Stations of the Cross
I spent the day putting together some Stations of the Cross for a Bible Study group tomorrow. We've been looking at Mark's Gospel and have reached the end. It's been an unexpectedly moving piece of work - thinking of ways that the Biblical journey of Jesus to the cross can be expressed in ways that connect to the lives of young people today. Only tomorrow will tell whether it works for the young people, but I enjoyed doing it. I didn't use the traditional stations as I was trying to keep to the discipline of reading Mark's Gospel. Using stations as a way of reading the text speaks to me of the way that I read the Bible not as a textbook, or a source of information, but as a way of life. It's also very appropriate to Mark's Gospel, in which disciples are always "on the way".
The stations begin with this:
"Stations are places where people wait while they are going from one place to another. A bus stop is like a station. People wait at train stations or bus stations or airports. Think of some stations where you have been.
"Stations are also places where people take time to think about Jesus as he went to die on a cross. They are 'Stations of the Cross'. They tell the story of Jesus last journey to the cross, and show us how much he loved us."
And they end like this:
"Now we have finished visiting the stations. We have walked with Jesus the way of the cross. We are sent out into the world to be faithful to Jesus and to take up our crosses and to follow him every day."
We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you,
because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
I spent the day putting together some Stations of the Cross for a Bible Study group tomorrow. We've been looking at Mark's Gospel and have reached the end. It's been an unexpectedly moving piece of work - thinking of ways that the Biblical journey of Jesus to the cross can be expressed in ways that connect to the lives of young people today. Only tomorrow will tell whether it works for the young people, but I enjoyed doing it. I didn't use the traditional stations as I was trying to keep to the discipline of reading Mark's Gospel. Using stations as a way of reading the text speaks to me of the way that I read the Bible not as a textbook, or a source of information, but as a way of life. It's also very appropriate to Mark's Gospel, in which disciples are always "on the way".
The stations begin with this:
"Stations are places where people wait while they are going from one place to another. A bus stop is like a station. People wait at train stations or bus stations or airports. Think of some stations where you have been.
"Stations are also places where people take time to think about Jesus as he went to die on a cross. They are 'Stations of the Cross'. They tell the story of Jesus last journey to the cross, and show us how much he loved us."
And they end like this:
"Now we have finished visiting the stations. We have walked with Jesus the way of the cross. We are sent out into the world to be faithful to Jesus and to take up our crosses and to follow him every day."
We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you,
because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
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