THE WAY OF THE CROSS
* Musical Prelude, Lighting of Candles & Words of Welcome
Introduction To The Service
R: The service tonight is based on the Stations of The Cross - a devotion
that was developed in the Middle Ages by the Franciscans as a way of
allowing people who could not travel to the Holy Land to walk where
Christ walked on the day of his passion. By the end of the 17th
century many churches had stations, or stops, ranged at intervals
along their walls - each with a cross and under that cross a
representation of an event in the passion narrative. Nine of the
fourteen stations are taken directly from scripture - the other five
come out of the earliest traditions of the church.
N1: Tonight with the exception of the first hymn - we would like everyone
to remain seated during the service. We will proceed after that hymn
to move through the stations of the cross. Each station has a
devotion wherein a narrator will speak -and then there will be a
meditation or thought - given from the point of view of the Centurion
who commanded the guard the day Jesus was crucified.
N2: Following the meditation upon each Station there will be a prayer.
Then, immediately after the after the prayer we ask you to sing the
verse or verses printed in the bulletin. It is our hope that you will
relax - and enter into the experience of Christ's passion, that you
may know the meaning of what our Lord has done for us. Let us prepare
for our worship now by standing to sing "There is A Green Hill Far
Away".
* HYMN: "There is a Green Hill Far Away" - VU 152
STATION ONE: Jesus is Condemned to Death
N1 It is Friday - early in the morning. Jesus is brought from Caiaphas
the High Priest to Pontius Pilate, the Governor, on trumped-up charges
of treason and is condemned to death.
R: The cries of, "Crucify him! Crucify him!" still ring in my ears. The
picture of Pilate sitting on the judge's bench asking the crowd of
leaders and people, "Shall I crucify your King?" and their response,
"We have no king but the Emperor." is an image that haunts me. It
haunts me because of the callousness and injustice of it all. The
world is so often unjust. But mostly it haunts me because I see this
injustice, this callousness in myself. How often I wonder now did I
participate in allowing an innocent person to suffer. Often did I
judge and dismiss persons as unworthy - as not due my care or
compassion. How often did I take part in carrying out the judgement
of others - without question, without thought, without even a tear.
N1: O, Lord Jesus, when have I seen you hungry, or sick, or in prison, or
without clothing, or alone, and not helped you? Help me to remember
how you came to us - and how we have so often responded to your coming
with words of condemnation - or with silence. Grant me, grant us
all, the grace to reach out to you when you next come, to reach out
with words and deeds of love and justice.
Based on VU 144 "Were You There?"
Were you there when they judged the Son of God? Were you there?
Were you there when they judged the Son of God?
Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble
Were you there when they judged the Son of God?
STATION TWO: Jesus Accepts His Cross
N2: A heavy cross is thrust into Jesus' arms. He is ordered to carry it
to the site of His execution. Jesus accepts the cross. Carrying it
by himself, he goes out to the Place of the Skull - Golgotha - to be
crucified with two other men.
R: He went out carrying his cross.... like so many others before him.
Beaten by my brothers. Mocked by my guard. Bent over. Bleeding. A
horrible sight that people fail to see even as they gather on the
streets to gossip and to stare - a sight that we, his executioners,
close our hearts to lest we somehow end up feeling the pain, the
burden, that the one who is afflicted must carry. Humanity is
burdened with many crosses - war, hunger and famine, greed and
poverty, sickness and death. Everywhere you look there are people who
bear those crosses - people who are afflicted, people whom we look at
but do not see, people struggling - alone. This Jesus - he walked
that road of sorrow - like so many before him. Alone. Carrying the
burden that he did not earn. Without a word. In silence.
N2: Lord Jesus, you accepted the cross - even though it did not belong to
you - even though you did not deserve it. You carried the burden
that belongs to us. Teach us how to bear each others burdens.
Based on VU 144 "Were You There?"
Were you there when he took the Cross for you? Were you there?
Were you there when he took the Cross for you?
Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble
Were you there when they judged the Son of God?
STATION THREE: Jesus Falls the First Time
N1: The cross is heavy and the road to Calvary, the road to Golgotha - the
place of death - is long. Jesus, weary from lack of sleep,
loneliness, fear, and the beatings he received slumps to the ground.
Soldiers quickly drag him to his feet again.
R: All around Jesus are the mockers and those who take delight in human
misery. It is hot and sticky in the crowded little street. The air
is filled with foreboding on this day of Preparation for Passover.
These people should have their hearts on pondering the things of their
God. Instead they are intent, in the name of their God, to do this
evil that I too participate in. The world is filled with people who
have fallen and struggle to rise and there are no hands to help them -
only hands to drag them ever closer to their doom. My task was clear.
I did what I had to do. My men did what they had to do.
N1: Lord Jesus, so much of our wickedness rises out of our selfishness and
fear. So much happens because we know what we must do and do it -
regardless of how it may add to your suffering. Forgive us and
forgive all who mock and jeer.
V.1 VU 145 "O Sacred Head"
O sacred head, sore wounded, with grief and shame weighed down;
now scornfully surrounded by thorns, thine only crown:
how art thou pale with anguish, with sore abuse and scorn;
how does that visage languish, which once was bright as morn!
STATION FOUR: Jesus Meets His Mother
N2: In horror - stunned, numb - Mary watches Jesus sway and stagger down
the street. Her son, who glances at her in his agony, is being
dragged off to his death.
R: The look on her face. I could tell that she was his mother. Such
anguish and pain as she looked upon him, and he upon her. I could not
tell what they said to one another in that glance - whatever it was
she stood there in anguish, tears pouring from her eyes. What mother
would not feel the agony of Mary's helplessness and sense of loss?
What father would not care? Yet, In a world filled with death and
destruction from wars and earthquakes, from riots and terror to
drought and starvation, so many seem to have lost the ability to
comprehend and feel compassion in the face of loss - unless it is our
own.
N2: Lord Jesus, help us to remember Mary your mother as she stood alone in
grief. Help us to remember all the other Marys of this world when
they suffer. May we be a true source of grace and comfort, to them -
comforted as we are, by you.
V. 3 & 5 VU 139 "At the Cross Her Vigil Keeping"
Who upon that mother gazing,
in her anguish so amazing,
born of woman, would not weep?
For his people's sins chastised
she beheld her Son despised,
scourged, and crowned with thorns entwined.
STATION FIVE: Simon Cyrene Helps Jesus Carry the Cross
N1: Jesus is faltering under the load. The soldiers fear that he might
die along the way. They seize Simon of Cyrene, put the cross on his
shoulders as he stands behind Jesus and make him help shoulder the
load.
R: It was the only thing to do. A thing we have done a hundred times. A
perfect stranger, coming into the city, just happened to be at the
wrong place at the wrong time. I demanded that he be grabbed and
forced to take hold of the cross. Was he reluctant? Better to ask
was I? I longed to help Jesus but I was afraid. I was relieved when
the guards picked someone out of the crowd to help. I was ashamed
that I could not bring myself to step out of character, out of my
role, to help the man.
N1: Lord Jesus, we thank you for strangers in our midst, who often
unwittingly, even unwillingly, show us what to do and how to do it.
Open our eyes and hearts; enlarge our vision, that we may be ones who
help you - and others - to bear the unbearable load.
V. 1 & 3 VU 561 "Take Up Your Cross"
Take up your cross, the Saviour said, if you would my disciple be;
deny yourself, the world forsake, and humbly follow after me.
Take up your cross, heed not the shame, let your foolish pride bestill;
your Saviour once accepted death upon a cross, on Calvary's hill.
STATION SIX: Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus
N2: As Jesus passes by, a woman - Veronica we call her - reaches out of
the press of the crowd and lovingly, gently wipes the blood and the
sweat from Jesus' face.
R: I am stunned. A woman has done what no one else has done. She has
reached out and helped the helpless - mopping the blood and sweat from
his face. Even the crowd quiets for a moment. What she has done is
so full of love and compassion and courage. She has done what I have
only thought about doing. Would that there were more like her on this
earth. Are there? Anywhere? I fear that there are not. I know that
I do not have the courage - even when I flatter myself and think that
I have the heart for it.
N2: Increase, O Lord our courage and our compassion. Help us wipe away
every tear from the eyes of those who are oppressed - even when it may
cost us to do so.
v. 1 & 3 VU 658 "O Love That Will Not Let Me Go"
O love that will not let me go, I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe, that in thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.
O Joy that seekest me through pain, I cannot close my heart to thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain, and feel the promise is not vain
That morn shall tearless be.
STATION SEVEN: Jesus Falls the Second Time
N1: Jesus falls again, despite the help of the Cyrene. He lies sprawled
in the dirt, sweat beading on his face, mingling with the blood from
the cuts on his forehead and the dust of these well-travelled streets.
The soldiers, impatient and anxious to be over this job, roughly drag
him to his feet again, cursing him.
R: My heart wrenches. My stomach churns. I feel my own sweat upon my
brow. I can only guess at the agony Jesus is in. The weight of the
cross is too much and he is so very weak. He is bearing a heavy
burden - like so many others in our world - and he has been forced
once again to his knees - like so many have before him and so many
will after him. I wonder - how do the spectators feel as they watch
this? Did they recognize their own pain? Do they try to hide that
pain by laughing at it, like I have done in the past? Do they reject
that pain by jeering at him? Do they really know what is happening -
how this Jesus is enduring what he should not have to endure? How he
is a victim of the evil that is in us all? I fear not. How welcome
will the place of execution be - this road seems to go on forever.
N1: Lord, we have offended greatly. We have shrugged off the burdens of
others so carelessly. We have neglected mercy and loving kindness.
We think only of ourselves. Forgive us.
Based on VU 480 "Let Us Break Bread Together"
He has fallen to the gro_und, on his knees,
He has fallen to the gro_und, on his knees,
When I fall down on my knees with my face to the rising sun,
Oh, Lord, have mercy on me.
STATION EIGHT: Jesus Speaks to the Weeping Women
N2: A large crowd of women have followed Jesus' path to Golgotha. They
are weeping and wailing in traditional mourning for this man, their
friend. They are overcome by their grief and by their helplessness.
Jesus says to them, "Don't weep for me but for yourselves and your
children."
R: They cry, these women who follow us, like I am crying inside. But our
tears are not enough. They cannot stop the agony. They cannot feed
the hungry. They cannot bring peace. They cannot stop this evil from
happening. Jesus speaks to them, barely heard over their wailing.
"If you must weep," he says, "weep for yourselves and your children".
I can hardly understand what he means. Is it a word of judgement - or
of compassion? Or somehow both? I think it is the latter. That this
man knows what is happening to him - and that it will be over soon.
But that their suffering and the suffering of their children is yet to
come. Oh that there was another way! There is another way. I know
it in my heart. We must move beyond weeping. We must also act. But
I cannot. I am as powerless as this man bent over under his cross.
N2: Help us Lord in our tears to remember that it is not you that we must
weep for, but ourselves. And show us what we may do to save our world
- our children - from suffering as you have suffered.
V. 2 VU 145 "O Sacred Head"
Thy grief and bitter passion were all for sinner's gain,
mine, mine was the transgression, but thine the cruel pain.
Lo, here I fall, my Saviour, turn not from me thy face;
but look on mine with favour, and grant to me thy grace.
STATION NINE: Jesus Falls the Third Time
N1: No sleep, nothing to eat or drink since supper the eve before, the
interrogations, the scourging, the mockery - they have all taken their
toll. Jesus falls again to the dust and grime of the crowded street
of Jerusalem amidst the noise of weeping and heckling.
R: This is almost too much. How much more will he have to endure? How
much more will we have to endure? Jesus has become a pathetic
spectacle - just as these crucifixions are meant to be. The laughter
as he struggles once more to his feet is awful. How can they laugh?
Can't they see he's trying? Don't they feel any pity? I should talk
- no better that I don't. My patience is wearing thin. I long to get
this over with and to go home. This is proving to be much harder on
me than I would have ever guessed it would be. At least I can go
home. This poor creature, this Jesus won't. He'll die - and from the
looks of him - it may be sooner than normal. For his sake I hope that
it is.
N1: Lord Jesus, you have put up with so much from us. You have put up
with so much for us. How great your despair must have been that day.
Teach us Lord, from your example, to not add to the pain of this
world.
Based on VU 480 "Let Us Break Bread Together"
He has fallen to the gro_und, on his knees,
He has fallen to the gro_und, on his knees,
When I fall down on my knees with my face to the rising sun,
Oh, Lord, have mercy on me.
STATION TEN: Jesus is Stripped of His Garments
N2: Finally they arrive at the God-forsaken place where Jesus will be
crucified. People dump their garbage very near the place known as
Golgatha. Hurriedly, roughly, his clothes are stripped from his back
leaving him naked in front of the crowd - naked, exhausted and
humiliated.
R We stripped him. Our job is to make sure that there is nothing left
to a man to mark him as a man. To expose him. To humiliate him. To
reduce him to the equivalent of the garbage that litters the shallow
valley just below this hill. We did our job. Some of my men with
more glee than others - wondering who would get his robe - a robe that
despite the blood and the grime and the rends, might fetch a good
price. Jesus just stands there - swaying. With nothing. Is this his
poverty? or is it ours that I see? We took his clothes, we took his
dignity, much like this world strips naked hundreds and thousands of
its people every day with its' greed and its' uncaring. Yet, in some
strange way, I find myself caring more than I ever have before. I
want nothing to do with taking his clothing - I will let the men
gamble for it after we nail this Jesus to the cross.
N2: Dear Lord, we reach out and grasp greedily for so much, searching for
what will satisfy. We do not know how to let go of things and let you
in. Even when we want to bring healing and wholeness, we get caught
up in deeds that bring the opposite. Forgive us.
Based on VU 144 "Were You There"
Were you there when they took away his clothes
Were you there when they took away his clothes.
Oh! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Where you there when they took away his clothes.
STATION ELEVEN: Jesus is Nailed to the Cross
N1: Roughly, contemptuously, the soldiers thrust Jesus down onto his
cross. Holding him down - some sit on him - they pound the nails
through his hands and feet. After he is lifted up, the soldiers throw
dice for his clothing to fulfil the scripture, "They divided my
clothes among themselves, and for my clothing they cast lots."
R: The ring of the hammer on the nails, the sickening sound of flesh and
bone crunching echo in my brain. I'll never, never ever forget this.
Somehow this one crucifixion is different than all the others I've
been to. The torture, for that's what it was, has not stopped. It
still happens every day. From utter brutality to the unkind word that
flays the soul -it still happens. But the nonchalance, the ease with
which my soldiers threw the dice beneath his feet as if nothing were
happening horrifies me today. But then, well then it was a blessed
distraction to hear them chattering and laughing - and to not have to
listen to the sounds of weeping as Jesus and the others hung on their
crosses.
N1: O God, our God, we have forsaken thee, fled from the crosses you ask
us to bear, turned to endless games and sport to numb our pain. That
day you did not flee. Help us to turn to you, to embrace you and the
yoke you have offered us.
V. 1 & 2 VU 136 "O Come and Mourn With Me A While"
O come and mourn with me a while; O come ye to the Saviour's side;
O come together let us mourn: Jesus our Lord is crucified.
Have we no tears to shed for him, while soldiers scoff and foes deride?
Ah! look how patiently he hangs: Jesus, our Lord, is crucified.
STATION TWELVE: Jesus Dies on the Cross
N2: The nightmare of pain and suffering, the agony of betrayal and
loneliness come to an end. After three mercifully brief hours on the
cross, suspended between earth and sky, Jesus dies. Choking on the
hyssop dipped in wine he gasps out the words, "It is finished." He
bows his head and gives up his spirit.
- extinguish Christ Candle -
R: The gambling didn't last long. So I watched Jesus die. It was
unnaturally dark during the time he spent dying. But I saw enough -
more than enough. I saw what the sign said that nailed above his
head. I heard what the passers-bye said about him as they mocked him.
And I heard the words he spoke to his mother and his friend and what
he said to the thief on the cross next to him. I heard all his cries
and I saw his agony. Indeed I was there when he breathed his last
with a great cry - and I felt the spear dig in his flesh - the spear I
thrust into him to make sure that he was dead. And I saw and felt the
blood and water pour out down his side, down the spear, down my arms,
down his legs and to the ground. Violence and death. Violence and
death. I hung my head. I could no longer see for the tears that
flowed, like his blood, down my face. And I could not stop the words,
that came to my lips as unbidden as the tears "Truly this man was
God's Son!"
Oh why did I have a hand in this? How could I have I let it happen?
N2: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from
helping me, from the words of my groaning? Yet you are holy,
enthroned on the praises of Israel. I am poured out like water, and
all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted
within my breast. My mouth is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue
sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death." (Psalm 22:1, 3,
14-15)
V. 1 VU 147 "What Wondrous Love Is This"
What wondrous love is this, O my soul, O my soul,
What wondrous love is this that cause the Lord of bliss
to bear the dreadful curse for my soul, for my soul,
to bear the dreadful curse for my soul.
STATION THIRTEEN: Jesus is Taken Down From the Cross
N1: He is dead. His body hangs limply, heavily. The darkness which had
filled the sky since noon begins to fade. A wild rumour that the
curtain of the temple had been torn in two from top to bottom was
circulating. The soldiers yank out the nails to get him down.
Everyone, including the women who had followed him and were looking on
from a distance, stands back awkwardly, and watches the scene before
them. Bleeding, broken, limp and heavy in his death - they place him
in the arms of his mother.
R: How did she feel? How did she feel? Mary, the mother of Jesus, how
did she feel? With infinite tenderness, she gently held him and wiped
his bloodied brow as her tears fell on his lifeless body. How did she
feel? She shoos away the hands that would have parted her from her
son. "Just one more moment," she whispers. How did she feel? Oh
why did I have a hand in this? How could I have I let it happen? How
can I comfort her?
N1: " I cry to you, O Lord; I say, 'You are my refuge, my portion in the
land of the living.' Give heed to my cry, for I am brought very low."
(Psalm 142:5-6)
Based on VU 144 "Were You There"
Were you there when they took him from the cross
Were you there when they took him from the cross
Oh! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Where you there when they took him from the cross.
STATION FOURTEEN: The Burial of Jesus
N2: Relatives and friends carry his body to the tomb of Joseph of
Arimathea, a rich man who was also a disciple of Jesus. They lay his
body, wrapped in a clean linen cloth, in the new tomb which has been
carved out of the hill and then they roll a boulder across the
entrance and silently withdraw.
R: The place where they laid the body to rest was in a garden. The
garden seemed strangely silent and still as I stole into it to watch
them. My mind and my body were in shock. Images registered on my
brain but I no longer felt anything. It was over. This Jesus, this
one that I for some reason had called the son of God, had died. I
knew my life would never be the same - but what it would be I could
not say. All he knew was that he was gone. Gone. And I did not know
him - and I did not help him. I went away and wept bitterly.
N2: Loving God, it says in your word that you did not withhold nor spare
even your own Son, but gave him up for all of us." Teach us what
this means. Give us new hope - we ask it in his name. Amen.
VU 144 verse 5 "Were You There?"
Were you there when they laid him in the tomb? Were you there?
Were you there when they laid him in the tomb?
Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they laid him in the tomb?
DEPARTING PRAYER
N1&2: Lord, when you were buried it seemed like the end of everything you
promised and stood for. But it wasn't, it was only the beginning. As
we travel tonight from the Crucifixion through the Vigil of Easter to
the Resurrection, be with us in a special way to help us recall and
reflect in our hearts who you are and what you have done for us.
R: Father, send down your abundant blessing upon your people who have
devoutly recalled the death of your Son. Grant them pardon and bring
them comfort. May their faith grow stronger and their eternal
salvation be assured. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
* Choral Blessing: "Go Now In Peace" - VU 964
copyright - Rev. Richard J. and Charlene E. Fairchild 2001 - 2006
please acknowledge the appropriate author if citing these sermons.
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