Spiritual Practices for Eastertide
The Stations of the Cross: 1-3
William H. Johnson – Mount Calvary (1944)
Preparing for Eastertide
There will be other offerings presenting throughout the 50 days spanning from Easter Sunday to Pentecost. But, it’s good to prepare our hearts, souls and minds for the journey ahead.
The Stations of the Cross
To enter into Eastertide, now through Sunday morning, I’d like share a practice of meditation called The Stations of the Cross.
The Stations of the Cross is a practice that began in the 1500s. It’s a contemplative walk through the story of Jesus’ final days and hours in his human body on this earth. Here are fifteen stations of the cross:
Jesus Is Condemned
Jesus Carries His Cross
Jesus Falls for the First Time
Jesus Sees His Mother Mary
Simon Helps Jesus Carry His Cross
Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus
Jesus Falls a Second Time
Jesus Comforts the Women of Jerusalem
Jesus Falls a Third Time
Jesus Is Stripped Bare of His Earthly Possessions
Jesus Is Nailed to the Cross
Jesus Dies on the Cross
Jesus Is Taken Down from the Cross
Jesus Is Laid in the Tomb
Jesus Gives Us Glimmers of Hope
Steps and Application
Using excerpts from Clàudio Carvalhaes’ Liturgies from Below: Praying with the People at the End of the World and Henri Nouwen’s Walk with Jesus: Stations of the Cross, each day I’ll post the stations—three at a time—along with a verse from the Sermon on the Mount and a prayer.
There are really no rules of engagement in regards to how we should approach the stations. You can pray through each one or simply hold each in silence. Some people like to read them as a daily office, hour-by-hour. Others like to read them all at once. Do what feels right to you.
My only advise is that you bring true, most authentic yourself to these stations. Perhaps you’d like to worship with a song alongside each station. Maybe you’d like to go through a yoga flow in between each reading. You might prefer to go into a period of solitude as you hold each station in silence. Or, maybe you’d like to go through the stations in community. Again, please do whatever feels good to you.
This practice will be our Wednesday bible study lesson for this week and this month’s spiritual practice of Black-Eyed Bible Study. However, I’m also inviting free subscribers to participate as well since this practice will be our hope challenge for the rest of the week.
Invocation
Find a quiet time and space to lean in. Light a candle, maybe. Take a deep inhale. Hold it for one heartbeat and then exhale. Let’s begin.
Shalom,
Marcie
William H. Johnson – Lamentation (1944)
STATIONS OF THE CROSS: ONE, TWO, THREE
As I walk the long, painful journey toward the cross, I must pause on the way to wash my neighbors’ feet. As I kneel before my brothers and sisters, wash their feet, and look into their eyes, I discover that it is because of my brothers and sisters who walk with me that I can make the journey at all.
—Henri Nouwen, Walk with Jesus: Stations of the Cross
ONE: JESUS IS CONDEMNED
The journey begins. An innocent man wrongly sentenced to death. Jesus stands with all who have been wrongly accused, harshly judged, knowing what it is like to be part of an unjust and broken system. His hands are literally tied. We follow the story as Jesus is broken and given for us.
Clàudio Carvalhaes
From the Sermon on the Mount
Blessed—comforted by inner peace and God’s love—are those who are persecuted for doing that which is morally right, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven—both now and forever. Matthew 5:10 Amplified Bible
Prayer – Adapted from Henri Nouwen
Jesus, Our Just Redeemer—
When the world seems to hates me and the powers that be disregard me,
and when I am pushed aside, laughed at and made marginal—
this is the precise moment when I discover that I am
part of a worldwide community that is barred,
fenced in, and locked away in isolated camps.
But you have taught me that—yes,
there is fear in the eyes of those behind bars,
but also conviction, trust, hope, and a deep
knowledge of freedom.
Your eyes and the eyes of the persecuted
see what the world cannot see:
The face of a suffering God who calls us
far, far beyond our fears into the land
of a love that lasts.
TWO: JESUS CARRIES HIS CROSS
Jesus is forced to carry the cross on which he will die. He carries the cross that each of us will have to carry. Those places of pain and worry that are visible and invisible. Look around. Some folks are carrying bags holding everything they own. Bags that have to be carried and watched everywhere throughout the day. Others carry briefcases or shopping bags [filled with burdens].
What is the cross that you carry? On this day, we remember that Jesus came so that we might never bear any burden alone.
Clàudio Carvalhaes
From the Sermon on the Mount
Resisting corruption, possessing integrity are those whose breath forms a luminous sphere; they hear the universal Word and feel the earth’s power to accomplish it through their own hands. The 1st Beatitude “Blessed are the Poor in Spirit,” Prayer of the Cosmos – An Aramaic Translation
Prayer – Adapted from Henri Nouwen
Jesus Our Yoke and Bearer of Our Burdens—
I have to speak out against the violence, oppression,
and exploitation that I see—but,
there is an even harder task:
To carry my own cross of loneliness and isolation,
my own cross of the rejections I experience,
and, the cross of my depression and inner anguish.
Cross-Bearing Wondrous Savior,
you have shown me that my bond
with those who suffer oppression is made real
through my willingness to face my own suffering.
You carried the cross for all who suffer as a reminder
that in our suffering we all belong to The One.
This is the only way a new humanity can be born.
THREE: JESUS FALLS FOR THE FIRST TIME
The weight of the cross knocks Jesus to the ground. He fully enters our lives, as Jesus experiences those things that knock us down. Can he move another step? The strength comes and he continues the journey.
Clàudio Carvalhaes
From the Sermon on the Mount
Blessed be mild men, for they shall wield the earth. Matthew 5:4 Wycliffe’s Bible with Modern Spelling (* this verse is Matthew 5:5 in other translations)
Prayer – Adapted from Henri Nouwen
Jesus, Child of God and Humanity—
you represent all the innocent children
who are powerless, weak, and very vulnerable,
falling under the heavy burden of human anguish.
I know that I, too, am a child.
Despite all my accomplishments and successes,
my inner child still cries out to be safely held
and loved without conditions.
Jesus, you welcome all of us to reclaim our lost childhoods.
You gather the abandoned children of the world.
We all rest in your lap as you whisper: Don’t be afraid.
Beyond all emotions of rejection and abandonment
there is love, real love, lasting love—
love that comes from a God who became
a child, a light, a healer of the world.
Benediction
O Spacious God, have mercy on us.
O Creator hear us.
O Lady Wisdom, have mercy on us.
O Spirit, hear us.
O The Anointed Son, have mercy on us.
O Christ, hear us.
Amen
This is a communal practice. Please feel welcome to add your prayers, thoughts, questions or reflections in the comments below.
Shalom.
**Correction for all— pre-Easter weekend 🤦🏾♀️ The week of Palm Sunday
It's still pre-Easter, lol. I'm headed out to buy the supplies to make the palm arrangements at church and be ready for our work day on Saturday to put the sanctuary together. The first of several this coming week... It will be good to have these emails. Holy Week can be so busy for me at church that I can get lost in the slog and don't reflect like I would like. Henri Nouwen's words on isolation and disconnection spoke loud today. Thank you Marci!