Churches are finding creative ways to depict and re-enact the Way of the Cross to connect with people today:
Way of the Cross procession relates Christ’s pain to today
In the DesMoinesRegister.com
At 58 pounds, the symbolic wooden cross is cumbersome when propped against the shoulder of a modern-day disciple. The walk is long and tedious, despite thoughtful, reflective mini-presentations interjected along the way.
But experiencing the annual non-denominational Way of the Cross procession is often moving and memorable, participants say.
For more than 30 years, local Good Friday observances have included a solemn afternoon trek of religious faithful through downtown Des Moines. This year, the event will begin at 1:30 p.m. Friday in front of First United Methodist Church at 10th and Pleasant streets. Organizers expect the walk to take around two hours.
“We see the walk that Jesus took to his crucifixion as a powerful symbol of the everyday suffering that we, as humans, experience on a daily basis,” said Judy Latessa of Urbandale, president of The Bridge, a ministry of four downtown churches sponsoring the event.
Local artists interpret Jesus’ final steps to celebrate Easter
In the Fort Worth Star Telegram
From modeling clay to quilted tapestry, local artists tapped their creativity to interpret Jesus’ final steps on the way to his crucifixion.
St. Martin-in-the-Fields Episcopal Church is marking the Easter season with its second annual exhibit of local artists’ interpretations of the Stations of the Cross.
The exhibit runs through at least the second weekend in May at the church, which straddles Southlake and Keller.
The exhibits’ popularity prompted the church to bring it back, with the intention of making it an annual event.
“I had seen this done at a big church I was visiting in California,” said Valerie Reinke, education director for the church. “I was very impressed and decided to import the idea.
“I think it offers a new way of viewing something that we have been looking at our entire lives,” she said.