Fridays in Lent, 6:00 pm: Stations of the Cross

by Bo Simons

This year at Incarnation we will celebrate a bilingual Stations of the Cross service every Friday evening in Lent starting at 6 pm (except March 10, when our regular monthly Sung Prayer service takes place at 6 pm).

We invite you to come and experience this solemn pilgrimage service as we process from station to station before the wonderfully carved wooden stations on the side walls of the church.

Stations of the Cross grew from a custom observed by pilgrims to Jerusalem, who would follow the Via Dolorosa and offer prayers at a series of places associated with Jesus’ passion and death. The number of stations became fixed at fourteen, and the service became a feature in European churches that decorated their walls with depictions of the stations. We are fortunate at Incarnation to have a superb set of carved set of carved portrayals of the fourteen stations, done by Elwin Millerick, a Santa Rosa carver. During the Stations we will process from station to station, and alternate readings among the participants. If some attendees are more comfortable in Spanish, we will have some stations read in Spanish.

Why a bilingual version of what might seem to be an obscure and depressing service that seems to wallow in the agony of Christ? The simple answer is that the pain of the Passion is central to an emotional, spiritual and intellectual understanding of the Christian faith. It drives home the emotional weight of the sacrifice of Christ. We can see the pain and uncertainty that affected the human part of Christ and strive for the divine strength, love and dignity that Christ displayed especially in the Via Dolorosa. It is a powerful way to contemplate, and enter into, the mystery of Jesus' gift of himself to us. Contemplation of the stations pries significance and purpose from Jesus' sacrifice and applies significance to our own struggles.