We had such a wonderful Good Friday! It wasn't a day of celebration as much as a day of remembering and of worship (tomorrow will be a huge day of celebration!!). Our church has done a wonderful stations of the cross display for the last few years. I'm not that familiar with liturgical language, but for those of you who may not have heard that phrase "stations of the cross", it involves sitting and reflecting on Jesus' suffering at 7 different points beginning with His prayer in the garden of Gethsemane and ending with his burial after crucifixion.
I was originally not planning on going this year, because we took our whole family last year and it was pretty much an exercise in keeping everyone quiet, chasing the 2 year old, shushing everyone again, and telling them to keep their hands off the props. NOT a worshipful experience for any of us. But when my friend Susanne mentioned it again, I realized that with my hubby working from home I could take the older children two at a time, so that is what we did and I am so glad we went!
Our church uses almost its entire (large) foyer for this, and black fabric is hung from floor to ceiling as "walls", helping to block out light. They have printed the corresponding scripture on large posters to go along with each station, and there are places to sit and read these scriptures and pray and reflect for as long as you'd like. It's also pretty hands on. In the station where Pontius Pilate washes his hands, absolving himself from responsibility for Jesus' death, there was a bowl of water and a towel, so we could each wash our hands too. In the station that reflects on his beating, there were quite a few props from old plays/musicals our choir has done. There was a fake pillar with chains hanging from it, and a whip and wooden staffs. We read the scripture at that station and talked about how Jesus was flogged (beaten), hit in the head with a staff, spit upon, and slapped and hit. We talked at length about WHY this was done to Jesus, and why He endured it. It was very powerful.
I took L and C first, and when we went there was no-one else there. It was very quiet and we had the opportunity to spend lots of time at each station. At the crucifixion station they had erected a wooden cross and had paper and pens, nails and hammers available. We were to write a message, or our name, or whatever we wanted to write on the paper, and then nail it to the cross. L and C spent quite a bit of time thinking about the sins they wanted to write on the papers. C decided not to write anything at all, but L had me help him write something he was sorry for on his card, and then we nailed it to the cross. The cross was full of papers from previous worshippers. I think it was a powerful visual to my boys that it was OUR sins which nailed Jesus to the cross, not His.
When I took the older two children there were many others there and we had to wait before proceeding into each station. It wasn't quite as worshipful an atmostphere, but still very meaningful.
Our whole family then attended the Good Friday worship service in the evening, which was another wonderful time to reflect on Jesus' suffering and all He went through for us. For me. I can't comprehend love like that, but I'm so grateful to live in it each and every day.
last night's service was very poignant. R and i stayed and watch ThePassionOfTheChrist, our second time. he didn't want to see it again becuz it is so horrificly graphic and so i figured i'd just be watching alone. but then i think he felt bad leaving me there so he stayed. just like last year, we watched in the very dark, very empty auditorium, arms wrapped around each other and heads bowed during the scourging scene which just goes on and on and on and i can hardly bear to stay and hear the sounds even tho my eyes are closed. it's so powerful and watching it on GoodFriday makes it even more meaningful.
ReplyDeletei thot the broken pottery pieces pressed into the cross was such a great exercise for us too. i'm thankful for our church.
Yes, I'm so thankful for our church too! Our kids wanted to stay for the movie sooooo bad (they had no idea what it was, they just love movies). I told them that it wasn't appropriate for them yet, and that it was barely appropriate for me.
ReplyDeleteI was able to go through the stations of the cross on Tuesday (at Bible Study) and was so moved (and also so thankful for our church). I really really wanted to take my kids through it last night but we didn't make it to the service (for many different reasons). I am so disappointed!! I had great hopes of taking our time and really praying and talking through the journey. sigh. Maybe next year.
ReplyDeleteI love reading about your experience with your kids and how meaningful it was!!
Y and I have still not seen The Passion of the Christ. I feel bad admitting that but I just wasn't quite ready to see it when it came out at the theater and haven't rented it since. I keep thinking about renting it but I'm kind of...I don't know how to explain it, not so much scared, I don't know.
votemom, how old was R when he first saw it?
last year was the first time for both of us seeing it. when it came out in theatres, B took P as P really wanted to see it. E has never seen it.
ReplyDeletei would recommend not seeing it on dvd... it's one of those movies that (at least for me) is really enhanced by the big screen and being viewed in a place with no distractions (i.e. messy house, the dryer buzzer going off, etc.)
just my opinion tho.
Targetshopper: I agree with votemom that a large screen would carry more of an impact when viewing this film. But if you have a large screen TV (which I think you do, right?) that might work well too. After I saw it for the first time I was sortof embarrassed to admit that it didn't have a huge impact on me immediately while viewing. There had been so much hype about the movie before it was released, that I couldn't get away from the fact that this was an ACTOR, not really my Lord. But later, as I reflected on what I had seen (and heard) it had a greater impact on me then. Maybe that's how I process things? Anyway, it's one of those movies that I don't need to see really often, but I'm really glad I saw it once.
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