In 2007, my Worship Pastor asked me to help her figure out a way to display the artwork that accompanied a devotional book she wanted to use for Good Friday. Her intention was to simply have me frame the artwork, but she handed off the booklet for me to read so I’d know what it was about, and she got a whole lot more than she bargained for!
Having been raised Protestant, this was my first exposure to the Catholic tradition of Stations of the Cross. As I read, words jumped out at me, and rather than simply framing the artwork, I envisioned a dramatic set for each of the stations.
As a Protestant Church, we include only stations that are mentioned in the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John in the Bible). The Catholic version includes stations that have been passed down through oral tradition, but are not included in the Bible.
We’ve continued the tradition as Way of the Cross each Good Friday since. Each year we’ve made improvements and small changes. It is a self-paced, family friendly open house meditation gallery where people experience a multi-sensory portrayal of Jesus’ final hours from in the Garden of Gethsemane to multiple trials, his flogging, crucifixion, and burial.
We rapidly grew our hours from one day (Good Friday) to three days which helps accommodate various work and travel schedules during Holy Week. We typically open on Wednesday and invite our youth groups, Thursday often is the day we invite area senior residencies to bring a van or bus load of seniors, and Friday seems to draw many families.
Thousands have attended and as other church leaders have visited or heard about what we’ve done, they have asked me to help them create this for their own churches. I have since created a curriculum and documentation so other churches can easily repeat this without huge investment of time, money, or paid staff. It’s easily accomplished with a few volunteers.