The Stations of the Cross

The Stations of the Cross

As a child I was brought up in a Christian tradition which saw the Stations of the Cross as a Catholic invention, something to be kept well away from. "Why, even the name Via Dolorosa cried out Roman Catholic!"

Luckily, attitudes have changed with time, and this morning (Good Friday) as I walked into my local church, the words "Stations of the Cross" greeted me on the overhead screen. So our worship today was built around this framework.

In the service today ten "stations" had been selected, covering the time between the last supper and Jesus being laid in a tomb. Each of the ten stations was biblically based with the Bible reading being an integral part of the meditation relevant to the station. The ten stations were:

1.  The Last Supper.   Mark14: 17-26.

2.  The Garden of Gethsemane.   Luke 22: 39-48, 52-53.

3.   Jesus whipped and crowned with thorns.   John 18: 33, 36-38, 19: 1-3.

4.   Pilate condemns Jesus.   John 19: 5a, 14b-17.

5.   Simon carries the cross.   Luke 23:26.

6.   Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem.   Luke 23:27-31.

7.   Jesus is nailed to the cross.   Mark 15:25-32.

8.   Mary and John at the cross.   John 19: 25-27.

9.   Jesus dies.   Luke232: 44-47.

10.  Jesus is buried.   Matthew 27: 57-61.

May I share with you the meditation at the first station?

The Last Supper (introduced by Leonardo Da Vinci's famous painting).

We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you:

Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

Reading of Mark 14: 17-26.

Even my close friend whom I trusted, the one who shared my food

has turned against me.

Let us pray: Heavenly Father, your Son instituted his holy supper as our Passover feast, and gave his life for us: Unite us all by faith in him so that we who eat his body and drink his blood may pass with him from death to life. We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Holy God,

Holy and Mighty,

Holy and immortal

Have mercy on us.

I remember how my visit to the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem last year was somewhat of a disappointment. The main problem then, upon reflection, was that the route of the Stations of the Cross was approached as a tourist site rather than as places of meditation. The nature of the visit then did not allow for this. We entered at station V - Simoni-Cyrenaeo crux imponitur - then it was along a busy street to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Inside here, where the stations 10-14 are located, the scene resembled a crowded building site,rather than a place for quiet meditation. Another time, perhaps, this could be different.

I must admit that the quiet meditation in a country church here in my home town was much more meaningful and fulfilling than walking up the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem. 

Following our leader up the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem.

Laying Jesus in the tomb. A painting inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.