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Picture

Good Friday ~ Stations of the Cross

​"Human suffering is ubiquitous. What makes Jesus' death on the cross unique is not what humans did to Jesus, but that God responded with love to hate and with life to death. These video Stations of the Cross use film of more recent examples of needless suffering alongside images of Christ's passion to challenge viewers to see how Jesus' death and resurrection can redeem all of the many times and ways the innocent have endured pain even to death."

-Rev. Canon Frank Logue

Opening Devotions

In the name of the Father, and of the ☩ Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
 
Almighty God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he was crucified: mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and peace; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord. Amen. [1]
 
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.
[1] Book of Common Prayer, page 99

The Prologue 

I. Jesus is Condemned to Death

Mark 15:1 - 15 
As soon as it was morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council. They bound Jesus, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate. Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” He answered him, “You say so.” Then the chief priests accused him of many things. Pilate asked him again, “Have you no answer? See how many charges they bring against you.” But Jesus made no further reply, so that Pilate was amazed.
 
Now at the festival he used to release a prisoner for them, anyone for whom they asked. Now a man called Barabbas was in prison with the rebels who had committed murder during the insurrection. So the crowd came and began to ask Pilate to do for them according to his custom. Then he answered them, “Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?” For he realized that it was out of jealousy that the chief priests had handed him over. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release Barabbas for them instead. Pilate spoke to them again, “Then what do you wish me to do with the man you call the King of the Jews?” They shouted back, “Crucify him!” Pilate asked them, “Why, what evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Crucify him!” So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released Barabbas for them; and after flogging Jesus, he handed him over to be crucified. 
Prayer
Lamb of God,
who came to take away the sins of the world,
you knew no sin and yet were sentenced to death.
Assist me by your mercy to see the beam in my own eye
and to remove it before I look to the speck in the eyes of others.
This we pray in the name of Jesus, our crucified Lord,
the King of Glory, the King of Peace.
​Amen.

II. Jesus Takes up His Cross

​John 19:6, 15 - 17a
When the chief priests and the police saw him, they shouted, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him; I find no case against him.”
 
They cried out, “Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him!” Pilate asked them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but the emperor.” Then he handed him over to them to be crucified.
 
So they took Jesus; and carrying the cross by himself,  he went out to what is called The Place of the Skull, which in Hebrew is called Golgotha. 
Prayer
Obedient Lord,
you asked us each to take up our cross and follow you.
Then you took up your own cross and led the way
not just to calvary,
but to the empty tomb and beyond.
Give us the courage to follow where you lead.
This we pray in the name of Jesus, our crucified Lord,
the King of Glory, the King of Peace.
Amen.

III. Jesus Falls the First Time

Isaiah 53:3 - 4 
He was despised and rejected by others;
    a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity;
and as one from whom others hide their faces
    he was despised, and we held him of no account.
Surely, he has borne our infirmities
    and carried our diseases;
yet we accounted him stricken,
    struck down by God, and afflicted.

Prayer
Lion of Judah,
you know our weaknesses,
our temptations and our failings.
Support us by the power of the Holy Spirit
that we do not stumble so as to fall away from you.
This we pray in the name of Jesus, our crucified Lord,
the King of Glory, the King of Peace.
Amen

IV. Jesus Meets His Afflicted Mother

Luke 2:34 – 35, 51
Then Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, “This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed—and a sword will pierce your own soul too.”
 
Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart.

Prayer
Son of God, son of Mary,
the crowd heaps scorn and turns the blade that pierces your mother’s own soul.
Grant us the grace to see those in needless suffering
​and to reach out to them showing the love you wanted to show to your mother Mary
as you stumbled toward Calvary.
This we pray in the name of Jesus, our crucified Lord,
the King of Glory, the King of Peace.
Amen.

V. The Cross Is Laid on Simon of Cyrene

Mark 15:21
They compelled a passer-by, who was coming in from the country, to carry his cross;
​it was Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus. 
Prayer
Suffering Servant,
beaten beyond human semblance,
through the Good Samaritan you taught us
that everyone in need is our neighbor.
Help us to follow in your way of love
that we would be compelled to take up the cross of another
when they can not bear their burdens alone.
This we pray in the name of Jesus, our crucified Lord,
the King of Glory, the King of Peace.
Amen

VI. A Woman Wipes the Face of Jesus

Isaiah 53:2 - 3 
For he grew up before him like a young plant,
    and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
    nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by others;
    a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity;
and as one from whom others hide their faces
    he was despised, and we held him of no account.

Psalm 27: 8 - 9 
“Come,” my heart says, “seek his face!”
     Your face, Lord, do I seek.
Do not hide your face from me.
     Do not turn your servant away in anger,
     you who have been my help.
     Do not cast me off, do not forsake me,
     O God of my salvation!

Prayer
Immanuel,
God with us,
you came as the image of God made flesh and we scorned you.
May we seek not to do great things in your name,
but to honor you with small acts of mercy done with great love.
This we pray in the name of Jesus, our crucified Lord,
the King of Glory, the King of Peace.
​Amen

VII. Jesus Falls a Second Time

Lamentations. 3:1 – 2, 9, 16
I am one who has seen affliction
    under the rod of God’s wrath;
he has driven and brought me
    into darkness without any light;
 
he has blocked my ways with hewn stones,
    he has made my paths crooked
 
He has made my teeth grind on gravel,
    and made me cower in ashes;

Prayer
Compassionate Christ,
all we like sheep have gone astray,
turning each of us to our own way.
Grant that when we fall into sin, we may
return from going our own way to following in yours.
This we pray in the name of Jesus, our crucified Lord,
the King of Glory, the King of Peace.
Amen.

VIII. Jesus Meets the Women of Jerusalem

Luke 23:27 - 31
A great number of the people followed him, and among them were women who were beating their breasts and wailing for him. But Jesus turned to them and said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For the days are surely coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.’ Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us’; and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’ For if they do this when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?”
Prayer
Son of Man,
you told the women of Jerusalem to weep not for you
but for themselves and their children.
Give us the gift of tears for our own sins,
that we may mourn the ways in which we fall short of the glory of God
that we may truly repent and return to you.
This we pray in the name of Jesus, our crucified Lord,
the King of Glory, the King of Peace.
Amen.

IX. Jesus Falls a Third Time

Lamentations 3:27 - 30 
It is good for one to bear
    the yoke in youth,
to sit alone in silence
    when the Lord has imposed it,
to put one’s mouth to the dust
    (there may yet be hope),
to give one’s cheek to the smiter,
    and be filled with insults.

Prayer
Loving Lord,
you fell that we might rise and taught us that
unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies,
it remains alone;
but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
Help us to die to ourselves
so that we might live to you
and bear much fruit for your Kingdom.
This we pray in the name of Jesus, our crucified Lord,
the King of Glory, the King of Peace. Amen.

X. Jesus is Stripped of His Garments

John 19:23 - 24 
When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, one for each soldier. They also took his tunic; now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from the top. So they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see who will get it.” This was to fulfill what the scripture says,
           “They divided my clothes among themselves,
             and for my clothing they cast lots.”

Prayer
Bread of Life,
you came that we might have life and have it abundantly
and you emptied yourself,
taking the form of a slave
that we might be free,
and died that we might live.
Give us the grace to be stripped bare of all that separates us from you.
This we pray in the name of Jesus, our crucified Lord,
the King of Glory, the King of Peace.
Amen.

XI. Jesus is Nailed to the Cross

Luke 23:33 - 34a
 When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” 
Prayer
Merciful Redeemer,
you declared your forgiveness from the cross,
showing love to those who killed you
and to the thief dying alongside you.
Help us to know and count the cost of our forgiveness,
bought at so great a price.
This we pray in the name of Jesus, our crucified Lord,
the King of Glory, the King of Peace.
Amen.

XII. Jesus Dies on the Cross

Luke 23:44 - 46
It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, while the sun’s light failed; and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” Having said this, he breathed his last.
Prayer
Lamb that was slain,
as you cried out to your Father from the cross
we learned how deep was your suffering,
how complete was your sense of abandonment.
Be present with us when others betray us or forsake us
that we may find ourselves in your eyes and not theirs.
This we pray in the name of Jesus, our crucified Lord,
the King of Glory, the King of Peace.
Amen.

XIII. Jesus is Removed from the Cross and Placed in the Arms of his Mother

Matthew 27:54 - 55
​Now when the centurion and those with him, who were keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were terrified and said, “Truly this man was God’s Son!”
 
Many women were also there, looking on from a distance; they had followed Jesus from Galilee and had provided for him.
Prayer
Crucified Savior,
you are resurrection and life
and in your death and resurrection
we who mourn find the peace and comfort
your own mother lacked as your body came down from the cross.
Help us to bring the hope of the resurrection to all who mourn.
This we pray in the name of Jesus, our crucified Lord,
the King of Glory, the King of Peace.
Amen

XIV. Jesus is Laid in the Tomb

Matthew 27:57 - 60
When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who was also a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus; then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. So Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn in the rock. He then rolled a great stone to the door of the tomb and went away.
Prayer
Alpha and Omega,
you are beginning and end.
In death you conquered death
so that even at the grave we praise your name.
Help us to find you as the way, the truth and the life
and to lead others out of darkness and into your light.
This we pray in the name of Jesus, our crucified Lord,
the King of Glory, the King of Peace.
Amen.

The Epilogue

Lord Jesus Christ,
you stretched out your arms of love on the hard wood of the cross
that everyone would come within the reach of your saving embrace:
Clothe us in your Spirit that we,
reaching forth our hands in love,
may bring those who do not know you
to the knowledge and love of you;
for the honor of your Name.
Amen.[1]

[1] Book of Common Prayer, page 101
​About the Sources
These Stations of the Cross were created by Frank Logue using public domain videos found at www.archive.org. These source videos include footage taken during Stalin's purges in the Soviet Union, in various wars, as well as during the Civil Rights Movement in America, and the Arab Spring Uprising and in many other tragedies large and small. Some commercial films were used—including three films of Jesus' life, The Birth of a Nation and The Passion of Joan of Arc.
​
Unfortunately, the most disturbing footage in these video stations is all too real and so supports the thesis of the project, that man's inhumanity to man is all too common. This makes the love of God as found in Jesus all the more astounding and reveals how utterly amazing is the grace of God that "while we were yet sinners Christ died for us."
​
The text of the meditations is adapted from a service written by Frank and Victoria Logue for use at King of Peace Episcopal Church in Kingsland, Georgia.

Text of the hymns
The spare soundtrack was created by Joshua Varner for this project using familiar Holy Week and Easter hymns played on a hammered dulcimer. Sometimes the text of the hymns is very fitting, such as Were You There When They Crucified My Lord playing as Jesus is nailed to the cross. At other times, there is an intentional tension between the words of the hymn and the words and images of the station, such as Mary's Magnificat playing in the hymn Tell Out My Soul during Stations IV and XIII when Jesus meets his mother and his body is placed in her arms. 


About the Service
The Stations of the Cross developed in Jerusalem around the fifth century for pilgrims to the Holy Land. It is a devotion to be undertaken by those wishing to walk in the footsteps of Jesus. In time this service developed into 14 stations, marked along the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem.
​

Eight of these stations are based directly on the Gospel accounts of the crucifixion, while stations 3,4,6,7,9 and 13—including those of Jesus falling three times, meeting his mother, and having a woman wipe his face—are inferred from the Gospels or taken from pious legends of the crucifixion.


We would love to have you visit soon!


Worship

Sundays 9:00 

Telephone

507.373.2184

Email

secretary@salemalbertlea.org
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