Is Good Friday a special "thing" for non-Catholic Christians?

[Maggie the Ocelot]

I'm not Christian, never have been (raised atheist, disappointed my parents by becoming Pagan, now mostly lapsed). As such, I tend to forget that Good Friday is a special thing other than "two days before Easter".

When I do remember it, I tend to think of it as a mostly-Catholic holiday. Do other types of Christians celebrate it as such (taking the day off work, going to special church services, maybe special prayers)?

[LaurenIpsum]

Lutheran here. My church does have a Good Friday service, but they also have lots of non-Sunday services throughout the year - like Ash Wednesday, etc.

For Lutherans (and I think for most Protestants, but maybe someone can correct me) Good Friday is the only day where we aren't supposed to eat meat, whereas Catholics aren't supposed to eat meat on any Friday during Lent. Other than that, I don't observe it differently than other days.

I've never taken the day off of work for it, except for today - Mr. Ipsum actually get Good Friday off at his job, and since I've got some vacation time accumulated, I decided to join him. He says that in the UK (his home country) Good Friday is a "bank holiday" (similar to U.S. Federal holidays) where almost everyone gets the day off. Which I guess could be explained because the predominant religion (Church of England) is very similar to Catholicism.

[kunilou]

The Lutherans and the Anglicans/Episcopalians are the most like Roman Catholics in their traditions, so most of them are going to have fairly similar practices.

When I attended the United Church of Christ, our congregation had a Maundy Thursday service that recreated the Last Supper. On Good Friday, they left the church locked and dark -- which I guess is a tradition in itself.

I just checked the calendars of the two biggest non-Catholic churches in my little suburb (Presbyterian and Methodist) and notice both of them have both Maundy Thursday and Good Friday services.

[Northern Piper]

I think most Anglican churches in our area normally have a Good Friday service: the altar is bare, a black veil over the altar cross, no candles, little singing.

It's also a major event for the Orthodox churches, called Great and Holy Friday.

Here in Saskatchewan, it's a holiday - don't know if it is in other Canadian provinces or federally.

[Thudlow Boink]

Good Friday is the day commemorating Jesus's crucifixion (as opposed to Easter, which commemorates his resurrection). As such, there's nothing specifically Catholic about it.

What Catholics have over Protestants (if I understand correctly—IANAC) is more standardization. Among Protestants, there's more choice and variation as to how or whether individual churches observe Good Friday (and/or Maundy Thursday), and whether individual Christians choose to participate in those observances.

[HeyHomie]

Evangelical Protestant here.

My church is, indeed, hosting events today (as well as some sort of Maundy Thursday thing yesterday). To be fair, this is a new thing for my congregation. AFAIK this is the first year anything like it has been done.

[thelabdude]

Most of my life have been a Presbyterian, but now belong to a Friends Church (Meeting).

I think more protestant churches have Maundy Thursday services, as mentioned, than Good Friday. It is interesting, many church offices close on Good Friday.

[fiddlesticks]

Originally Posted by Northern Piper

I think most Anglican churches in our area normally have a Good Friday service: the altar is bare, a black veil over the altar cross, no candles, little singing.

Not surprising, but that sounds very Catholic. The Good Friday service is not an official Mass in the Roman Catholic church, it is is own little unique rite. No Eucharist, unless the hosts were consecrated during mass on Holy Thursday.

[dracoi]

I go to a Baptist church and we definitely do a Good Friday service every year. It tends to be more focused on singing/praise and reflection/prayer and less focused on instruction compared to a normal Sunday service. Sometimes, we've brought in special performers, but not always.

[Pitchmeister]

From my German protestant perspective, Good Friday is actually the most important holiday of all, theologically speaking. It's a national holiday in all of Germany, and all the churches would have special services. What's come up in recent years is the tradition of doing "Osternacht" (Night Before Easter, on Saturday night), which used to be a Catholic thing. It's very old-school, ritual-based, but people love it, precisely because of that.

[Antinor01]

I was raised very conservative non-denominational. I don't recall good Friday being a big deal. It was all about Easter because the resurrection was the important part.

[Kimmy_Gibbler]

Originally Posted by fiddlesticks

Not surprising, but that sounds very Catholic. The Good Friday service is not an official Mass in the Roman Catholic church, it is is own little unique rite. No Eucharist, unless the hosts were consecrated during mass on Holy Thursday.

The (Anglo-Catholic) Episcopal church I go to also does the Mass of the Presanctified, as well. Although I think a better approach liturgically is to omit communion entirely on Good Friday (and throughout the Triduum following the Maundy Thursday mass until the Great Vigil of Easter).

[ZipperJJ]

In my Lutheran church, Good Friday was my favorite church day. They hold a funeral for Jesus with low lighting, and at the end the pastor slams the Bible shut. It's pretty powerful.

[Moonlitherial]

Originally Posted by Northern Piper

Here in Saskatchewan, it's a holiday - don't know if it is in other Canadian provinces or federally.

It's a federal holiday in Canada but I celebrate it by enjoying the fact that everything is closed and therefore I don't have to go out and do anything on my to do list.

[Baker]

Another Episcopalian checking in. Our church has services every day during Holy Week. It's a heck of a time for the clergy. A couple of the services are held this week simply because we are the cathedral church for the diocese, and since the bishop will be around a lot it's convenient to hold them then. Like the Chrism Mass, in which clergy renew their ordination vows, and holy oils get blessed for use during the year.

I was at the Tenebrae(shadows) service on Wednesday, helped keep the vigil after the Maundy Thursday service(although I didn't attend that) and have just returned a couple of hours ago from the noon Good Friday service. There will be another this evening, but I worked it out so I could get to the earlier on. Then there will be the Great Vigil of Easter Saturday evening, and church on Easter Sunday. I'll be serving as a chalist at that one.

I grew up Lutheran, and we had services on Wednesday during Lent, and on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. But as has already been said upthread Lutherans are part of a more liturgical leaning set of denominations.

[BigT]

At my church, our Easter plays or dramatically illustrated sermons always had a Good Friday service. Unfortunately, my music and fine arts minister (and mentor) moved to a different church, and we didn't have enough money to really hire anyone else, so it was taken over by a lay musician who doesn't really do drama. Thus we have nothing this year.

BTW, that play was probably the most structured thing we ever did. It's a charismatic church, and they are against "formalism."

[Northern Piper]

Originally Posted by fiddlesticks

Not surprising, but that sounds very Catholic. The Good Friday service is not an official Mass in the Roman Catholic church, it is is own little unique rite. No Eucharist, unless the hosts were consecrated during mass on Holy Thursday.

That's my experience as well - no Communion. Anglicanism isn't big on pre-sanctifed elements.

[John Mace]

No Communion on Good Friday? Wow, I don't remember that from my childhood as a Catholic. It seems odd that you wouldn't have Communion on the anniversary of the very first Communion. What's the reason?

[Ruken]

Not a special "thing" at any Quaker meetings I've been to, but then again neither is Easter.

[Zsofia]

I was raised Presbyterian - it was a thing, but not as big a thing as Easter, of course.

[John Mace]

Originally Posted by John Mace

No Communion on Good Friday? Wow, I don't remember that from my childhood as a Catholic. It seems odd that you wouldn't have Communion on the anniversary of the very first Communion. What's the reason?

You idiot. Good Friday isn't the anniversary. That's Holy Thursday.

Is it OK to insult yourself in GQ?

[C. Montgomery Burns]

Independent Christian Church here. We generally recognize Good Friday as a day to pray and remember the crucifixion, but unless our place of business gives us the day off, we generally still work that day. There is not a special church service where I go. We celebrate Palm Sunday and have a sunrise service on Easter morning, followed by a breakfast and church. This is pretty typical of churches in my area.

[brocks]

The stock market is closed on Good Friday, so obviously it's not an exclusively Catholic thing.

[asterion]

I'm currently in a fairly Anabaptist part of Pennsylvania and the Mennonites closed all their stores on Good Friday. They were open on Saturday, and my fiancee thought I was making it up when I called it Holy Saturday (I was raised ELCA, she in more of a Brethren-type church) and expressed some surprise that they were open on Saturday. The difference between a fairly liberal branch of Lutheranism and an Anabaptist-derived church has proven interesting to me, although I don't think she really cares.

[BigT]

Originally Posted by John Mace

You idiot. Good Friday isn't the anniversary. That's Holy Thursday.

Is it OK to insult yourself in GQ?

That reminds me. There are some people at my church who believe Jesus must've been crucified on Thursday so the "three days and nights" thing will work. That argument is one thing that seems to happen regularly around this time of year.

And my church did do one thing for Easter this year: an egghunt in the gym. The rain probably got them a lot of people. Are egghunts popular in the more formal denominations?

[Autolycus]

Originally Posted by John Mace

No Communion on Good Friday? Wow, I don't remember that from my childhood as a Catholic. It seems odd that you wouldn't have Communion on the anniversary of the very first Communion. What's the reason?

Originally Posted by John Mace

You idiot. Good Friday isn't the anniversary. That's Holy Thursday.

Is it OK to insult yourself in GQ?

I was Catholic. Also, the reason we were told there is no Communion on Good Friday is because Jesus died that day. The eucharist being the Body of Christ, if God is dead then you can't partake of his Body.

[Lynn Bodoni]

For Lutherans (and I think for most Protestants, but maybe someone can correct me) Good Friday is the only day where we aren't supposed to eat meat, whereas Catholics aren't supposed to eat meat on any Friday during Lent.

It used to be that good Catholics didn't eat meat on ANY Friday, Lent or not.

[dhkendall]

Originally Posted by HeyHomie

Evangelical Protestant here.

My church is, indeed, hosting events today (as well as some sort of Maundy Thursday thing yesterday). To be fair, this is a new thing for my congregation. AFAIK this is the first year anything like it has been done.

Attendant of an evangelical church here (I can't really bring myself to say that I myself am an evangelical, but I have no beefs (or very few minor ones) with my church itself) and we've always had a Good Friday service as far back as I can remember. Usually consists of a pancake breakfast followed by a sermon. This year, the drama group that I am a part of recreated the Last Supper (it was kind of a mix between the Gospel accounts and Da Vinci's painting - I was Bartholomew BTW) and we took communion as well (I don't recall communion being part of the Good Friday service before, but this was the first Good Friday in 10 years I wasn't working, so they may have changed things recently) - it was coordinated to have communion done at the same time the Jesus character said the familiar words in our play.