Good Friday - Part the Second

The second event I participated in on Good Friday was Stations of the Cross at the church where I conduct. I took Drew with me, under great protest. He had asked to attend the final event, and felt quite put upon that I made him do a second event on a day off, for crying out Pete.

It didn't take him long to jump into the activity. As you entered the church, you followed purple crosses on the floor to each station, most of which had a large poster on the wall directing you to do a particular activity or think about some aspect of the journey Christ made on that fateful Friday so long ago.

In Jerusalem, of course, it is much different. Drew later told me he had watched a program on TV where they walked the Via Dolorosa, explaining each station. Some places we were directed to pick up a stone and feel its hardness or rake through dirt for buried stuff, realizing that Christ lay on the cold ground. At one station we were directed to nail a huge spike into a wooden cross. Drew was afraid to make so much noise. As we each hammered our spike into the hard wood, the sound echoed in the fellowship hall with a piercing ring of metal against metal.

After moving through all the stations, we walked a labyrinth laid out on the floor - a new experience for Drew, a familiar and comfortable one for me. Once Drew finally reached the center, he wanted to just walk straight out and not take the time and effort to wind back through the lines, but he resisted the temptation and dutifully wound his way back to the start.

The final activity was in the sanctuary where we were invited to spend some time in prayer. There were prayer tiles, a candle to light, books of prayers and meditations, a journal to write in and various other tools to aid us in our time there. It felt good to just pray. In fact, I rather lost track of time, and suddenly Drew touched my shoulder and urged me to wrap it up or we would be late for the Tenebrae service at Pearce.

With a final nod toward the hanging cross draped in purple, we left together. It was a time we will both remember.