|
|
|
Stand and Consider
Reflections on an unexpected experience
|
I joined as usual in the Good Friday celebrations in our village. It is a good day to put on one side the things I don't like about other churches, and remember that all who truly believe in Jesus Christ are brothers and sisters. In the village it is the custom that each year a different church is host for a united service. This will be much the same from year to year, with hymns, readings and a sermon all focused on our Lord's death and our response of sorrow for our sins which brought Him there, and love for Him, and a rededication of our lives. This year was different, because we discovered the service was to be based on the Stations of the Cross. It was something with which I was not familiar. The Stations were a tradition dating from the days when most people could not read, let alone study the scriptures, which would have been in Latin or Greek. Back in the Middle Ages there was much concern about the details of the physical sufferings of Christ. Those who went on pilgrimage to the Holy Land would have seen where these things happened, and might stop at significant places on the way to the Cross, at standing places or 'stations'. Later in history, when the Turks prevented access to the holy places, the custom grew of marking these 'stations' within a church, with a sculpture, carving or picture, so that people could visit and pause and worship within their own country and home church. This custom was promoted by the Franciscans, notably in the eighteenth century, but present day churches still set up their stations. The number of stations has varied at times from 5 up to 42, but has become standard traditionally at 14, each station marking one of the events from Jesus being condemned by Pilate to his being laid in the tomb. So, at our Good Friday service, we stood and gazed in turn at each of the 14 stations. At each a prayer was said, a verse of scripture was read and the verse of a hymn was sung, and there was a short comment or meditation. I have to say that I was a little disappointed with this particular celebration. For my taste there was too much empty repetition, no time to really think deeply about what was happening to Jesus, and the hymn was inappropriate. But I have since seen copies of a number of versions of the service, all different, with various ways of guiding thoughts in a way that is helpful. For example, one might be approaching Easter with worries and concerns, such as.... justice in the world.... impending old age.... problems of being a mother.... the need to forgive someone. These themes can be incorporated in the service, and it can be quite good as we think of these things to place them in our minds alongside what Jesus was feeling, and achieving, on the way to Calvary. The Stations can also be used as a visual aid to teach children about the events of Good Friday. It is possible to think at each point of some Bible character who was present, and enter imaginatively into their feelings - Simon of Cyrene, for example, or the women following, or a soldier present. A youth club could present their reactions in dramatic readings. There are all sorts of possibilities. One thing I noticed in our service was that the Stations did not correspond exactly with the Bible account. The main events were right, but some significant things were left out, and some items based on church tradition were added. None of Jesus' words on the cross were mentioned, nor the penitent thief. No 'Father, forgive them'. The stations based on tradition but not scripture included particular occasions when Jesus fell under the cross, or when He met his mother on the road (we know that a little later she was standing near the cross), or when someone called Veronica stepped out of the crowd to wipe His face. Because of these discrepancies alternative versions of the Stations have been produced. One version, authorised in 1975 starts with the Last Supper and continues through to the Resurrection. Another in 1991 goes from the Garden of Gethsemane to Jesus being laid in the tomb. The Stations are a vehicle for worship which if well used can awake deeper
thoughts of Christ, which go beyond ritual and tradition to the heart of
things.
From an Introduction to the 'Stations':
My Lord |
