Good Friday

March 30, 1934  Good Friday.  We had a good rain during the night.  We all went to church.  B. Duecks went with us.  For dinner we went to Peter Isaacs. 

Good Friday was an important holiday for the Mennonites.  There was a worship service in the morning, and the focus of the songs and the sermon would have been on Christ’s suffering.  Usually in the afternoon, they had communion and foot washing in order to commemorate Christ’s institution of the Last Supper.  And since Good Friday was equivalent to a Sunday, they would have done no work but visited and relaxed instead.  Because everyone worked hard six days a week, they were grateful for the extra day of rest.

Communion was also an important and somber event.  Most of the women wore black dresses in accordance with its solemnity.  Communion demonstrated the unity of the brotherhood, but it was also a time for confession of sin.  The minister would preach a sermon on Christ’s crucifixion, read Paul’s instructions from I Corinthians chapter 15 about communion, and then give a time for private reflection and confession.  After they had taken the bread and grape juice, then they had footwashing.

When Jesus had had the Last Supper with his disciples, he had washed their feet to demonstrate his servanthood, so foot-washing was a strong Mennonite tradition until recently.  Since the men and women sat on separate sides of the sanctuary, a curtain was drawn between them for footwashing.  The women had to undo their nylon hose, which would have been immodest to do in the presence of men.  There was a basin of water for every two pews, and the people paired off to wash and dry each other’s feet and (the women at least) hugged each other.  Then it was passed on to the next pair.  Thus the congregation carried out Christ’s command to celebrate communion and footwashing.