Good Friday – Stations of the Cross
Station of the Cross
An alternative Wild Goose Publication Stations of the Cross
As we cannot gather on Good Friday to watch and wait with Jesus as he walks the road to Golgotha and his death on the cross, I thought maybe you would like to follow his Passion with the Stations of the Cross. Some suggestions of how this can be done:
- purely in your imagination
- by making a journey around your garden using plants or trees to represent the 14 stations
- Journeying around your house or the ornaments your lounge
- Or some markers on your daily walk such as trees in a wood or markers along the canal
- Finding a series of images of the stations on the Internet to follow. Our set in St Mary’s is from Turvey Abbey. Below is a link to a YouTube clip of them set to music which you could stop and start as you worked through them (warning there is an extra image between 11 and 12)
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F5knsZ5cAU
Traditionally we try to end our Good Friday services at 3 o’clock as this is the time Mark’s Gospel records for the death of Jesus. So a good time to start following the Stations might be around 2.30. Then even if you are journeying alone physically we can all be together in Spirit.
You will need your Bible to read the longer Bible readings
(Wild Goose Publications Material Used with permission www.ionabooks.com)
First Station: Jesus is condemned to death
We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you
Because, by your holy cross, you have redeemed the world.
Bible Reading – Mark 15:1–5,11–15
Meditation
Pilate asked what crime Jesus had committed.
It was a good question.
Jesus had annoyed the religious leaders, of that there was no doubt.
He had been critical of social and religious structures.
He had healed the villagers;
he had told stories to the crowds;
he was probably a threat to public law and order;
but was that enough to condemn him, to end his life?
But he would not defend himself –
the storyteller was silent now
and the crowd was noisy,
and Pilate handed him over to be crucified.
Prayer
For those on trial this week and for those appointed to judge them:
Lord in your mercy,
Hear our prayer
Holy God
Holy and strong
Holy and immortal
Have mercy on us
Second Station: Jesus takes up his cross
We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you
Because, by your holy cross, you have redeemed the world.
Bible reading – Mark 15:16–20
Meditation
Soldiers taking the chance for a bit of fun.
They had a heavy day ahead.
Soon they would have to put on their public face –
disciplined, controlled, efficient.
But for now a bit of a lark with the lads
with no risk of recrimination.
Dead men tell no stories,
and Jesus was going to his death.
Prayer
For those appointed to keep public order,
and for those tempted to abuse their power:
Lord in your mercy,
Hear our prayer
Holy God
Holy and strong
Holy and immortal
Have mercy on us
Third Station: Jesus falls the first time
We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you
Because, by your holy cross, you have redeemed the world.
Bible reading – Isaiah 53:1
Who would have believed what we now tell?
Who could have seen God’s hand in this?
Meditation
Jesus was exhausted.
He was in pain.
He was going to his death.
The cross was heavy and he fell.
He was flesh and blood like us,
he was struggling.
Prayer
For those who are tired or in pain:
Lord in your mercy,
Hear our prayer
Holy God
Holy and strong
Holy and immortal
Have mercy on us
Fourth Station: Jesus meets his mother
We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you
Because, by your holy cross, you have redeemed the world.
Bible reading – Luke 2:22,25,34,35
Meditation
She was going to be there at his end –
she who had been there with God at his beginning.
She was his mother.
She had fed him and cradled him
and watched over his growing.
Whatever he had said and done,
he was still her son
and she would not desert him now.
Whatever pain of his she could embrace she would.
And in the meeting of their eyes
there was love,
suffering and shining.
Prayer
For parents whose children are in pain or in trouble:
Lord in your mercy,
Hear our prayer
Holy God
Holy and strong
Holy and immortal
Have mercy on us
Fifth Station: Simon helps Jesus to carry his cross
We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you
Because, by your holy cross, you have redeemed the world.
Bible reading – Mark 15:21
On their way through Jerusalem they met a man named Simon, who was coming into the city from the country, and the soldiers forced him to carry Jesus’ cross.
Meditation
Simon from Cyrene,
father of Alexander and Rufus,
what a tale you had to tell your children!
You helped Jesus,
you gave him your strength on the streets of Jerusalem.
Willing or unwilling,
you, Simon, have become part of his story,
and he part of yours,
for you helped him
when he needed you.
What would we give to be Simon?
Prayer
For a willingness to serve you, in friends and in strangers,
Lord in your mercy,
Hear our prayer
Holy God
Holy and strong
Holy and immortal
Have mercy on us
Sixth Station: Veronica wipes the face of Jesus
We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you
Because, by your holy cross, you have redeemed the world.
Bible reading – Matthew 25:35–36,40
Meditation
Wiping faces, dirty faces;
faces full of sweat and tears,
faces covered in chocolate and in jam.
Wiping faces is something we try to do gently and lovingly,
something that soothes and cleanses,
something that brings healing.
Wiping faces is something we do for those who are young, or old,
or in pain, or in trouble,
wanting them to know that they are cherished and loved.
And when we wipe the faces of God’s little ones,
we are wiping the face of God.
Prayer
For those whose faces we wipe
and for those who wipe away our tears:
Lord in your mercy,
Hear our prayer
Holy God
Holy and strong
Holy and immortal
Have mercy on us
Seventh Station: Jesus falls the second time
We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you
Because, by your holy cross, you have redeemed the world.
Bible reading – Isaiah 53:7
Ill-treated and afflicted,
he never said a word.
Like a lamb led to the slaughter house,
like a sheep dumb before its shearers,
he never opened his mouth.
Meditation
I am finding it hard to watch you, Jesus,
to see you struggling,
to see you on the ground.
Into your silence I want to shout:
‘Why do they keep on hurting you?
What have you done wrong?’
Prayer
For those who today will struggle and fall:
Lord in your mercy,
Hear our prayer
Holy God
Holy and strong
Holy and immortal
Have mercy on us
Eighth Station: Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem
We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you
Because, by your holy cross, you have redeemed the world.
Bible reading – Luke 23:27,28
Meditation
Weep for the mothers and children of Jerusalem,
for Israeli and Palestinian,
for Jew and Moslem and Christian,
for the strangers in their midst.
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
Pray that her people may live together in justice.
Pray that all people may live together in peace.
Prayer
For those who live in places of conflict and danger;
for peacemakers and peacekeepers in every land:
Lord in your mercy,
Hear our prayer
Holy God
Holy and strong
Holy and immortal
Have mercy on us
Ninth Station: Jesus falls the third time
We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you
Because, by your holy cross, you have redeemed the world.
Bible reading – Isaiah 53:4–5
Meditation
I am not sure if I can watch this much longer.
In his pain I see my pain,
in his falling I feel myself falling,
in his cross … in his cross
I am included.
He carried it for me –
for me, and my enemies, and my friends.
Prayer
For those whom I love,
for those whom I struggle to love,
for those who find me difficult:
Lord in your mercy,
Hear our prayer
Holy God
Holy and strong
Holy and immortal
Have mercy on us
Tenth Station: Jesus is stripped of his clothes
We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you
Because, by your holy cross, you have redeemed the world.
Bible reading – Mark 15:22–24
Meditation
Stripped now –
of clothing
of disciples
of friends.
Alone,
naked and vulnerable,
with nothing to protect you from the pain to come.
Prayer
For those deserted by friends,
for those who are alone and vulnerable:
Lord in your mercy,
Hear our prayer
Holy God
Holy and strong
Holy and immortal
Have mercy on us
Eleventh Station: Jesus is nailed to the cross
We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you
Because, by your holy cross, you have redeemed the world.
Bible reading – Luke 23:35,49
Meditation
We look on from a distance:
a distance of time and space and culture,
a distance of a Thursday evening in Wales in Lent.
And for us it hurts to watch Jesus dying,
even at a distance.
It hurts to know that we are being rescued.
It hurts to know how much we are valued and loved.
Prayer
For the depth of your love for us, we thank you.
Lord in your mercy,
Hear our prayer
Holy God
Holy and strong
Holy and immortal
Have mercy on us
Twelfth Station: Jesus dies on the cross
We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you
Because, by your holy cross, you have redeemed the world.
Bible reading – Luke 23:44–46
Meditation
In your hands he placed himself:
all that he was,
all that he had ever been,
all his beauty,
all his obedience,
all his loving.
In God’s hands he placed himself.
He was returning to his father,
he was going home.
Prayer
For all who have died today,
for all who love them and will miss them:
Lord in your mercy,
Hear our prayer
Holy God
Holy and strong
Holy and immortal
Have mercy on us
Thirteenth Station: Jesus is taken down from the cross
We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you
Because, by your holy cross, you have redeemed the world.
Bible reading – Mark 15:42–46
Meditation
Pietà.
Jesus is dead and lies in the arms of his mother.
Death is hard and final
and yet, whatever happens on this earth,
children never die to their mothers.
In the memory of those who loved them, loved ones remain.
And for us, and for all God’s people,
our hope is safe in God.
From swaddling bands to grave clothes,
all the days of our living and dying,
we are cradled and wrapped in love.
Prayer
For our families and friends who have died,
for ourselves as we carry their stories:
Lord in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
Holy God
Holy and strong
Holy and immortal
Have mercy on us
Fourteenth Station: Jesus is laid in the tomb
We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you
Because, by your holy cross, you have redeemed the world.
Bible reading – Mark 15:46–47
Joseph placed the body in a tomb which had been dug out of solid rock. Then he rolled a large stone across the entrance. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph were watching and saw where the body of Jesus was placed.
Meditation
The door is shut now,
and the world sighs and waits.
And we wait in night’s darkness,
longing for the morning,
longing for the light.
Prayer
For all who are waiting.
For all who are longing for light:
Lord in your mercy,
Hear our prayer
Holy God
Holy and strong
Holy and immortal
Have mercy on us
