshment in a traditional liturgical setting. Join us for an inspirational service as we gather to worship God through our prayers, songs, and demonstrated concerns for each other.

On Good Friday, April 14, our observance of Holy Week continues in a family service with Communion at 10:00 a.m. in the Chapel, led by our children’s choirs and the children and youth who participate in Shadyside Presbyterian Church’s Christian Education programs. The service includes the Lord’s Supper and a homily by the Reverend John F. Magnuson.

The Service of Tenebrae, meaning “darkness” or “shadows,” has been practiced by the Church in Holy Week since medieval times. Readings trace the encircling shadows around Christ as He agonized in the garden and was deserted, betrayed, denied, accused, and crucified. Gradually the candles are extinguished, symbolizing His abandonment, condemnation, and suffering. We end in darkness and leave in silence, remembering the somber events of Good Friday.

Photograph: Detail of the “Easter Morn” art glass window in the north transept of Shadyside Presbyterian Church, received as a gift in connection with the church’s fiftieth anniversary celebration and dedicated in honor of the founders of the church.  A gift of Mr. and Mrs. Wallace H. Rowe, the window was designed by the Gorham Company of New York, 1938.  Photograph taken by Ellen L. Allston.