Good Friday:
Way of the Cross Service

Good Friday is the time in the church year when worshippers identify their “crosses” and place them in the healing context of Jesus’ suffering and death. The Way of the Cross is a Good Friday worship service that invites veterans to find needed rest and healing from the hurts and losses of war. The following suggestions for a Way of the Cross service reflect a blending of religious traditions. Design a service in keeping with your community’s practices.

Purpose

• Identify and connect experiences of one’s own suffering with the suffering of others.
• Sense that one’s suffering is shared and carried by the communion of saints and borne by Jesus.
• Provide an opportunity to experience relief from the suffering caused by loneliness.

Process

• Ideally, co-leadership for the service is provided by a veteran and a civilian.
• The stations of the cross adapted for use in this liturgy are: 1) Jesus agonizes in the garden; 2) Jesus is condemned to death; 3) Jesus takes up his cross; 4) Jesus falls; 5) Mary encounters Jesus; 6) The cross is laid on Simon of Cyrene; 7) Jesus is stripped of his garments; 8) Jesus is crucified; 9) “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do;” 10) Jesus promises paradise; 11) “Why hast thou forsaken me?” 12) Jesus dies on the cross.
• Participants walk from station to station and a group liturgy is spoken at each station. See  www.welcomethemhomebook.com to find one version of the Way of the Cross service. Service location depends on a number of variables, including number of participants, their walking abilities, and the weather. The Way of the Cross service can be held in a church sanctuary, the church grounds, in a cemetery, or even in the neighborhood.
• If possible or desired, place artwork or artifacts at each station. You may consider placing photographs of congregants in the military or other symbols that co-mingle their suffering with the stations of the cross.
• A processional cross or a rough-hewn cross carried by one of the participants may lead the procession. When held in the sanctuary, dim the lights and use meditative music. The service normally concludes in the sanctuary with the procession of the cross.
• Offer a time for conversation and refreshments after the service.

Variation: During Lent, in preparation for Good Friday, invite veterans to journal about their experiences and memories as they relate to Jesus’ stations of the cross.