This Sunday, March 16th, was Palm Sunday. Every year our church teams up with Trinity Lutheran (where Michael and I were married six years ago today) to hike to the cross at the top of Mt McCoy. This year, Trinity's Youth Director, Robert Barker, adapted a script written by Rev. Richard Orlinski and put together the Stations of the Cross, which both churches enacted at various, well, stations on the way up to the cross. Here I have included pictures and further adapted the script.
First Station: Jesus is condemned to death
Love does not always deaden pain and sorrow. Jesus brought love to the world--but paid a heavy price. His love produced a response to hate. The victory was yours--but the price was death. Once again God turned the tables on human understanding. Jesus' greatest defeat became life's greatest victory. The saddest deed of humanity, his condemnation to death on a cross, resulted in the greatest good.
Give us wisdom, Lord, to follow your Son. We seldom understand the effect of our deeds. The joy we seek leads to sadness. The evil we do, by your grace, is turned to good. Help us to imitate the courage of our Savior that our deaths may lead to eternal life. Give us the strength to follow your Son.
Bless you as you continue on His journey.
Second Station: Jesus is made to carry his cross
A wooden cross is what they gave him. It wasn't even a special one. Those crucified with Jesus had the same kind. It's not much to have at the end of your life--a wooden cross, just like any other. After years of service, don't you at least expect to have earned a gold watch or a dinner of appreciation in your honor?
Jesus' life of service earned a sentence of death.
The ways of the world are not always fair and just. They gave Jesus a wooden cross to carry and sent him on his way--one more malcontent soon to be executed--the wise and powerful creating a better world in which Christ had no place.
His reward was a wooden cross. Ours, though, was a blessed destiny.
Give us wisdom, Lord, to follow you Son. Our goals end too often in possessions: a bank account, and insurance policy, a plot of land. We seek recognition and reward instead of righteousness. We want success we can see and we mistrust your promises. Help us, Lord, to learn the humility your Son knew so well. Give us the courage to seek your grace that our lives may lead us to you. Give us the strength to follow your Son.
Bless you as you continue on His journey.
Third Station: Jesus falls the first time
How far did he get before he fell? The weight of sin can be great. Jesus' real burden, though, was one of knowledge. He knew that many of those whom he came to save would not want salvation--and would not accept it.
Their apathy was his burden.
How did he cut through that gloom? He accepted it as a burden of love. It caused him to fall. But he embraced it willingly.
Give us wisdom, Lord, to follow your Son. We don't always appreciate the love he offered. We gripe and complain at minor problems. we become complacent when life goes well. Give us the courage, Lord, to grow beyond ourselves. Help us to defend the cause of right even when our efforts are doomed to failure. Give us the strength to follow your Son.
Bless you as you continue on His journey.
Fourth Station: Simon of Cyrene is made to help Jesus
It was feared that Jesus might die before he could be crucified; that would spoil the effect. How can you crucify a dead man? So Simon of Cyrene became the cross bearer. He was in the right place at the right time.
Or was it the wrong place at the wrong time?
He didn't volunteer but he did a good job; Jesus' execution went on as scheduled. Simon must have felt used. We've since memorialized him, praising his good fortune as the Savior's helper. Poor Simon didn't know that. He may have spent his life wondering if he could have done something to save the man destined to die--instead of helping with his execution.
Give us wisdom, Lord, to follow your Son. We seldom see the whole picture. We anticipate God and make his judgments for him. We try to do the impossible and often fail our daily tasks. Help us, Lord, to learn to trust. Help us to do what we can, leaving the miracles to you. Help us to accept what we cannot change in life. Give us the strength to follow your Son.
Bless you as you continue on His journey.
Fifth Station: Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem
All during his ministry Jesus taught wherever people gathered to listen. How could he pass up this group of women now? He didn't have much time, but he gave these women his final sermon. He said, "Don't cry for me. Cry for yourselves and for your children."
These poor women, Jesus said, had many sorrows awaiting them. Their tears would be needed elsewhere. What more was there to say? Did you also shed a tear for me?
Give us wisdom, Lord, to follow your Son. May we never count our sufferings as greater than those of others. May we never fail to have compassion or to show mercy because we're hurting too. Teach us to share our every breath, our joys, our tears. May your love flow from us. Give us the strength to follow your Son.
Bless you as you continue on His journey.
Sixth Station: Jesus is stripped of his clothes
Exhaustion. He finally made it. Golgotha, the Skull Place. How long did it take to get here? A few hours: Thirty-three years? The took his clothes--blood stained. The pain must have been too deep for him to be bothered by the soldiers pulling apart his garments.
Let them have the clothing, it might keep someone warm against the cold. God gives something that outlasts clothes and houses. It outlasts dreams and desires. It outlasts accomplishments and failures. God's gift of LIFE outlasts them all.
Jesus said, "Take my clothes. Take my life. I give it freely. I give it for you."
Give us wisdom, Lord, to follow your Son. We often value clothing and possessions more than your gift of life. We take your life for granted. We love poorly. We share grudgingly. Teach us to value your life above else. May we cherish your grace. May we learn to love as Jesus loves. Give us the strength to follow your Son.
Bless you as you continue on His journey.
Seventh Station: Jesus is nailed to the Cross
The two thieves were tied to their crosses. Jesus was nailed to his. They were thieves. He was a revolutionary. His ideas were so revolutionary, though, that nails couldn't kill them. It was death, in fact, that released them.
Only a few days before, Jesus drove money-changers out of the Temple, and made room for a new form of worship. Now he gave his arms and legs willingly, desperately, almost eagerly--hungering for a new life to be born.
Salvation was dawning with every slap of the hammer. Let the pain come. God is breaking through. Hope is born in the darkness.
Give us wisdom, Lord, to follow your Son. May we never shy away from the pain of self-discovery, from the freedom won for us at the cost of you Son's life. May we always treasure that gift. May we never fail to risk everything, even ourselves, to keep that love alive. Give us the strength to follow you Son.
Bless you as you continue on His journey.
Eighth Station: Jesus dies on the Cross
"Unless the grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat."
Jesus seemed to know the score when he said that. The cost of sin runs high. The price of love is never measured in traditional terms. Jesus didn't measure life the way most of us do. He placed a value on pain and death as no one else before.
Nails in his hands, nails in his feet--were not enough. A spear in his side--was not enough. A crown of thorns, the mockery of a purple cloak; nothing short of his own life was enough to measure his love for us. New life could only be bought for the price of death.
Nothing less would do.
Give us wisdom, Lord, to follow your Son. When we are faced with misfortune and misunderstanding, teach us to respond with love. When demands are made on us, teach us to give more. When darkness falls, when anger strikes, when fear replaces trust, teach us compassion and patience, caring and understanding, and respect for those you love. Give us the strength to follow your Son.
Bless you as you continue on His journey.
Ninth Station: Jesus is taken down from the Cross
His mother held on tightly to a lifeless body; the symbol of life without God. The light had gone out in her life, but her love for her son would never dim.
What more had she to live for? In three days she would know. How can the pain in those three days be measured? She had nursed him as an infant, loved him more than life itself. Even his death couldn't take those beautiful memories away.
The tears were a relief. The memories were a misery. God seemed totally absent. Not to the tomb--an empty cave for an empty body.
Give us wisdom, Lord, to follow you Son. When life is dark, when hope is gone, teach us to turst in you. Our lives, like Mary's, find sorrow when joy seems to be just around the corner. May we never stop short of that corner. May we continue through the pain, knowing always that you are waiting at the end. Give us the strength to follow your Son.
Bless you as you continue on His journey.
Tenth Station: Jesus is laid in the tomb
When someone dies, something dies in each of us. What were the thoughts of those preparing his lifeless body for burial; his mother, Mary Magdalene, John. How could they forget his miracles, the excitement bubbling up within them whenever he spoke, the pride they felt when he overcame the attacks by his adversaries?
Those were good days--but today is all shadow. The sun is setting. His tomb must be closed up. The Passover celebration is about to begin. Why does the cost of new life run so high?
Give us wisdom, Lord, to follow your Son. We measure life by moments: good time, money made, goals reached, love shared. We seldom measure by the ultimate scale of eternal life. How much death must we experience to have really lived? How many dreams must fall short? How many words fgo unspoken? How much love unexpressed? Teach us, Lord, to measure our lives the way you measure them, in moments of rebirth. May we see death as the way to new life. Give us the strength to follow your Son.
Bless you as you continue on His journey.
Eleventh Station:The Resurrection
We have walked and sorrowed with you, Jesus, in our minds and hearts. We could not bear it--If it were not for your Resurrection--for OUR resurrection.
Easter turns your pain into joy. A joy that only God can give. A joy we hope to share.
Give us wisdom, Lord, to follow your Son. May we never turn away from him because the cost of his fellowship seems too high. May our love never come up short. He taught us that rejection and pain can be endured, if only we choose to love. May the love of Jesus guide all our actions. May our love by true. Give us the strength to follow your Son.
Our Father, who art in Heaven Hallowed be thy name Thy kingdom come Thy will be done On earth as it is in Heaven Give us this day Our daily bread And forgive us our trespasses As we forgive those Who trespass against us And lead us not into temptation But deliver us from evil For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory Forever and ever, Amen.
