There is both a certain starkness about the Good Friday liturgy and an elegant simplicity, in a rite that has changed very little in 1600 years. As such, the organ is not used to sustain the singing on this solemn day.
The liturgy has four principal parts:
1. The Gathering Rite - A centuries-old gesture of prostration.
2. The Liturgy of the Word - A reading from the Letter to the Hebrews. The Passion Gospel according to John.
3. The Liturgy of the Cross - Presentation of the cross to all and veneration for those who so wish.
4. The Liturgy of Holy Communion - Reception in one kind only.
We gather this afternoon, as Christians have done since the earliest days of the Church, not to mourn the death of Christ, but to celebrate the triumph of the cross. Yet it is still a very real and solemn liturgy we re about to celebrate; a liturgy which brings the power and effect of Good Friday into our lives in a very real way. So the vestments are blood-red in honour of the victory which gives all martyrdom and death its meaning. The liturgy has a feel of restraint and awe in response to Jesus’ death upon the cross.

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