Stations of the Cross
By Keena Cox, Tampa, FL
Keena serves with her husband as Student Pastor at Riverhills Church of God in Tampa.
A few years back, I served as a hospital chaplain at a Catholic hospital. Looking back, I laugh at what I didn't know about the Catholic traditions. Luckily, I had a wonderful boss that was a nun and laughed at my mistakes. Through the years, we've kept in touch and embraced our differences. I learned a lot from Sister Judy that truly impacted my life. One of the traditions that I took from my time there was what is called "Stations of the Cross." I adapted this for my husband to use with our youth group during the Easter season. Of course, we didn't know how it would be received or what would happen. Little did we know that the youth would embrace this tradition and look forward to it every year. So I offer this resource to you, to use with your ladies, your youth or even your church.
Create a somber environment where individuals can focus all their attention on this service. We typically keep the lights dimmed low and use lots of candles. It works best in an open room with no chairs. We provide soft instrumental music for background music. Invite individuals to embrace this service as a preparation for Easter. This can prepare their hearts for the death and ultimately the Resurrection of Christ. It can change what Easter looks like to them. There will be various stations set throughout the room. You can use props, or you can make it very simple and simply have a sheet of paper at the stations telling what the station represents. Ideally, individuals would move about the stations individually or in small groups. At the station, have them pray and truly focus on the journey that Christ took for us.
The First Station: Jesus Is Condemned to Die.
Jesus stands in the most human of places. He has already experienced profound solidarity with so many on this earth, by being beaten and tortured. Now he is wrongfully condemned to punishment by death. His commitment to entering our lives completely begins its final steps. He has said "yes" to God and placed His life in God's hands. We follow Him in this final surrender, and contemplate with reverence each place along the way, as He is broken and given for us.
We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You. Because by Your holy cross You have redeemed the world.
As you view the scene, you become moved by both outrage and gratitude. Look at Jesus, His face, the crown of thorns, the blood, His clothes stuck to the wounds on His back. Pilate washes his hands of the whole affair. Jesus' hands are tied behind His back.
This is for you, that you might be free, that you might have eternal life. As the journey begins, ask to be with Jesus, to follow His journey. Express your love and thanks.
The Second Station: Jesus Carries His Cross.
Jesus is made to carry the cross on which He will die. It represents the weight of all our crosses. What He must have felt as He first took it upon His shoulders! With each step He enters more deeply into our human experience. He walks in the path of human misery and suffering, and experiences its crushing weight.
We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You. Because by Your holy cross You have redeemed the world.
Contemplate the wood of that cross. Imagine how heavy it is. Reflect upon all it means that Jesus is carrying it. Look into His eyes. It's all there.
This is for you, so place yourself with Him in this journey-in its anguish, in His freedom and surrender, in the love that must fill His heart. With sorrow and gratitude, let's continue the journey. Moved by the power of His love, let us draw to Him and express our love in the words that come to us.
The Third Station: Jesus Falls.
The weight is unbearable. Jesus falls under it. How could He enter our lives completely without surrendering to the crushing weight of the life of so many on this earth! He lays on the ground and knows the experience of weakness beneath unfair burdens. He feels the powerlessness of wondering if He will ever be able to continue. He is pulled up and made to continue.
We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You. Because by Your holy cross You have redeemed the world.
Stare at the weakness in His eyes. Look at His whole body and see the exhaustion. As you behold Him there on the ground, being roughly pulled up, know forever how profoundly He understands your fatigue and your defeats.
This is for you. In grief and gratitude let Him remain there. As you watch Him stand again and gain an inner strength, accept His love and express your thanks.
The Fourth Station: Simon Helps Jesus Carry His Cross.
Jesus even experiences our struggle to receive help. He is made to experience the poverty of not being able to carry His burden alone. He enters into the experience of all who must depend upon others to survive. He is deprived of the satisfaction of carrying this burden on His own.
We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You. Because by Your holy cross You have redeemed the world.
Look into His face and contemplate His struggle, His weariness and fragility. Notice how He looks out with utmost humility and gratitude.
This is for you. So feel His anguish and gratitude. Express your thanks that you can continue this journey, that He knows your inability to carry your burden alone. Say what is in your heart, with deep feeling.
The Fifth Station: Jesus Falls Again.
This last fall is devastating. Jesus can barely proceed to the end. Summoning all His remaining strength, supported by His inner trust in God, Jesus collapses under the weight of the cross. His executioners look at Him as a broken man, pathetic yet paying a price He deserves. They help Him up so He can make it up the hill of crucifixion.
We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You. Because by Your holy cross You have redeemed the world.
Pause to contemplate Him there on the ground, the brokenness that makes you whole, the surrender that gives you life. Pause to experience and receive how completely He loves you. He is indeed completely poured out for you.
As you treasure this gifted experience, express what is in your heart.
The Sixth Station: Jesus Is Stripped.
Part of the indignity is to be crucified naked. Jesus is completely stripped of any pride. The wounds on His back are torn open again. He experiences the ultimate vulnerability of the defenseless. No shield or security protects Him. As they stare at Him, His eyes turn to heaven.
We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You. Because by Your holy cross You have redeemed the world.
Pause to watch the stripping, contemplate all that is taken from Him. And, how He faces His death with such nakedness. Reflect upon how much of Himself He has revealed to you, holding nothing back.
As you look at Him in His humility, know that this is for you, and share your feelings of gratitude.
The Seventh Station: Jesus Is Nailed to the Cross.
Huge nails are hammered through His hands and feet to fix Him on the cross. He is bleeding much more seriously now. As the cross is lifted up, the weight of His life hangs on those nails. Every time He struggles to pull Himself up to breathe, His ability to cling to life slips away.
We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You. Because by Your holy cross You have redeemed the world.
Make yourself watch the nails being driven through His flesh. Watch His face. Contemplate the completeness of His entry into our lives. Can there be any pain or agony He would not understand?
This is for you, nailed to a cross to forever proclaim liberty to captives. What sorrow and gratitude fills your heart!
The Eighth Station: Jesus Dies on the Cross.
Between two criminals, a mocking title above His head, with only Mary and John and Mary Magdalene to support Him, Jesus surrenders His last breath: "Into your hands I commend my spirit."
We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You. Because by Your holy cross You have redeemed the world.
As you stand here, at the foot of the cross, side by side with all of humanity, and behold your salvation, carefully watch and listen to all that is said. And then, experience the One who gives life as He passes from life to death, for you. This is the hour to express the deepest feelings within yourself.
The Ninth Station: Jesus Is Taken Down from the Cross.
What tender mourning! Jesus' lifeless body lays in His mother's arms. He has truly died. A profound sacrifice, complete.
We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You. Because by Your holy cross You have redeemed the world.
Behold this scene at the foot of the cross. Remember all whose hands He has touched, all who have been blessed by His warm embrace. Let us pause to let it soak in. He knows the mystery of death. He has fallen into God's hands.
This is for you, that you might love as you have been loved. Pour out your heart to the God of all mercies.
The Tenth Station: Jesus Is Laid in the Tomb.
They take the body of Jesus to its resting place. The huge stone over the tomb is the final sign of the permanence of death. In this final act of surrender, who would have imagined this tomb would soon be empty or that Jesus would show Himself alive to His disciples, or that they would recognize Him in the breaking of bread? Oh, that our hearts might burn within us, as we realize how He had to suffer and die so as to enter into His glory, for us.
We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You. Because by Your holy cross You have redeemed the world.
Pause to contemplate this act of closure on His life. In solidarity with all humanity, His body is taken to its grave. Stand for a moment outside His tomb. This final journey of His life has shown us the meaning of His gift of Himself for us. This tomb represents every tomb we stand before with fear, in defeat, struggling to believe it could ever be empty.
In the fullness of faith in the Risen One, given for us, express your gratitude for this way of the cross. Ask Jesus, whose hands, feet and side still bear the signs of this journey, to grant you the grace you need to take up your cross to be a servant of His own mission.
*Disclaimer: The Catholic tradition has more stations. We adapted the stations to fulfill our needs.
