Churches to help congregants join in Jesus’ journey
For Christians, reflecting on Jesus' journey to the cross is an integral part of the days and weeks leading up to Easter Sunday.
In many liturgical churches like Roman Catholic and Episcopal parishes, church members contemplate the Stations of the Cross, a devotional in which the faithful visit different stations created in a church setting that represent Jesus' road to Calvary. Two metroarea churches are offering a different spin on this approach in the coming days.
Henderson Hills Baptist Church will host its Good Friday Worship Experience on Friday at 1200 E Interstate 35 Frontage Road in Edmond. First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) of Oklahoma City, 3700 N Walker, will offer prayer stations based on "Jesus' Last Words from the Cross" each weekday during Holy Week.
Kevin Nicholin, executive pastor at Henderson Hills, said the church has been offering the Good Friday come-and-go experience for several years. He said it is intended as a very personal, individual experience and generally takes about an hour to complete.
"From my perspective, it's one of the best things we do. They see Jesus and what he went through in a very tangible way," Nicholin said.
The minister said guests are given a guidebook that helps them as they walk through the different stations. He said the adult guides are available in English, Spanish, Korean and Farsi, and there is even a children's guide.
The stations are primarily featured in the church's worship center. Nicholin
said the area is interactive. For instance, a station focusing on the Last Supper Jesus had with his disciples includes food that visitors will be invited to eat. Another station, a hand-washing station, is the first that people will approach during experience. Church leaders said visitors will be encouraged to wash their hands as a symbol of “coming before God with clean hands.”
Nicholin said other stations include the Garden of Gethsemane, which will feature a garden-like area and a station that will feature coins symbolic of Judas’ betrayal of Jesus for money.
“It’s a pretty moving experience and very quiet and subdued,” he said. “Family come together, and it’s a wonderful thing to see parents taking their children through.”
Meanwhile, the Rev. John Malget, senior pastor at First Christian-Oklahoma City, said he offered prayer stations on Good Friday at a previous church he served but decided to offer a similar event at his metro-area church over a five-day period to allow more people an opportunity to participate.
Malget said each prayer station emphasizes one saying of Jesus from the cross. For example, from John 19:28, Jesus says, “I thirst.”
“As you spend time praying and contemplating this saying, you will be reminded of Jesus’ encounter with the woman at the well where he called himself ‘Living Water,’” Malget said.
“May we respond as she did: ‘Lord, give me this water so that I may never be thirsty.’ “
Malget said Holy Week is a great time to offer the prayer stations because they remind “us that we all share in the crucifixion of Jesus, that his death and resurrection were rooted in God’s great love for the whole world — not just for one individual, or select churches or denominations.”
“We are united not because we all believe the same, or think the same, but because we pursue God together,” he said.