Methodists in the Brooklyn Downtown South Cooperate Parish of the United Methodist Church (UMC) on Good Friday, April 7, heard the “Seven Last Words of Christ” in perhaps the largest 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 usual 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 lessons, prayers, loft signing by soloists, choirs and the congregation, and a liturgical dance by Sharon Thomas from Kings Highway UMC.
In bringing the First Word, taken from Luke 23: 33-34, the Rev. Roger Jackson, pastor of Fenimore Street UMC, said: “The First Word is a prayer” (“Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do”).
“Jesus’s first prayer proves Him to be a merciful savior who is committed to the plight of humanity,” Rev. Jackson preached. “Couldn’t Nazareth have been on Jesus’s mind when he said, ‘Father, forgive them; for they know what they do’”?
Meditating on “Today, You Will Be With Me in Paradise,” the Rev. Janet L. Cox, of St. Paul’s UMC, noted that while Jesus was losing his life, He was saving a soul.
“Our work does not save us but our belief in Jesus Christ,” she said in bring the Second Word (Luke 23: 39-43). “’Remember me when you come into Your Kingdom’ was a cry from this criminal. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved.”
Rev. Sharon Cundy, also of St. Paul’s UMC, in the Third Word (John 19: 26,27), said: “God cares for us as much as He cares for His own mother.
“If you were near the cross, you, too, would be restored and forgiven,” she preached. “Beneath the cross, all brothers and sisters become family. If you were close to the cross, you would hear the voice of Jesus saying, ‘stay close to the cross’”.
In the Fourth Word (Matthew 27: 45-46), Rev. Morais G. Quissico, pastor of St. Mark’s UMC, said “we know that He came to represent us,” when Jesus asked God, “why have you forsaken me?”
“Jesus came to take our spot,” he said. “Jesus came to be our intermediary, our intercessory. As long as we remain in this human flesh, we’re tempted to commit sin. And when you go through these things, you ask, ‘my God, my God, why have you forsaken me’”?
The Rev. Melvin Boone, pastor of Vanderveer Park UMC, said, “Every drop of the quenching water Jesus dropped for you and me,” in preaching the Fifth Word (John 19:28) on “I Thirst”.
Deaconess Gail Douglas-Boykin, also of Vanderveer Park UMC, followed up with “It is Finished” for the Sixth Word (John 19:30).
“We have the victory in Jesus Christ,” she declared. “God has assured us that He’s gone to perfect everything. God is declaring that He’s the beginning and the end.
“Today is Good Friday, but what is going to happen in three days?” Deaconess Douglas-Boykin asked. “Jesus has the keys. Jesus finished what he started. I’m so glad that God is finished.”
In preaching the Seventh Word (Luke 23:46), the Rev. Wendy Paige, pastor of Kings Highway UMC, said: “Jesus is showing us the way.”
“As we look at these dark days, we see in the news, shootings; we see people of color – all kinds of injustices,” added Rev. Paige, meditating on “Father, into your hands I commend my Spirit.”
“And when this life is over, we shall see Him,” she continued, ending with the hymn, “Hallelujah, God has won the victory,” as the congregation stood and joined in lustily.
