Praying with Stations of the Cross

This year our Sunday School kids and families are creating a set of Stations of the Cross will be hung around the church in the next week.  The practice of praying the “stations” grew out of the early church practice of walking the Via Dolorosa, or Way of the Cross, in Jerusalem, as a way of remembering the final footsteps of Christ.  Over time the number of stations became fixed at fourteen, including some stations depicting events not found in scripture.  In 1991 Pope John Paul introduced fourteen scriptural stations, and these are the stations we will use.

Once the stations are installed in the sanctuary, you will find a table with devotional books by the first station.  You are invited to spend time before or after services reading and meditating on the scripture and image for each station.  In addition, the booklets offer reflections for both adults and children, as well as prompts for discussing the stations with children.

As we approach Holy Week give yourself the gift of pressing pause on the daily-ness of life and making time to walk the way of the cross.