A below-the-waterline value of ours at Lake Forest Church is to be an ancient-future church. This week we'll attempt to live it out by opening the worship center Wed-Fri for people to 'Pray the Stations of the Cross.'
What do we mean by ancient-future church? 'Future' as in modern worship style & music, and worship elements like spoken word and illustrative short films. These practices are an attempt to speak timeless truth and sacred experience in the heart/head language of our current cultural sensibilities.
'Ancient' as in we regularly seek to lean into some of the most effective ancient worship and discipleship practices from 2,000+ years of Christian experience. For example, in our worship planning room, we have a cork board with cards pinned to it, each labeled with a different historical church worship practice. We generally choose one of them to use or reinterpret for each sermon series. Some recent examples have been singing The Doxology to end worship weekly in one series, reciting the Apostle's Creed weekly during another series, and more.
This Easter week we once again invite folks to the ancient practice of 'Praying the Stations of the Cross,' as a way to meditate slowly on Jesus' journey to the cross, prepare our spirit for Easter worship, and identify with him more fully in our union with Him by faith. We are doing this instead of a Good Friday worship service this year. There are 14 traditional stations that will progress around the walls of our worship center, and out into the Prayer Garden (when weather is nice Thurs/Fri). Each station has original art work commissioned by us, a brief passage of scripture, and a poetic prayer for each of us to pray or make into our own. The artwork is by a former staff member of ours, the prayers by an Irish poet. Both are detailed below, along with a bit of history on this practice, copied from the handout that will be available to all.
The LFCH worship center will be open, with contemplative music playing softly, for this prayer journey this Wednesday through Friday 9am-5pm. Communion will be offered on Good Friday from 11am-1pm, and from 3-5m, at the end of the stations. All this while observing distancing and masking carefully. I invite you to try it with an open mind, if you've never prayed the stations before.
"Jesus is Beaten and Scourged" by Melody Hogan
We want to be sure we are never a modern only, happy slappy clappy church (though we are certainly happy and clappy often!), but that we also lean into tried and true ways of experiencing the awe, mystery, truth and wonder of our faith in Christ. Particularly when we gather for weekly worship together. 'Ancient-Future' is how we talk about that in a 'both/and' sort of way. Our long-time staff member Tracy Grubbs is our liturgist in chief, who always lovingly and artfully puts together events like Ash Wednesday and Stations of the Cross - thank you Tracy for serving us all so well.
As promised, here's a bit more about the origin of Stations of the Cross, and the artwork and poetic prayers in this year's edition:
The Way of the Cross:
During the Turkish occupation of the Holy Land in the late
Middle Ages, when pilgrims were prevented from visiting its
sacred sites, the custom arose of making replicas of those
holy places, where the faithful might come to pray. One of the most popular of these
devotions was the “Stations of the Way of the Cross,” which were imitations of the
“stations,” or stopping places of prayer on the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem. By the late
sixteenth century the fourteen stations, as we know them today, were erected in
almost all Catholic churches.
At each of the fourteen stations:
-Read the Scripture, view the image, pray the accompanying written prayer aloud
or silently.
-Then meditate on the prayer and image, making the prayer your own. Either gently
repeat the written prayer or pray your own life into the subject of that prayer
A Preparatory Prayer-- St. Francis
Most merciful Lord,
With a contrite heart and penitent spirit I bow down before Thy divine Majesty.
I adore Thee as my supreme Lord and Master. I believe in Thee, I hope in Thee,
I love Thee above all things. I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, my only
and supreme God.
I firmly resolve to amend my life; and although I am unworthy to obtain mercy, yet
looking upon Thy holy Cross, I am filled with peace and consolation. I will, therefore,
meditate on Thy sufferings, and visit the Stations. O Loving Jesus, inflame my cold
heart with Thy love, that I may live and die in union with Thee.
Amen.
About the artist:
Melody Hogan’s series of artwork for the “Stations of the Cross” reflects her love
of graphic design and simplified shapes and forms. Her abstractions serve as
connection points that invite hearts to earnestly engage in the sacred and
solemn observance of Holy Week as if they were hazy memories experienced
personally by the viewer.
The materials of reclaimed cardboard, rusted metal and pastel chalk were
chosen to represent the earthly, deteriorating nature of our lives as human
beings. These mundane materials also highlight the mystery of the incarnation
of God: Fully God in all His glory choosing to be Fully Man, subjected to the
constraints of a broken and fallen world.
This body of work is intended to offer us a unique opportunity to not only
witness but share in the Passions (pain and suffering) of the Christ (the Anointed
One).
It also serves as a fitting reminder of this verse in Matthew:
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy
and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in
heaven. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Matthew 6:19-2
Learn more about Melody's art and work here https://melodyhogan.com/
About the poet:
Pádraig Ó Tuama is a poet and theologian based in Belfast. ... He is the leader of the Corrymeela
Community, a Christian witness to peace in Northern Ireland, and is the author of two books of poetry,
Readings from the Book of Exile and Sorry for Your Troubles
the Prayers in this piece are from Daily Prayer with the Corrymeela Community
