Via Crucis
March 12, 2008
One of the movements that I find encouraging these days across different swaths of the Protestant church is the reclaiming of some of the ancient spiritual practices and paths. Many of us who trace our origins back to various 16th century “Protestors” against the corruptions of the Catholic Church are starting to realize that there’s actually a pretty rich treasure within our catholic past that deserves revisiting. Prayer labyrinths, pilgrimage walks, icons (OK, so that’s more the Eastern tradition), and morning and evening praying of the daily office are some examples of practices that Christians are re-engaging and finding to have great spiritual depth. For Mennonites, even our use of the lectionary and our attention to the liturgical calendar is a fairly recent development that is getting us back in touch with this not-so-recent way of experiencing time.
As we approach Holy Week, another of these spiritual paths available to us is the Stations of the Cross. Fourteen different stations, or scenes, portray a certain moment in Jesus’ Passion – Jesus is condemned to death, Simon of Cyrene carries Jesus cross, Jesus is stripped of his garments, etc. The final station is Jesus placed in the tomb. In 1991 Pope John Paul II issued a “Scriptural Stations of the Cross” in which all 14 stations are events that are portrayed in the Gospels (in the traditional Stations there are a number of extra-biblical events). The stations are portrayed visually and are intended for prayer and meditation.
I’d like to briefly highlight two ways of experiencing the Stations this Holy Week, next week. A congregation that I’m getting to know in Norwood, called Vineyard Central, is organizing and hosting a weeklong art display called Via Crucis: Immersion. This is how they describe it: “Via Crucis: Immersion is the Stations of the Cross remixed. Our expression of this ancient Christian practice will be multi-sensory, multi-denominational, multi-layered, and multi-media. Via Crucis :: Immersion is a pilgrimage.” The stations are set up in such a way that one can come and go at one’s own pace. This would be worthwhile for those interested in the intersection of faith and art, or who are interested in a fresh approach to prayer and meditation during Holy Week. It is open 11am-11pm all of Holy Week. I hope to have more information on this to announce on Sunday. Here’s a website with a brief intro (click here).
Another Stations of the Cross event will be the Oakley neighborhood Good Friday service, hosted by the United Church of Christ in Oakley. I’ll join with local ministers in this service that goes through an abbreviated eight stations of the cross. The service begins at 11:30am. More info in Sunday’s bulletin.
It will be good to see everyone Sunday now that we have quickly shifted from winter to spring.
