by Lilly Lewin
Two weeks till Easter.
How is it going?
I know many have been on Spring Break holidays already.
Many are busy with projects and homework and just plain living.
We’ve already experienced the beauty of Spring here in Nashville. The tulips are blooming, but most of the daffodils have done their thing. The cherry trees have been gorgeous, but are already loosing their blossoms and their new green leaves are showing through. It’s redbud tree time and the dogwood trees are just beginning to show their glory. My mom wonders if there will be anything left to blossom by Easter morning. Will there be enough color or will everything already look like summer?
I know many of you are in a different season, or you haven’t seen enough spring weather just yet to see the beauty of Spring and all it’s abundance.
Not Enough sun
Not Enough warmth
Not Enough time to notice the changes in the season
Not Enough time to see the beauty around us
That word ENOUGH happens a lot. It has power.
How do you experience the word Enough?
Does it set you free? or does it keep you in the land of fear?
Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?” (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) Jesus said, “Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.” John 12:1-8
This is the Gospel reading for this weekend.
It’s an interesting look at ENOUGH.
Mary chose to lavish her most valuable possession on Jesus.
Judas was afraid it was too much, and a waste…
Judas was afraid he wouldn’t have enough or couldn’t get enough later.
Mary was living in the abundance of the moment. She wasn’t afraid of what anyone would think. She wasn’t worried that there wouldn’t be enough later.
Judas is living in the land of not enough, a land filled with fear and betrayal.
What about us? How are we living? Are we living in the land of Abundance or living in the land of NOT ENOUGH?
Do we believe we have enough to be lavish?
Are we able to believe in “God’s Enough” and lavish on someone else, and share the abundance?
Can we share that abundance with someone else to show that they are enough?
As we approach Easter, how can we move into the land of enough and the land of abundance rather than living in the land of fear and not enough?
What symbol could you choose to help you remember that in God’s economy there is always enough? And there is really an abundance! (remember the wine at the wedding in Cana and the fish in John 21?)
I have a pitcher filled with water on my table to remind me that God has enough for me. What would you choose to help you remember?
You might find some oil to put on or to smell to remind you to live in the land of enough rather than in the land of fear and scarcity.
Use the painting of the Anointing at Bethany above, by American Artist Daniel Gerhartz, to help you engage the story. Allow this art or another painting like it, to help you to be lavish in your giving…to help you remember that you are enough, and to help you remember that in Jesus, you have enough to give away to others.
The Stations of the Cross also called The Way of the Cross, consist of prayers and meditations commemoration the Passion and death of Christ. There are fourteen stations each representing an event which occurred during Jesus’ Passion and death at Calvary on Good Friday. The Stations were originally performed many centuries ago by Christian pilgrims who visited the Holy Land. However the Franciscans, who were given custody of the Holy Places in the Holy Land in the 1300s, made it very popular. Countless Christians have all enriched their spiritual lives with this powerful devotion.
During the crusades (1095-1270), pilgrims in the Holy Land often walk in the footsteps of Jesus to Calvary. After the Moslems recaptured the Holy Land pilgrimages were too dangerous and, the Stations of the Cross in churches became a popular substitute pilgrimage throughout Europe.
Stations of the Cross are a Holy Week activity not just restricted to Good Friday. A growing number of churches set up Stations of the Cross at the beginning of Holy Week so that people can walk around them in their own time reflecting on Christ’s suffering and death. Because of that I wanted to get this list up early for those that are still looking for ideas.
There are thousands of resources for Stations of the Cross out there. I have tried to put together a collection from around the world attempting to highlight some of the challenging issues of our turbulent world that are portrayed and have continued adding to that theme this year. You might like to check out the additional images I have posted on Pinterest too.
Most of the images I have collected are far from the traditional stations of the cross. If there are other international images you think should be a part of this collection please add them in the comments. I would like to continue to enrich this list each year and there is still enough time before Good Friday for me to update this post. If you are looking for a fairly traditional set of reflections and images this one on Catholic Online is hard to beat. Enjoy!
Stations of the Cross Kits by our Friends
Godspace contributor, Lilly Lewin, has made her Stations of the Cross kit available through Free Range Worship.
Scott Erickson in Portland has also made variety of fantastic Stations of the Cross kits
- A Stations of the Cross booklet is available as a free download from the Grotto Network.
- Catholic Agency for Overseas Development presents a Powerpoint and Leadership guide for Stations of the Cross for Lent 2023 – Free to download.
- Food for the Poor offers fourteen stations focused on the “suffering [of] Christ in the experience of every person who suffers from poverty or cries out for help”. Scroll to the end to download the pdf version.
- I have posted more images of stations of the Cross on Pinterest.
- Scott Erickson in Portland has also made a fantastic Stations in the Street kit for purchase.
I also love this stations of the cross which my own church St Andrews Episcopal in Seattle has put together using a set of stained glass window panels at the church
Explanation of the stations of the Cross:
- From a Catholic perspective
- From a Protestant perspective
- Another good article on the development of the Stations of the Cross
From Australia
Australian Stations of the Cross – Susan Purdie
This very powerful Stations of the Cross uses the story of Filipino indigenous people as the backdrop for the Stations of the Cross
- These stations are found in the Passion Community in Glen Osmond, Australia
- The Way of the Cross by the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney
From New Zealand
- Stations of the Cross shown in the Chapel at the Home of Compassion, Island Bay. They are backlit and made of handmade coloured float glass.
- A excellent reflection on John Badcock’s Stations of the Cross by Dr Warren Feeney:
From Middle East and Sudan –
- I also came across this interesting set of Jordanian stamps which Mansour Mouasher has found depicting the Stations of the Cross.
- Rachel Gadsden is a British artist who is exhibited internationally and who works across the mainstream and disability art sectors, presenting cross-cultural visual dialogues that consider the most profound notions of what it is to be human. Her stations of the cross for St Joseph’s Cathedral Abu Dhabi are powerful.
From North America
- This series by Gwynth Leech sets the traditional imagery of the Stations of the Cross in the midst of contemporary conflicts. They were commissioned by Saint Paul’s on the Green in Norwalk Connecticut in 2004. It is a heartrending presentation of the stations of the Cross using images of refugees from Iraq and Sudan as spectators and participants.
- Im/migration Stations of the Cross by Nanette Sawyer. It’s a series of original art, looking through the lens of immigration/migration. How can the Jesus story teach us about immigration/migration issues, and how can the stories and experiences of immigrants and migrants increase our understanding of the Jesus story? Make sure you leave plenty of time for this one. Read the description and then click each station down the side – it is a very profound experience.
- This series by Minnesotan artist Anne Brink is fascinating.
- A good virtual series from the Huffington Post with interesting reflections to meditate on.
- Busted halo always has good liturgical resources and I found this video presentation of The Stations of the Cross to be a good one to spend time reflecting on.
From South America
- A very powerful presentation of the stations from the perspective of liberation theology by Adolfo Pérez Esquivel of Argentina. This is one I like to revisit each year.
- This video is one of the first I put together with photos my friend Tom Balke took on a trip to Ecuador of artwork from Oscar Guayasamin, There is no music but I think it provides a powerful silent meditation for this season.
From Asia
- I enjoyed meditating on this series by a nun in Bangalore India
- And another very beautiful, Korean Stations of the Cross by Korean sculptor Choi Jong-tae from Myeong-dong Cathedral.
From Africa
- I love this stations of the cross from Hekima College, Nairobi, Kenya. The designs were created by Father Angelbert M. Vang SJ from Yaoude, from the Cameroon who was a well-known historian, poet, musician and designer and executed by a Kenyan artist.
- From Nigeria The Fourteen Stations of the Cross: “This rare set of linocuts was printed in 1969 in several editions of about fifty by Bruce Onobrakpeya, an Urhobo man who has become Nigeria’s mast famous – and arguably best – artist.”
- And from Lodwar Cathedral Kenya this series of the Stations of the Cross seen through African eyes is very powerful. Here is one of the images.
From U.K.
- This Stations of the Cross series by Chris Gollon was commissioned by the Church of England for the Church of St John on Bethnal Green, in East London. Gollon took the unusual step of using his own son as the model for Jesus, his daughter as Mary, and his wife as Veronica. Fr Alan Green is cast as Nicodemus, and David Tregunna (Gollon’s friend and agent) as Joseph of Arimathea. The juxtaposition of real figures with imagined ones creates a heightened sense of reality. I think that the images are both compelling and powerful.
- This series by David O’Connell hangs in St Richards Chichester is another powerful series.
- Another series by Linda Sallnow in London
From Europe
The Stations of the Cross by Karel Stadnik, 1973-5, Church of the Virgin Mary in Lhotka, Prague. This is a unique interpretation of the stations in which the a synthetic resin sculpter at each station depicts a different episode of human suffering. The traditional titles of the stations are what helps the observer to make the connection with the life of Christ. According to the web site, “The work was the idea of the local priest Vladimir Rudolf, during the difficult period after Soviet tanks had crushed the “Prague Spring”.”
For Kids:
- Catholic Mom has helpful books and Stations of the Cross for Kids.
- Check out this family Bible study for younger kids set up like stations of the cross.
- Multimedia Stations of the Cross from Loyola Press.
Virtual stations online:
- An excellent online video presentation from Jeruslaem.com I have not watched all of it yet but enjoyed what I watched.
- And from Jonny Baker in England a great idea – QR Stations of the Cross.
- And from Busted Halo as always, an excellent set of virtual stations of the cross. These stations relate to Jesus’ teachings about the Kingdom of God and the reason his vision of this Kingdom led to his death. Find a quiet place to watch these stations, and as you do the devotions be open to how God is speaking to you through the Stations of the Cross.
Here is the first meditation:
This is part of this series on Resources for Holy Week. All the posts are available through our Church Calendar.
By John Birch —
When hearts are willing
but our minds distracted
by the world in which we move,
forgive us.
When our souls are thirsty
and we drink from water
that so easily runs dry
forgive us.
May we seek your face
in a world which passes you by,
may we hear your voice
in a world focussed on ‘I’,
may we know your mercy
and share it on our journey
this and every day.
Easter Sunday is the central celebration of our faith yet I struggle more and more because it seems to me that what begins with triumphant shouts of Christ is Risen Alleluiah, and a beautiful flowering of the cross ends with an easter egg hunt.
“It’s great to see the kids so enthusiastic”, people tell me, but is it really? Is an enthusiastic sugar high really a substitute for celebrating the resurrection of Christ? Have we bought into the secular culture so much that we can no longer tell the difference?
Others struggle too. The values emphasized in the easter egg hunt are counter to kingdom values – greed, individualism and competitiveness drive kids to find more candy not to share but for themselves. And what about the symbolism, not to mention the amount of plastic that is strewn around that will just end up in the landfill.
Easter Bunny – Has It Transformed Us?
The Easter Bunny is a rabbit-spirit. Long ago, he was called the “Easter Hare”, hares and rabbits have frequent multiple births so they became a symbol of fertility. The custom of an Easter egg hunt began because children believed that hares laid eggs in the grass. The Romans believed that “All life comes from an egg.” Christians consider eggs to be “the seed of life” and so they are symbolic of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Why we colour and decorate eggs is not certain but in ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome and Persia eggs were dyed for spring festivals as a sign of fertility.
Now I am all for taking the symbols of the culture and transforming them into the symbols of our faith, but I wonder have we transformed this symbol or has it transformed us? Are our values and our joy in the resurrection of Christ subverted by the secular culture that is all into greed, consumption and competitiveness? Do we miss out on the life that the season is meant to renew in us because we are caught up in another world view?
Having said all that I think that Holy Week and Easter Sunday in particular should be a wonderful celebration of life and faith for adults and kids. Here are some resources you might like to check out.
I add new resources to my Pinterest boards Lent and Easter with Kids and Prayer Stations with Kids on a regular basis so you might also like to check this out.
Looking for crafts
- This LEGO resurrection garden is a creative approach to the Easter story. I would prefer a real garden but it is a Strat.
- This article has some great ideas on how to create Prayer stations for Kids and they are printable.
- One of the most creative ideas for Easter week is what South Wilford Church of England Primary School in Nottingham did for Maundy Thursday. They called it Washday and had kids wash and clean both the school and their village.
- And from youthpastor.com a great suggestion for Holy week stations based on The Lord’s Prayer.
- And here is another set of Stations of the Cross for Kids that is worth looking at.
- This tin foil cross craft is also a creative project that I think would appeal to kids and adults alike.
- Faith at home has some good suggestions on activities to participate in with children.
- Christian Montessori has a very good collection of cross related activities – great for storytelling and meditation.
- I also like the originality of this Holy Week in Handprints from Catholic Icing.
- And Catholic Kids has a variety of colouring pages available for children of all ages.
- Catholic Mom has helpful books and Stations of the Cross for Kids.
- Great ideas for at home celebrating from The Purposeful Mom.
- And a Messianic Passover Seder for Families with Children.
- And here are simple directions for making palm crosses.
- Check out these Seven Ideas for Holy Week at Home by Christine V. Hides.
- Resurrection Day Mini Puzzle Unit is a free download of 10 pages for pre-K to 5th grade kids.
- Or, you might like to consider making Resurrection eggs – to me a better idea than Easter eggs. You could decorate them too.
- In France, the bells, not the Easter bunny, bring the eggs: French Easter Bell craft because the bells stop ringing on Maundy Thursday and don’t ring again until the joyous sound of Easter Sunday.
Want to do some Easter gardening?
- Make this Easter grace garden with your kids.
- Or this simpler Easter Resurrection Garden
- Or perhaps this mini resurrection garden – which I love because it is a growing garden.
As you know contemplative gardens are my passion, but by Easter I am working out in the garden too much to make my own resurrection garden, though I do love to plant basil (holy basil of course) at Easter as a special symbol of the season.
Looking for recipes:
- Think of making Crown of Thorn bread or consider it as part of your whole Lenten experience
- or the traditional English treat for Good Friday Hot cross buns, which I grew up with and still like to make every year.
- And I love these creative Easter story cookies inviting kids into a sensual experience of cooking.
Looking for videos:
Share this with your kids. I love this series of videos though the accents may be a little hard for some to follow.
Or if your kids are LEGO enthusiasts this is the video for you;
Or this one:
Please check out our complete list of Godspace resources for Lent through Holy Week
“Do what the priest tells you!”
That was my Irish Catholic family’s policy for most of my childhood.
Things didn’t go well when I wanted to start reading the Bible for myself.
The priests warned me that the Bible was dangerous and that I shouldn’t read it on my own.
“Just listen to the Homily in church each Sunday, ” they assured me.
If there’s one thing American evangelicals get jumpy about, it’s any hint that someone is trying to the take the Bible away from them. These Catholic priests committed an “American evangelical mortal sin.”
After years of these attempts to control my Bible reading habits, I rebelled… by reading the Bible on my own. In the fallout of that decision, I left the Catholic Church for good and sought refuge in the Wild West of American evangelical Christianity.
During those years, I threw myself into service, mission, Scripture study, activism, and any other evangelical endeavor presented as authentic action for the truly committed. No matter how ineffective my work appeared, how much I struggled to become “pure” and “holy,” or how much I endeavored to be an influential culture warrior, I failed to ask if my foundational beliefs and practices were problematic.
Looking back now, I see that I made the mistake of trying to transform culture without first being transformed into someone worth imitating or able to offer something truly transformative.
Eventually, the fire of fighting spiritual battles faded for me, and the pursuit of God became deeply frustrating. I was left with only the hollow shell of my arguments and fears, and I lacked the substance of connection, let alone union, with God.
My evangelical anxiety peaked while in seminary.
At the end of my coursework I dropped my seminary diploma onto a dusty pile of theology books and realized that I had no idea how to pray. In retrospect, I realize now that I could exegete Scripture in the original languages, but I didn’t have words to pray. (Little did I know, I wouldn’t need many anyway.)
Then one day, a pastor I knew from one of my seminary classes invited me to his new prayer service. This was back when all the cutting-edge evangelicals were experimenting with liturgy, candles, prayer books, and in the extreme cases, art.
This pastor didn’t strike me as the type to jump on a trend. I think he genuinely wanted to figure out ways to make church meetings more meaningful and to provide a deeper connection with
God. Reluctantly, I agreed to show up.
Liturgy, chants, and candles were the last thing that I, as a former Catholic, wanted out of church. But I was desperate to prove to myself that I was still a Christian and to prove to myself that God is real.
If anything, attending the service felt like a huge step backward. Evangelicalism was supposed to be my savior, the thing that rescued me from the seemingly lifeless liturgy of my Catholic days.
The whole service was completely unlike anything I had experienced as either a Catholic or an evangelical.
We chanted about God’s love.
We spent time centering on the Jesus Prayer.
We meditated on Scripture using the slow reading practice known as lectio divina, which helped us pray the words of Scripture.
Throughout the service I kept worrying that I was doing it wrong and wondering why I wasn’t having an encounter with God. It didn’t seem to be working. Either I was hopelessly broken or God wasn’t real. I returned home defeated, and I plunged deeper into my spiritual despair.
Yet in the following days, months, even years, I found myself returning to those prayer practices. Perhaps the connection they provided with God was something other than the FLASH, BANG!!!! conversion experience I’d been taught to expect among evangelicals.
Little did I know, this pastor had sown the seeds for my spiritual liberation from the anxious,
hardworking evangelical tradition. The practices in this underwhelming service would transform my faith, help me learn how to pray again, and help me rediscover the love of God.
The answers to my spiritual formation questions and my desire to find the love of God could be found in the writings and practices of the Catholic contemplative teachers who had been preserving variations of these spiritual practices for generations since the days of the Desert Fathers and Mothers.
The walls I had built against Catholicism as a Bible major at a Christian university and as a seminary student came crashing down as I learned the freedom and quiet of contemplative prayer practices.
This post was adapted from Ed Cyzewski’s new book, Flee, Be Silent, Pray: Ancient Prayers for Anxious Christians.
Ed Cyzewski writes at www.edcyzewski.com and at the Patheos blog: This Kinda Contemplative Life. He is the author Flee, Be Silent, Pray, A Christian Survival Guide, and other books. Connect with him on Twitter @edcyzewski and Instagram @edcyzewski.
Today’s post is an updated list of resources for Maundy Thursday, the day before Good Friday, which commemorates Jesus’ last Supper with the disciples and the institution of the Eucharist. Its name of “Maundy” comes from the Latin word mandatum, meaning “command.” This stems from Christ’s words in John 13:34, “A new commandment I give unto you. Love one another as I have loved you”. Many of us associate it with foot washing:
A rite performed by Christ upon his disciples to prepare them for the priesthood and the marriage banquet they will offer, and which is rooted in the Old Testament practice of foot-washing in preparation for the marital embrace (II Kings 11:8-11, Canticles 5:3) and in the ritual ablutions performed by the High Priest of the Old Covenant (contrast Leviticus 16:23-24 with John 13:3-5). The priest girds himself with a cloth and washes the feet of 12 men he’s chosen to represent the Apostles for the ceremony.
It is the oldest of the observances peculiar to Holy Week but seems to have attracted the least attention and I must confess creative suggestions were hard to come by. It has however become my favourite Holy Week observance.
For Celebrating At Home
- How to have a Maundy Thursday Liturgy at Home by MissioAlliance
- Maundy Thursday – 7 Churches at Home by Barefoot Abbey
- Stripping the Table by Building Faith
Free Maundy Thursday Resource
Our own church, Saint Andrews Episcopal Church in Seattle hosts an Agape feast and foot washing, one of the most beautiful celebrations I have been to. We re-enact the Last Supper with a wonderful lamb feast, beautiful litany that intertwines scripture and prayer, have the opportunity to wash each other’s feet and then process upstairs to the sanctuary to strip the altar for Good Friday. They have kindly made the liturgy for this celebration available for FREE DOWNLOAD from the Godspace resource centre.
Footwashing
Foot washing has also taken on new significance for me in recent years as I reread two posts that have been contributed to my blog. Some of you might like to revisit these too.
I also love this post Replacing Holy Week – Towards a Public + Local Liturgy by Brandon Rhodes. and suggest that you also watch this video Brandon put together that spells our some of what they have done since then the concretize their practices. Parish Practices: “Re-Placing Holy Week,” with Brandon Rhodes .
Parish Practices: “Re-Placing Holy Week,” with Brandon Rhodes from Parish Collective on Vimeo.
Consider a Tenebrae Service
- One form of service you might like to consider for either Maundy Thursday or Good Friday is a Tenebrae service. I like this resource from the Presbyterian church that helps explain this.
- And an “alternative service from UMC that has some creative ideas here.
- Another creative suggestion is what this Christian school in England did – not just washing feet but cleaning the neighbourhood.
- Or, check out the Maundy Thursday resources at re:Worship and those at Textweek.com
Other Observances For Maundy Thursday.
I have adapted other customs of Maundy Thursday here that you may like to consider for your own observances:
- Consider a Passover meal like the liturgy available for free above
- In Germany, Maundy Thursday is known as “Green Thursday” (Grundonnerstag), and the traditional foods are green vegetables and green salad, especially a spinach salad. Consider planning a vegetarian Last Supper banquet for your celebrations and highlight the environmental issues you are concerned about.
- Visit a local homeless camp or home for the elderly (make sure you get permission first) and do foot washing and pedicures for the inhabitants.
- This is the traditional night for an all night vigil of prayer and meditation. Give yours a new twist by holding an all night reading of Dante’s Inferno as St Philips in the Hills Episcopal Church has done for the last 5 years.
- This is a day to reach out and help someone in a special way: consider looking after a child so that the mother could have a free evening, undertaking some mending or darning, humble, unostentatious things like that.
- Visit 3 or 7 local churches or other places of worship after (or before) your own service.
- In Mark Pierson’s Lenten devotional for 2013, he comments: Jesus, a king who acted like a slave. Perhaps on Maundy Thursday you would like to consider a special way to reach out to those who are still in slavery.
- One symbol of Easter I grew up with that is not so common in the U.S. is hot cross buns which some think originated from a 12th-century English monk who placed the sign of the cross on the buns in honor of Good Friday. So if you want to have your hot crossed buns ready for Good Friday make them on Maundy Thursday, together with your family or community. Here is the recipe I use.
For those celebrating with kids I rather liked this Fill Your Seder Plate game.
So consider including this day in your Holy Week celebrations and if you do something creative let me know.
This is part of this series on Resources for Holy Week. Click here to view the others.
By Talitha Fraser —
I have been living in intentional community with refugees and asylum seekers since 2012. You know you’ll learn a lot from such an experience but what is more subtle is the unlearning… sometimes you need to deconstruct and reform your ideas of what hospitality is, what values are and how that can influence what you thought was black and white or ‘right’… like my ideal of recycling furniture secondhand next to the future you’ve dreamed of and risked so much for to having the first new furniture you’ve ever owned and chosen for yourself that comes from Kmart. The commitment isn’t to knowing one truest truth or having one answer but committing to a way of living lightly, into answers that might always change. This poem tries to capture some of how hard that work can be but affirm also how worthwhile it is to do. It is in our breaking we are Made. I wish that everyone could know that it’s those moments we feel most broken that most inform out Becoming.
Smooth whorls of wood
warm under my fingers.
It is in my making I am Made
but the first step is to become undone.
How then can I begrudge you
your moment of unravelling?
Natural and needed.
Evolution wasn’t a thing that happened once.
It’s happening now.
It’s happening.
Feel it.
Feel all of it. The fear, the wonder,
the breathless uncertainty.
Which way will it fall?
That’s a helpful trick… distancing.
The thing that’s falling is you
but free fall, is free form, is be born.
A labour and a life, hard won.
Not fun, but necessary, never done.
Take that step.
And the next.
And the one after that.
The steps, the text of your story, I want to read.
Bleed.
And walk.
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