AREA CHRISTIANS OBSERVE YEAR'S HOLIEST SEASON.

Byline: Dana Bartholomew Staff Writer

Across the San Fernando Valley on Friday, Christian worshippers gathered to celebrate the death and rebirth of Jesus with many able to get off work at noon for a jump on Easter weekend.

It took the Rev. Willis E. Lucas three florists before he found one willing to fashion a crown of thorns for a 10-foot cross draped in black outside First Baptist Church in Woodland Hills on Good Friday, the day when Jesus was nailed to a cross of wood beneath a brooding cloud on Golgotha, place of the skull.

``It is a dark day,'' said his wife, Linda. ``For Christians, it's a sad day ... but Sunday the resurrection is coming, and that's our hope.''

On Easter Sunday, the cross will blossom with flowers.

In a small A-frame church in Van Nuys, members of Bethel Lutheran gathered for an afternoon service at Christ the King Lutheran Church to celebrate Jesus' last words.

``Father, why hast thou forsaken me,'' Jesus was said to lament, and ``Forgive them, for they know not what they do.''

``Were you there when they crucified my Lord,'' the congregation sang, a capella. ``Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.''

``It's difficult to put into words,'' Claire, 71, of Burbank, said of Good Friday prior to the service. ``I can still feel the suffering, I can picture it every step of the way; I can still picture it in my mind as if I was there.''

Claire, who declined to give her last name, said she almost died this year from cancer and a heart attack. ``It was the prayers in this church that brought me through.''

Across the street, Robert Saulsberry, 59, exercised with his walker. But he refused to hail ``Good Friday.'' No, he said, ``this is Bad Friday.

``I don't appreciate it. St. Paul didn't appreciate it, either - he pulled out his knife and cut a guard's ear off when they came for our Lord. I would have done the same thing,'' he said.

``There's some stuff you just don't do: You don't crucify the Lord of this world.''

Cardinal Roger Mahony called upon Christians to meditate on Christ's suffering, crucifixion, death and resurrection to realize the power of Christ's love over all evil.

``These last weeks and months have brought to light stinging reminders of our ongoing need, as individuals and as a Church, for purification, for deeper renewal and conversion, for a recognition and acceptance of the depth of human sinfulness,'' Mahony proclaimed in an Easter message.

On Friday morning, worshippers at the Holy Spirit Retreat Center of Encino followed the 14 Stations of the Cross to symbolize Christ's journey toward death.

Only to help mark his - and our - journey, a sister placed photographs of the Sept. 11 tragedy along the way.

Where the 13th Station typically depicts Jesus being taken off the cross into the arms of Mary was placed the famous photo of the Rev. Mychal Judge, the first body found in the World Trade Center rubble, being carried away by rescuers.

``This is the day of Jesus' death, and 9-11 is the contemporary Passion we've all been through,'' said the Rev. Michael Crosby, a priest at the center. ``We've got to go through the Passion to find our resurrection - a new way of living that won't perpetuate violence, abuse and death.''

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Worshippers at the Holy Spirit Retreat Center of Encino celebrate Good Friday by joining in the Stations of the Cross devotional ceremony.

(2) Sister Simone Campbell holds a photo depicting the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks while reading a prayer during the Good Friday observance at Holy Spirit Retreat Center in Encino.

(3) San Diego resident Bob Carney carries the cross during the ceremony marking Good Friday.

Charlotte Schmid-Maybach/Staff Photographer