IN PICS | Good Friday service challenges people of faith to challenge indifference to injustice and elections

About 700 people gathered for the annual Diakonia Council of Churches' Good Friday service held at dawn on the steps of Durban city hall.

This year’s guest preacher, Rev Bulelwa Sihlali Woolley, assistant priest at St Martin’s Anglican Church in Durban North, called on people of faith to challenge indifference to social justice, faith and the upcoming elections.

The initial part of the service took place in front of the city hall, followed by a silent procession around the precinct, while the bells of St Paul’s solemnly tolled. The service ended with the placing of flowers on the cross.

The service was hosted by Diakonia Council of Churches, this year working closely with the Denis Hurley Centre to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the death of Archbishop Hurley on February 13 2004.

The Good Friday service was started by Hurley and founder of the Denis Hurley Centre and anti-apartheid activist Paddy Kearney in 1985 as an act of resistance against injustice and solidarity with the oppressed.

Students from the Durban University of Technology drama department responded to the theme with specially created music and dance throughout the service.

Representing first time voters, they carried the cross for the first part of the procession through the streets of Durban. Also taking turns to carry the cross were Christian leaders, faith-based NGOs, activists and city leaders.

After Easter, Diakonia and the Denis Hurley Centre will together with other churches co-ordinate the “Bridge”, an eight week “virtual pilgrimage” across Durban suburbs.

This will take the form of weekly online sessions, bridging the period between Easter and the elections, to “further unpack this year’s theme and surround the city in prayer”.

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