Good Friday: Liquid Worship

Liquid Worship

Traditional worship is linear - it starts at the beginning and follows a structured service through to the end. Liquid Worship is different; instead of being linear, there are stations or zones set up around the church for people to visit. The congregation can choose how they spend their time - for example they can spend all their time at one or two stations or visit all of the stations in any order they please. The stations may include reflecting on readings, listening to music, taking part in actions, or art or craft activities. Liquid Worship can work well with different age groups with material provided at many different levels.

Good Friday

Our Good Friday service was offered as a family alternative to the traditional Good Friday adult meditation.

As it was expected that children would come with their families, it needed to work at both adult and child levels. We had more stations than in previous Liquid Worship services, but the stations themselves were simpler.


As before, we began with the story in order to provide a context for the stations. We retold the series of events from Jesus' arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane to the placing of his body in the tomb. It included Jesus' trial before Pilate, the taunting by the soldiers, the whipping and the crucifixion itself.

At the end of the service we came back together to sing "There is a green hill far away". As this might have been the only Easter service for many of the congregation the leader spoke briefly about the resurrection, and we finished by singing "He's got the whole world in his hands", a song well known to the children, but also one that focussed on God's power.

The stations

We wanted the congregation to reflect on the different events of Good Friday - from Pilate washing his hands to Jesus' body being laid in the tomb. Around the church we had a selection of pictures of the crucifixion and words to help reflection.

Station 1:

In the north transept we laid out the wooden figures of Jesus and his disciples at the Last Supper.


We also had a basket of wooden grapes and bread, the Godly Play set for Palm Sunday and a selection of Bible story books telling the story of Holy Week.

Station 2:

We had a bowl of water with a towel and soap. The accompanying text was the Biblical account of Pilate washing his hands.

Station 3:

We laid out a series of postcards depicting the stations of the cross. Paper and pastels were provided for those who wanted to make their own picture of one of the stations.


A leader manned this station and people were given the opportunity to ask questions or find out more about the story.

Station 4:

A large dice and cloths reminded people that the soldiers gambled for Jesus' clothes.

Station 5:

There was a bowl of vinegar, breadsticks and a sponge on a spear. The congregation were invited to use the breadsticks to sample the vinegar.

Station 6:

Dali's picture of the Crucifixion (Christ of Saint John of the Cross) was placed by the altar rail. People were given an opportunity to make crosses out of nails.

Station 7:

On the other side of the altar rail we had a picture of Jesus on the cross with the caption INRI "This is Jesus the King of the Jews". We contrasted a king's crown with a crown of thorns.

The children were invited to make crowns for Jesus the King, using Christian symbols and pictures.

Station 8:

We set up a place at the back of the church for the congregation to hammer nails into wood.

This station was manned and we asked children to have a parent or carer with them. We had a picture of Jesus dying on the cross and words to reflect on the pain of the crucifixion.

Station 9:

This was a place for prayer. We invited people to write a prayer on a cross shape and place in a basket at the foot of the cross.

We draped the cross with red material and ribbons as we had done for Easter Experience.

At this station we also had a basket of different crosses and also a wooden cross puzzle to be put together.

Station 10:

We created a tomb under the pulpit by draping the pulpit with black material. Green plants were placed in front and on the pulpit steps. Under the steps we laid the cloths and scented them with rosemary (as myrrh was quite expensive.)

Station 11:

At the back of the church we had baskets of Easter eggs, with the words of the Godly Play story of Easter. There were egg shapes for the children to decorate. We included this station as we wanted to complete the story for those who would not be going to church on Easter Day.

How well did it work?

At first the children rushed around unable to settle; it looked as if all the material would be exhausted in 5 minutes. Then, suddenly, they were all involved, making crosses, banging in nails, sampling wine vinegar, colouring eggs, making crowns.

Before the event, I was not sure about having someone sitting with the postcards of the stations of the cross to tell stories; in the event this worked extremely well.


One of the 10 year olds had a series of questions about the events of Holy Week, and needed someone static with time to listen to him. It also worked well with a family of mixed teens and small children, who wanted more detail than the storytelling at the start of the service.

What would we have changed?

We felt this service worked particularly well and offered a good variety of activities. A station that we did not include (partly because I couldn't find the snake!) was a sand box with figures of the snake and Adam and Eve to link back to the original fall.