Lipscomb gives students the day off on Good Friday after over 130 years

This year, Lipscomb announced it would give students the day off for Good Friday.

Contrary to previous years, no classes will be held on the Friday before Easter. The Good Friday service, a beloved Lipscomb tradition, will be moved to Thursday.

Provost Jennifer Shewmaker said a lot of consideration was given to the decision because of the intention and tradition behind Holy Week.

“Holy Week has always been approached with deep reverence and intentionality… so that we can come together and worship with one another,” said Shewmaker. 

Lipscomb students can participate in daily activities to reflect on Christ’s journey to the cross. The events include a worship night, an art project, breakfast, a service event and more. The week culminates in a Good Friday Service, one of the highlights of Holy Week.

During the service, faculty, staff and students join together in Collins Auditorium to observe the day when Christ was crucified. Joseph Mankin, the Associate Dean of Spiritual Formation and Campus Minister, said this service is an important event for the Lipscomb community.

“One of the things I learned when I started here was just how valuable that Good Friday service is, and how much students loved it, enjoyed it. We didn’t want to take that away,” said Mankin.  

Since this service is so important to the Lipscomb community, the University put a lot of time into the decision to take Good Friday off.  

Provost Shewmaker said that after hearing initial feedback from students about wanting Good Friday off, President McQueen met with students, parents, staff and faculty to ask their opinions.

“It has been such a special, intentional week for us, and we wanted to make sure we didn’t close and then inadvertently cause challenges,” said Shewmaker. After these conversations, the decision was made to cancel classes so students can have the holiday with their families.

“It gives freedom for students to be able to go home, to be able to celebrate in ways they maybe hadn’t been able to do before because of other responsibilities you have as a student,” said Mankin.

A key part of the plan was to maintain the Good Friday service – just on a Thursday. “It’s a win-win, in my opinion,” said Mankin. “Dr. McQueen was very insistent in making sure we continued that service, just trying to find a time frame that worked with when people were available.”

This year, the Good Friday service will take place during the breakout chapel time slot on Thursday. It will be led by Lipscomb students in Collins Auditorium, just as usual.

“We have a beautiful service put together. We’ve got some spoken word, we’ve got a soloist, we’ve got a worship team, an ensemble, a quartet and then some… Scripture focusing on Jesus’ journey to the cross. And there will be some silence as well,” said Mankin.

Mankin hopes that the service will help students understand why they can celebrate the death of Christ. 

“I want students not to just check the box during Holy Week… but to actually think about the reason why we observe and celebrate and mourn and go through all of the emotional states of leading up to the cross,” said Mankin. “But then when we see that Sunday’s coming, they can understand why there’s an Easter celebration.”