From: Bass Mitchell <bassm@va.tds.net>

Stations #3

From: Michael Anne Haywood michael@ols.net

This is something I wrote last year, which we used in conjunction with the Stations of the Cross in the BOS (Book of Occasional Services.)

Walking with Christ the Stations of the Cross

I. Jesus is condemned to death

It is nothing new: the ordeal of the innocent. With you, O Christ, I share the tears of those who suffer and of those who love them and who care. My God, make me aware, sensitive, responsive and responsible. Give me wisdom to perceive injustice and strength to stand against it.

II. The Cross is laid on Jesus

With courage beyond my understanding, you accepted the cross that was laid cruelly on your back. Your acceptance transformed that implement of torture into a path to victory. Teach me to accept with faith the trials and burdens of my life. It is not enough just to endure; I must accept in order to face my own everyday crosses head-on.

III. Jesus falls

The weight of your cross and your weakness made you fall. You struggled to your feet and moved on. I fall, too. Teach me, my God, that the sin is not in the falling -- no matter how embarrassing that may be for me -- but in my failure to get up again and go on.

IV. Jesus meets His Mother

She bears your pain; she who gave you birth must now witness your suffering and your death, because as a mother she is there for you, loving you through anything and everything. Help me, my God, always to recognize those around me who love me and faithfully stand beside me. Let me be open to them, because I need them.

V. The Cross is laid on Simon of Cyrene

You needed help; I often need help, too. It's not easy to accept help: it's humbling, embarrassing; it can also be grace-full. By gracefully accepting the help of others, we honor their strength, their gifts, their capabilities; but it demands humility. O God who understands my weakness, give me the grace to accept the help of those around me whose strength is your gift to me.

VI. A woman wipes Jesus' Face

Legend has it that the woman's name was Veronica and that the impression of your face was indelibly fixed on the cloth she used to comfort you. What a tender moment of servanthood. All such moments are marked in similar fashion: tenderness expressed to one in need always acquires an indelible remembrance of some kind, a remembrance beyond gratitude, beyond the simple memory of the event. Thank you, my God, for these graceful reminders of love.

VII. Jesus falls a second time

You fell again. You were not even carrying your own cross, but you fell. And there were probably those in the crowd around you who laughed and taunted you. Why is it that it is a human foible to clamber hastily over one who falls? Is it to make oneself seem taller, stronger? Or is it that we fear to acknowledge that we, too, fall and fall again. Lord God, save me from my self-conscious fears.

VIII. Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem

When the road to Golgotha brought you to the group of women, standing together because it was not proper for them to stand among the men, you encountered something different: their tears. They wept for you, for your pain, for your humiliation. With the strength of their tears, they empowered you to look beyond your own pain to the pain of others. There are those who weep for me, too, those who are sensitive to what I am going through. God, help me to take strength from their love and to see beyond my own circumstances to the needs of others.

IX. Jesus falls a third time

You fell a third time, and many would tell you, "That's strike three. You're out!" But you proved them wrong; you got up again and continued on your way. Falling puts me on my knees. And while I'm down here on my knees, I pray, "Forgive me; I fell again." And you reply, "I know, and I still love you. I'm right here with you." And together, we get up again and go on. There is hope.....

X. Jesus is stripped of His garments

They took your clothes. They were all you had that was of any value to them. We seem to value our coverings, our shells, our "things," more than we value our very selves. Lord, show me that what is of value is within, and that it cannot ever be taken away.

XI. Jesus is nailed to the Cross

They used nails to fix you on your cross: little bits of sharp metal, nothing big, nothing remarkable, just little nails. It is just by such small barbs that we -- sometimes unintentionally -- "nail" others, sometimes with our words. O dear God, keep me from impaling others with my little nails.

XII. Jesus dies on the Cross

Those who had put you to death thought they had won. And when death touches us, perhaps in the death of a loved one, we feel that we have lost them. Death is hard, and we do not understand it. Yet death is a part of life for all of us. My God, help me not to fear death -- not my own and not another's. I do not understand death, but I trust in you, that you will see me through all the deaths of my life.

XIII. Jesus' Body is placed in the arms of His Mother

Your dead body was not nice. Covered in dust and sweat and blood, it was just not very pleasant. Yet mother-love accepted you just the same. After years of drooling and diapers and runny noses, it wasn't hard. God, teach me to love with such unqualified acceptance.

XIV. Jesus is laid in the tomb

The tomb was borrowed. Joseph of Arimathea thought it was a gift, forever, but actually it was just a short-term loan. In these "modern" times, we deal with death in financial terms, with insurance and funeral plans. Looking through the lens of your tomb, we can see Easter, the resurrection, the truly good news that death is not the end of life, but a doorway to more. God, you are faithful in life; teach me that you are also faithful in death.

3/28/97

Michael Anne Haywood

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Bass Mitchell, Hot Springs, VA

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