Shortly past noon yesterday, the Rev. Jay Broadnax surveyed the congregation inside St. Matthew A.M.E. Church in West Philadelphia and whispered: "Lord, we want to remember the words you spoke on the cross."

"Amen," they responded.

And so began the Good Friday service known as the Seven Last Words of Christ, as celebrated by seven African Methodist Episcopal preachers before 300 people in attendance.

At some churches, this traditional Protestant look at the final phrases (not merely seven words) uttered by the dying Jesus can be somber and meditative.

But at St. Matthew's, as in many churches across the nation, it was an occasion for passionate, roof-raising oratory in the name of the Lord.

And it was an opportunity to defend the passion - though not the harshness - of the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr.'s controversial statements on race. Wright is Sen. Barack Obama's former pastor in Chicago, and his videotaped sermons denouncing white oppression of African Americans forced the Democratic presidential candidate to publicly disavow them.

The Rev. Wasetta Moses, pastor of Allen A.M.E. Church in West Philadelphia, began the three-hour service with a fiery meditation on "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do," from Luke.

Everyone suffers hurts, she reminded her listeners, most often as anger and unkind words. But even as he was dying, in unspeakable pain, "Jesus did not retaliate" against his executioners.

"He did not say, 'Just wait till after the Resurrection!' " Moses said, getting a laugh from the congregation.

She urged them to let go of bitterness, reminding them that Jesus "prayed for forgiveness for the undeserving . . . the very people who were murdering him."

Next to the pulpit was the Rev. Jeffrey N. Leath, pastor of Mother Bethel A.M.E. Church in Center City, who recalled the crucified thief who asked Jesus to "remember me when you come into your kingdom."

"The thief didn't say, 'If.' He said, 'When,' " Leath reminded his listeners. And Jesus rewarded the man's faith with the assurance, "Today, you will be with me in paradise."

"So when the trees in your life are falling," Leath said, "you need to know there is a certain hope."

Broadnax then returned to the pulpit to meditate on Jesus' parting words to his mother and the Apostle John, as written in the King James Version:

"Woman, behold thy son," Jesus told Mary. And to John he said, "Behold thy mother" - thus tasking him with caring for Mary.

"Despite the nails tearing his flesh," Broadnax said, "and even though he was bearing the sins of the world . . . Jesus reminds us that relationships must not be neglected."

He urged his listeners to "behold" the abandoned and rejected in their midst.

"The crackhead sister might just lead someone to a Samaritan cistern someday," he roared as the crowd clapped and cried, "Tell it!"

He said he was grateful that Obama "did not cut his ties to the black community" because of his former pastor's controversial remarks.

"None of us got where we are by ourselves," he told the crowd, who cheered and called out when he reminded them that it was the black clergy - sometimes angry, even bitter - who for decades held the African American community together in the face of oppression.

"Relationship!" he cried. "Behold! Behold!"

Following him was the Rev. Ellis I. Washington, pastor of St. Matthew, who took the words of Jesus, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" from Matthew.

"We all know the feeling of abandonment - even by God," he said.

"As part of the African American community, we identify" with Jesus' suffering, he said. "When we see Jesus hanging from a tree, it's not hard to see the 'strange fruit' of young black boys hanging from a tree in Mississippi."

"Anyone surprised" by the harsh words of Obama's pastor "does not know the prophetic power of the pulpit," he said. "We understand Jesus' suffering in a special way."

The Rev. Terrence C. Hensford, pastor of Ward A.M.E. Church in West Philadelphia, spoke of Jesus' cry of "I'm thirsty" in the gospel of John, and the great human need to share pain and vulnerability.

And the Rev. Deborah T. Speakes, executive minister at St. Matthew, observed that Jesus' very last words in John, "It is finished," were not about defeat but of "fulfillment and completion - a cause for victory and celebration."

The service ended with a passionate oration by the Rev. Trevor Woolridge, pastor of Bethel A.M.E. Church in Lansdowne.

He turned Jesus' parting words in the gospel of Luke - "Father, into your hands I commend my spirit" - into a commentary on all that Jesus said before before exhaling his last breath.

Without mentioning Wright, Woolridge defended prophetic - and sometimes harsh - preaching.

"Did Jeremiah speak the truth?" he asked. "If you can't take a good message from the pulpit every now and then, stay home!" he told the congregation, which laughed and clapped.

A pulpit is "not a license to be rude," he said, "but while I'm up, I'm going to exhale!"