Service of the Stations of the Cross
Blessing
Leader: May the Grace of God be abundant in this place and recall the suffering of the anointed one, the Christ, the only begotten Son, Jesus. Holy Spirit, lead us closer to the Cross.
People: And also with you.
Scripture (Psalm 118:19-29)
Leader: Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the LORD.
People: This is the LORD's gate; the righteous shall enter through it.
Leader: I will give thanks because you have answered me. You have become my salvation.
People: The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.
Leader: This has come from the LORD.
People: It is marvelous in our eyes.
Leader: This is the day on which the Lord has acted.
People: Let us shout with joy and rejoice in it.
Leader: Please, save us, O LORD! Please!
People: O LORD, please bring success!
Leader: Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD.
People: We bless you from the house of the LORD.
Leader: The LORD is God
People: He has given us light. With cords bind the festival sacrifice to the horns of the altar.
Leader: You are my God, and I will give thanks to you.
People: You are my God, I will extol you.
Leader: O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good.
People: For his steadfast love endures forever.
Congregational Song: When I Survey the Wondrous Cross
Prayer
Leader: Let us begin our journey.
Station 1: Pilate Condemns Jesus to Die
Now Jesus stood before the governor; and the governor asked him, "Are you the King of the Jews?" Jesus said, "You say so." But when he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he did not answer. Then Pilate said to him, "Do you not hear how many accusations they make against you?" But he gave him no answer, not even to a single charge, so that the governor was greatly amazed. . . . So when Pilate saw that he could do nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took some water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, "I am innocent of this man's blood; see to it yourselves." . . . and after flogging Jesus, he handed him over to be crucified. (Matt 27:11-14, 24, 26b)
Speaker: Jesus, we wish you would speak! We wish you would proclaim who you are. We wish you would confront the disbelief of the crowds and the arrogant cowardice of the powers that be. Surely someone will speak up for you! Where are the lepers who were healed? Where are the blind who can now see? Where are all the people who ate the bread and fish on the hillside? Where are those who followed you so easily when they thought you would become King of the Jews? Yet no one speaks. No voice in the crowd comes to your defense. You stand alone.
You stand before Pilate, the power of Rome. Weakness stands before strength. And yet, Pilate, the ruthless enforcer for the Empire is not really in control here. He cannot make you confess. He cannot quiet the crowds. For all his power, he cannot find the courage to do what is right. So he does what is safe. He yields to the crowds for the sake of order. Courage and strength do not always sit on thrones or judgment seats. Power is not always in the hands of Empires.
Leader: We have been alone. We have been falsely accused, and no one has spoken for us. we have been treated unfairly by those who could have used their power for better purposes. We can understand some of your feelings as you stand silently before Pilate and watch him proclaim his own innocence as he condemns an innocent man.
People: O Lord, forgive me for not always being who I should be.
Leader: We find it easy to condemn the moral cowardice of Pilate. Have we ever given in to pressure from others to take the easy path rather than the right path? Have we ever chosen the easy path over the right path?
People: Forgive us God.
Station 2: Jesus Accepts His Cross
Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor's headquarters, and they gathered the whole cohort around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and after twisting some thorns into a crown, they put it on his head. They put a reed in his right hand and knelt before him and mocked him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!" They spat on him, and took the reed and struck him on the head. After mocking him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him. (Matthew 27:27-31)
Carrying the cross by himself, he went out to what is called The Place of the Skull, which in Hebrew is called Golgotha. (John 19:17)
Speaker: Jesus, you accepted the Cross in the midst of such mockery. You could have refused. What more could they have done to you? Yet knowing full well where it will lead you accepted the cross. No words of complaint, no protestations of innocence, no cursing the injustice. And yet I am so prone to complain and whine about the most trivial things.
Leader: O Lord, forgive us for forgetting that in our weakness we are driven to trust on you, and that in such trust our weakness becomes your strength. Forgive our attitudes of self-pity that make me more repulsive than loving. I do not ask for crosses to bear. But when they come, give me the strength to bear them as those who follow your example.
People: O Lord, forgive us.
Station 3: Simon Helps Carry the Cross
They compelled a passer-by, who was coming in from the country, to carry his cross; it was Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus. (Mark 15:21)
Speaker: Some analyze the passage that Simon was chosen because he may have shown sympathy with Jesus, but others point out that the text itself says nothing, that he had no choice, and there is no basis to consider the carrying of the cross an act of sympathetic generosity. Simon was compelled to carry the cross. Simon of Cyrene reminds us of the nature of following you, to pick up the cross, our cross and follow.
Leader: O Lord, forgive us for becoming so preoccupied with ourselves that we have become deaf and blind those around us. Carrying your cross compels us to reach out to a hurting world, struggling individuals, with your love, your grace. Jesus, might we always be willing to carry your cross to the world.
People: O Lord, hear us. Make us people willing to carry the cross.
Station 4: Jesus Speaks to the Women
A great number of the people followed him, and among them were women who were beating their breasts and wailing for him. But Jesus turned to them and said, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For the days are surely coming when they will say, 'Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.' Then they will begin to say to the mountains, 'Fall on us'; and to the hills, 'Cover us.' For if they do this when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?" (Luke 23:27-31)
Speaker: Jesus, as you struggle along the road toward that awful place of death, you see a group of women among the crowd following you, already grieving at your impending death. You have heard this wailing many times before at funerals and tragic events. But now, they mourn for you.
You have always shown equal compassion to women you have encountered across the years. You have always seemed to understand the unique burdens that women bear in a world and a culture that pushes them to the margins of society. So here, as you bear the most unimaginable pain of body and heart, you stop to speak to them. You are about to die, and yet you are more concerned with others than with your own suffering and death.
Leader: O Lord, forgive our unwillingness to repent, to confess all that we are before you. Help us go beyond the repentance mouthed in words of false piety, to sweep away all the facades of who we try so hard to be before others. Help us once again stand before God with a bare and open heart, to be real before you in every way.
People: O Lord, be merciful to us.
Station 5: Jesus Is Stripped of His Garments
When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, one for each soldier. They also took his tunic; now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from the top. So they said to one another, "Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see who will get it." This was to fulfill what the scripture says, "They divided my clothes among themselves, and for my clothing they cast lots." And that is what the soldiers did. (John 19:23-25a)
Speaker: Jesus, came into this world amid celebration and anticipation. Angels sang in the heavens to celebrate your birth. As a child, Magi from the East paid homage to you as to a king. The people followed you by the thousands as you taught on the hillsides of Galilee. They wanted to make you king! Just a few days ago the crowds followed you in the streets of Jerusalem singing praises to God: "Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! "
Yet now you are forced to suffer the worst of human indignity. You stand alone as the soldiers strip from you the last thing that you possess, and play games to see who will claim it.
Leader: O Lord, forgive us for wanting to take the path of comfort and reward. Forgive us for our selfishness that wants to serve you in easy ways and seeks the reward of others' praise. Lord, teach us the humility of spirit that replaces self-centeredness with a sacrificial spirit. Make us vulnerable so that we may follow your example.
People: O Lord, change our hearts.
Congregational Song: Beneath the Cross of Jesus, vv. 1-2
Station 6: Jesus Is Nailed to the Cross
And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh; but he did not take it. And they crucified him, and divided his clothes among them, casting lots to decide what each should take. It was nine o'clock in the morning when they crucified him. The inscription of the charge against him read, "The King of the Jews." And with him they crucified two bandits, one on his right and one on his left. Those who passed by derided him, shaking their heads and saying, "Aha! You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself, and come down from the cross!" In the same way the chief priests, along with the scribes, were also mocking him among themselves and saying, "He saved others; he cannot save himself. Let the Messiah, the King of Israel, come down from the cross now, so that we may see and believe." Those who were crucified with him also taunted him. (Mark 15:23-32)
Speaker: Jesus, I do not want to see this. Yet I force myself to watch. I hear the sharp crack of hammer against nail and shudder. It sounds so final. Is it over? Did all those wonderful lessons you taught by the seaside mean anything? You spoke of being a light to the world, but it seems that darkness is winning.
How they mock you! You said that you could rebuild the temple in three days and I thought any¬one who can raise the dead surely could deal with broken stones. But it is not the stones in the temple that matter to you, is it? Your greater concern is how we relate to you and to one another. You so want us to know the power of living love. Is love stronger than this evil that now surrounds you?
I want to rage at the injustice of this. The cruelty of the Romans. The hypocrisy of the High Priest and religious leaders. The cowardice of the disciples. The treachery of Judas. The fickleness of the crowds. Do they not remember that you spoke of loving one another, of bearing the burdens of others, even of loving our enemies? They should know better, they should have listened and learned.
Leader: O Lord, remind us of the deathly cost of sin. Forgive us for those things we have done that are displeasing to you. Forgive us for not allowing you to deal with the darkness that we harbor in the hidden recesses of our hearts. Forgive us for those things we should have done, but found excuses not to do. O Lord, make us better than we are, transform us into what we can be by your grace.
People: O Lord, forgive us for those things we have done and those things we have left undone. In your grace, be merciful to us.
Congregational Song: Were You There? vv 1-2
Station 7: Jesus Cares for His Mother
Meanwhile, standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, "Woman, here is your son." Then he said to the disciple, "Here is your mother." And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home. (John 19:25b-27)
Speaker: Jesus, these women with your mother have been with you for much of your journey. I shouldn't be surprised that they are surrounding her with their love even in the midst of their own grief. Mary Magdalene, since the day you drove away her seven demons, has never faltered in her support. She has felt the full impact of your love. You made her whole. And here they stand suffering with you in your suffering.
Jesus, I wonder what Mary must be thinking, feeling as she stands and watches your life fade away hanging on that cross. Is she thinking back to the visit of the angel who announced your coming? Is she remembering the words of old Simeon who took you as an eight-day-old baby in his arms and declared that you were God's salvation sent for all people, a light to the Gentiles and glory to Israel? Or is she reminded of that day in Jerusalem when you were twelve when she searched for you and could not find you? Finally there you were talking with the leaders of the temple who were listening intently. You asked her, "Did you not know I must be in my Father's house?" Is that when your mission became clear to Mary? Is she now wondering seeing you on that cross, "Can this be what his Father intended for him?"
And what brought this one disciple to be standing before your cross? The others have all run away in fear or disappointment. This disciple, you trust him so much that you tell him to take care of your mother for the rest of her life. Am I willing to accept the others that God entrusts me to love?
Leader: O Lord, make us whole so that we may love with the compassion with which you love. Redeem us and make us new. Through your strength and by your grace, make us a conduit of your love, not just to the lovable, but to any who need to be cared for and loved.
People: O Lord may it be so in our lives.
Station 8: Jesus Dies on the Cross
When it was noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. At three o'clock Jesus cried out with a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?" which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" When some of the bystanders heard it, they said, "Listen, he is calling for Elijah." And someone ran, filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a stick, and gave it to him to drink, saying, "Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down." Then Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. Now when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, "Truly this man was God's Son!" (Mark 15:33-39)
Speaker: It is dark in the middle of the day. It seems that the heavens and the earth are grieving, telling us that something is horribly wrong. And yet some still seem to mock. Jesus, you cry out in lament from the Psalms and know that it is the cry of human pain and desolation. Here, where too often we see you only as God, you reveal your true humanity. Most everyone has forsaken you, and in your pain the emotion escapes in a cry of abandonment. Yet, it is a prayer, a cry from human lips to a God who hears such cries.
And finally, it is over. You are dead.
People: What have we done?
Speaker: The earth shakes. The curtain in the temple is torn right down the middle. The Holy of Holies is exposed for all to see.
People: What have we done?
Leader: O Lord, we cannot comprehend the depth and breadth of your love. There are not enough words in all languages together to describe what your love means. May our love for you reflect your love. May you use this night to teach us how to love you and to love others the way you have loved us. O Lord, we long for newness, for hope, for renewal, for life where there is now death. Out of this darkness bring to us the light of a new dawn. O Lord, have mercy on us.
People: What have we done of God? Have Mercy on us.
Via Dolorosa video
Leader: We hope for the dawning of a new day. We hope for God to bring newness out of endings. But today . . . . Go home. There is nothing more to see. Jesus is dead.
We await the resurrection.
