Virtual Way of the Cross 2021

With permission from the estate of artist Elizabeth Wang, this modern interpretation of The Way of the Cross uses Elizabeth’s work as our visual guide to follow Jesus to the cross. The devotion may be done individually or in a group, and can be accessed: online (on this page), in the sanctuary of Heartwood Church, and as a drive-through experience in the parking lot of Heartwood Church (beginning Sunday March 28, 2021) .

There are 15 stations. Depending on reading speed and the amount of time one choses to spend in prayer and contemplation, completing the Way of the Cross may take 30+ minutes.

1. The Fellowship of His Sufferings

Introduction

The Way of the Cross is a devotional exercise began by pilgrims to Jerusalem who prayed as they followed the path Jesus took on the day of his crucifixion. This spiritual formation is still practiced today in Jerusalem and in churches and sacred spaces around the world, especially during Holy Week (the week leading up to Easter). Many Christian denominations engage in The Way of the Cross. Pope Francis has articulated eight reasons for this practice.

• It allows us to place our trust in Jesus.
• It puts us into the story.
• It reminds us that Jesus suffers with us.
• It compels us to action.
• It helps us make a decision for or against Jesus.
• It gives us the certainty of God’s love for us.
• It guides us from the cross to the resurrection.

Meditation

Whoever does not seek the cross of Christ doesn’t seek the glory of Christ. (John of the Cross)

My goal is to know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death, assuming that I will somehow reach the resurrection from among the dead.

Philippians 3:10-11

If you want to know who God is, look at Jesus. If you want to know what it means to be human, look at Jesus. If you want to know what love us, look at Jesus. If you want to know what grief is, look at Jesus. And go on looking until you’re not just a spectator, but you’re actually part of the drama which has him as the central character. (N. T. Wright)

Prayer

Lord Jesus, help me (us) walk in your steps. Amen.

2. The Last Supper

Meditation

As they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take and eat it; this is my body.” Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks, he gave it to them and said, “Drink from it, all of you. For this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. But I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”

Matthew 26:26-29

Prayer

God grant that as we go out and face life with all of its decisions, as we face the bitter cup which we will inevitably face from day to day, God grant that we will learn this one thing and that is, to make the transition from “this cup” to “nevertheless.” (Martin Luther King, Jr.)

3. Jesus Prays in Gethsemane

Meditation

Then he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, knelt down, and began to pray, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me ​– ​nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”

Luke 22:41-42

Prayer

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Living one day at a time, enjoying one moment at a time; accepting hardship as a pathway to peace; taking, as Jesus did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; trusting that You will make all things right if I surrender to Your will; so that I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with You forever in the next. Amen. (The Serenity Prayer)

Reflection

Close your eyes and three times take a deep breath in; let it out and relax.

4. Jesus Before Pilate

Meditation

As soon as it was morning, having held a meeting with the elders, scribes, and the whole Sanhedrin, the chief priests tied Jesus up, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate. So Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” He answered him, “You say so.” And the chief priests accused him of many things. Pilate questioned him again, “Aren’t you going to answer? Look how many things they are accusing you of!” But Jesus still did not answer, and so Pilate was amazed.

Mark 15:1-5

Judging others makes us blind, whereas love is illuminating. By judging others we blind ourselves to our own evil and to the grace which others are just as entitled to as we are. (Dietrich Bonhoeffer)

Prayer

Grant me, O Lord, to know what I ought to know, to love what I ought to love, to praise what delights Thee most, to value what is precious in Thy sight, to hate what is offensive to Thee. Do not suffer me to judge according to the sight of my eyes, nor to pass sentence according to the hearing of the ears of ignorant men; but to discern with a true judgment between things visible and spiritual, and above all, always to inquire what is the good pleasure of Thy will. Amen. (Thomas a Kempis)

5. Jesus Scourged

Meditation

Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged.

John 19:1

Yielding to God’s will can be hard. And sometimes, it really hurts. But it always brings peace. (John M. Perkins, Let Justice Roll Down)

Reflection

The story of suffering is often swept under the rug in order not to create discomfort or bad feelings. Lament is denied because the dead body in front of us is being denied. (Soong-Chan Rah, Prophetic Lament)

Lament.

6. Crucify Him!

Meditation

Pilate asked them again, “Then what do you want me to do with the one you call the King of the Jews?” Again they shouted, “Crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Why? What has he done wrong?” But they shouted all the more, “Crucify him!”

Mark 15:12-14

I have given God a million reasons not to love me. None of them changed His mind. (TobyMac)

Reflection

Thank God for his love.

7. Jesus Carries His Cross

Meditation

Carrying the cross by himself, he went out to what is called Place of the Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha.

John 19:17

Prayer

Lord Jesus Christ, you invited me to follow you along this path when you told us, “The one who loves his life loses it, and the one who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” Yet I am attached to my life. I do not want to abandon it; I want to keep it all for myself. I want to hold on to it, not to give it away. But you go before me, showing me that it is only by giving away my life that I can save it. As I walk with you the Way of the Cross, may this not just be a moment of passing piety. Help me to accompany you not only with noble thoughts, but with all my heart, and in every step I take each day of my life. (P. Benedict XVI)

8. Jesus Crucified

Meditation

There they crucified him and two others with him, one on either side, with Jesus in the middle. Pilate also had a sign made and put on the cross. It said: Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.

John 19:18-19

Reflection

Whenever anything disagreeable or displeasing happens to you, remember Christ crucified and be silent. (John of the Cross)

9. Jesus Insulted

Meditation

I believed then and I believe now that where everybody thinks the same nobody thinks very much. (Rosaria Champagne Butterfield, The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert)

Those who passed by were yelling insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross!” In the same way the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him and said, “He saved others, but he cannot save himself! He is the King of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God; let God rescue him now ​– ​if he takes pleasure in him! For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.'”

Matthew 27:39-43

Not being able to fully understand God is frustrating but it is ridiculous for us to think we have the right to limit God to something we are capable of comprehending. What a stunted, insignificant god that would be! If my mind is the size of a soda can and God is the size of all the oceans, it would be stupid for me to say He is only the small amount of water I can scoop into my little can. God is so much bigger, so far beyond our time-encased, air/food/sleep-dependent lives. (Francis Chan, Crazy Love)

Prayer

Father, in Your goodness grant me the intellect to comprehend You, the perception to discern You, and the reason to appreciate You. In Your kindness endow me with the diligence to look for You, the wisdom, to discover You, and the spirit to apprehend You. In Your graciousness bestow on me a heart to contemplate You, ears to hear You, eyes to see You, and a tongue to speak of You. In Your mercy to confer on me a conversation pleasing to You, the patience to wait for You, and the perseverance to long for You. Grant me a perfect end, Your holy presence. I ask this in the name of Your Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. (Benedict of Nursia)

10. Behold Your Son! Behold Your Mother!

Meditation

When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple he loved standing there, he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.

John 19:26-27

The slap on the face, the spitting on His face, the crowning with thorns, the scourging, the removing of His clothes, the crucifixion…putting the Cross in the center, showing that He was worse than the other two. The burial in somebody’s grave, all these and many others, especially the terrible longing to be loved, the terrible loneliness, the terrible feeling of pain for His mother. All, all these are the love with which He loved you and me. (Mother Teresa)

Prayer

Govern everything by your wisdom, O Lord, so that my soul may always be serving you in the way you will and not as I choose. Let me die to myself so that I may serve you; let me live to you who are life itself. Amen. (Theresa of Avila)

11. Today You Will Be With Me In Paradise

Meditation

“We are punished justly, because we’re getting back what we deserve for the things we did, but this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And he said to him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Luke 23:41-43

Reflection

Confess your disobedience.

Prayer

O merciful Father, do not consider what we have done against you; but what our blessed Savior has done for us. Don’t consider what we have made of ourselves, but what He is making of us for you our God. O that Christ may be “wisdom and righteousness, sanctification and redemption” to every one of our souls. May His precious blood cleanse us from all our sins, and your Holy Spirit renew and sanctify our souls. May He crucify our flesh with its passion and lusts, and cleanse all our brothers and sisters in Christ across the earth. Amen. (John Wesley)

12. My God Why Have You Forsaken Me?

Meditation

About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Elí, Elí, lemá sabachtháni?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”

Matthew 27:46

O guiding night!
O night more lovely than the dawn!
O night that has united
the Lover with his beloved,
transforming the beloved in her Lover.
(John of the Cross “Dark Night of the Soul” stanza 5)

13. It Is Finished!

Meditation

When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished.” Then bowing his head, he gave up his spirit.

John 19:30

For if you forgive others their offenses, your heavenly Father will forgive you as well. But if you don’t forgive others, your Father will not forgive your offenses. (Matthew 6:14-15) You can’t forgive without loving. And I don’t mean sentimentality. I don’t mean mush. I mean having enough courage to stand up and say, “I forgive. I’m finished with it.” (Maya Angelou)

Reflection

Our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy. (Thomas Merton)

With arms open ready to embrace, forgive others.

Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ. (Ephesians 4:32)

14. Jesus’ Body Removed From The Cross

Meditation

After this, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus ​– ​but secretly because of his fear of the Jews ​– ​asked Pilate that he might remove Jesus’s body. Pilate gave him permission; so he came and took his body away.

John 19:38

Right before Jesus went to the cross, He prayed that all believers, past, present, and future may be one, as You, Father are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me (John 17:21 NKJV). This was Jesus’s prayer for us all, yet more often than not, I fear we have not lived up to it. Instead, we fight for our own way, for our selfish desires, for our right to be superior. We build churches centered on our own cultural ideas of God, rather than on seeking to bring us back to Him. And then we fight with other churches and religions about who is serving their personal culture god the best. Come dream with me. Dream of a fight for something bigger, something more important and worthwhile. We need to fight for justice and peace, for the walls between us to come crashing down. (John M. Perkins, Dream with Me: Race, Love, and the Struggle We Must Win)

Reflection

What justice, peace, or reconciliation will you fight for?

Prayer

God, our Father, we are exceedingly frail and indisposed to every virtuous and gallant undertaking. Strengthen our weakness, we beseech you, that we may do valiantly in this spiritual war; help us against our own negligence and cowardice, and defend us from the treachery of our unfaithful hearts. For Jesus Christ’s sake. (Thomas a Kempis)

15. Jesus Resurrected

Meditation

Just then Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” They came up, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him. Then Jesus told them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to leave for Galilee, and they will see me there.”

Matthew 28:9-10

Prayer

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred let me sow love. Where there is injury, pardon. Where there is doubt, faith. Where there is despair, hope. Where there is darkness, light. Where there is sadness, joy. O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive. It is in pardoning that we are pardoned. It is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen. (Francis of Assisi)