Stations of the Cross

Q: I’m curious about the “Stations of the Cross.” What are they and are they found in Scripture?

A: The Stations of the Cross remember various stages of the Passion. Some Lutheran, Episcopal, and other churches set them up, although they are most used in Catholicism. I’ve seen several churches that have plaques or the like indoors, but they began as outdoor shrines, where one could “walk with the Savior,” stopping to think and pray at each.

They are most usually arranged at intervals around the walls of a church nave. The traditional Stations trace a path known as the Via Dolorosa (Way of Sorrow) as Jesus was led out from Jerusalem to be crucified.

The Stations may be of stone, wood, or metal, sculptured or carved, or they may be painted or engraved. Some are renowned art works, such as those in the cathedral in Antwerp, Belgium.

The construction and use of the Stations become common somewhere around the end of the seventeenth century and but they are now found in most Catholic churches.

For some time, the number of Stations varied, but fourteen are now prescribed by Roman Catholic authority. As you read about them below, you see that some have Scriptural background, while others are derived from pious fable or myth.

The fourteen accepted by Rome are 1) Christ condemned to death; 2) the cross laid upon Him; 3) His first fall; 4) He meets His mother along the way; 5) Simon of Cyrene is forced to carry the cross; 6) Christ’s face is wiped by Veronica (the origin of the story of the veil that supposedly held the image of His face from that time forward); 7) His second fall; 8) He meets the women of Jerusalem; 9) His third fall; 10) Stripped of His garments; 11) His crucifixion; 12) His death on the cross; 13) His body taken down from the cross; and 14) laid in the tomb. In non-Roman Catholic versions, the multiple falls are usually omitted, as is the Veronica Station.

A variant that doesn’t follow these exact steps originated in the Vienna area around the year 1800. Its eleven steps are 1) Agony in the Garden; 2) Betrayal by Judas; 3) Scourging; 4) Crowning with thorns; 5) Christ condemned to death; 6) Meeting Simon of Cyrene; 7) Women of Jerusalem; 8) Tasting the gall; 9) Nailed to the cross; 10) Death on the cross; and 11) His body taken down from the cross. Those uncomfortable with the Roman Catholic insertions of non-Scriptural Stations choose this latter variant or some other format that holds only Biblically attested events.

I’ve seen some displays that work a Pietà (a portrayal of the dead Christ in His mother’s arms) into the station where He is removed from the cross.

A few other optional stations have also arisen. One shows the Savior’s agony in the Garden prior to His arrest. Another, gaining considerable popularity, concludes the Stations with the Resurrection.

Indoor settings are normally permanently mounted for display and use as devotional aids. This is so for many outdoor Stations also, although some are only displayed during the Lenten season.

The outdoor arrangement is becoming more common in many parts of the United States. Churches will set them on their lawns, in their parking lots, or elsewhere room permits, often including benches or other seating for those who wish to stop for a time to rest, contemplate, and pray at each Station.

However the stations are displayed, they should not be considered as granting some special spiritual blessing; nor should hosting churches or individuals force visitors to the Stations pray or meditate according to any one set form.

Still, when used correctly by faithful Christians, the Stations of the Cross are a powerful and potentially edifying series of devotional settings.

So how does one approach the Stations of the Cross? The simple answer is that Christians should come with faith grounded in the death and resurrection of Jesus as recorded in Holy Scripture.

Beyond this, the believer should avoid seeking emotional stimulation. I don’t mean that we view the Stations as zombies. The visual power of the images coupled with the testimony of Scripture will, of course, trigger our emotions but placing emotionalism above edification certainly lessens their spiritual impact.

To guard against this, it helps to approach the Stations after having recently read the Scriptural accounts of the Passion or following a sermon on Christ’s suffering and death. Take along prepared prayers, meditate on the Ten Commandments and your failure to keep them, pray the Our Father, and confess the Creed.

Some people might want to travel the Stations by themselves. This can help them look honestly at their own sins without fearing the judgment of companions. However, others may find greater benefit in going with close friends or family. This allows them to comfort, pray with and for, and forgive each other. It also gives the individuals opportunity to confess their faith with like-minded people, perhaps encouraging them also to be more comfortable sharing their faith with unbelievers.

Obviously, Lent is the peak season for meditation upon the Stations of the Cross. Yet is there any time of the year when sin fails to oppress us, doubt assail us, or Satan confound us? If you find value in such contemplation during Lententide, you will during the rest of the year, as well.

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Walter Snyder is a Lutheran pastor, conference speaker, author of the book What Do Lutherans Believe, and writer of numerous published devotions, prayers, and sermons.

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Shrove Tuesday

Q: What is Shroud Tuesday?

A: I believe that you are thinking of “Shrove Tuesday,” the last day before Ash Wednesday and Lent’s beginning. This day marks the end of the Carnival celebrations in Latin America and elsewhere. “Shrove” comes from “shrive,” an English word that’s almost lost in current usage. It involves confessing sins and receiving absolution. In many places, Shrove Tuesday actually is the third and final day of Shrovetide, days set aside for making pre-Lenten confession which also gave opportunity for a final round of festivities before the penitential season began. At this time, the things not to be eaten and drunk during the Lenten season were consumed or removed from the home.

Strictly imposed Lenten fasts include the removal of oils and other fats, sugar, and meat from the diet. People often try to use them up before Ash Wednesday. Large amounts of food might be cooked and eaten during these last few days. In parts of the world, this meant eating pancakes, since they contain oil, are cooked in it or other fat, and are often covered with the fat and sugar of butter and syrup. For many, this day brings a great “farewell dinner” for these sweet and fatty foods. In some places, it also means annual pancake races. Mardi Gras (literally Fat Tuesday) was named for this final pre-Lent feast.

Americans are probably familiar with the pre-Lenten partying in New Orleans. Although shameful excesses occur there and elsewhere, festivities such as Shrovetide, Mardi Gras, and Fat Tuesday began as ways of preparing hearts and households for the forty days of Lent. As such, even celebratory eating and drinking may be done in thanksgiving to our gracious God. Feasting before giving up some or all of these “luxuries” for a time helps remind us of our Savior leaving heaven and setting aside for a time His divine glory and might through His incarnation, life, and passion.

Reprinted from 2007.

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Walter Snyder is a Lutheran pastor, conference speaker, author of the book What Do Lutherans Believe, and writer of numerous published devotions, prayers, and sermons.

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Dirty Secrets of the “Pure” Church

You can’t vacuum the Church. No, I don’t mean that you won’t be able to clean the carpet, dust the corners, or otherwise tidy up your building. What I mean is that you cannot practice true Christianity apart from Christ, Christians, and the world that surrounds us. The Church isn’t a sterile lab with carefully controlled experiments. It’s filled with a dazzling array of variables, many of which make us uncomfortable.

Granted, Christianity is, by nature, pure as its Head, Jesus Christ. However, it’s also dirty, bloody, and often — at least in our own eyes — a total mess. Our surface views often show an entity crying out for order, cleanliness, and careful regulation. And as we look around, we discover many instances of people attempting to establish and maintain a “pure” Christian Church. Yet they always end up having neither Church nor purity.

Obviously, when we consider Christ, Christians, and the world, Jesus is the most important of these emphases — yet some people make serious efforts to get Him out of their “Christianity” as much as possible. Sometimes this is done by partial omission, when Jesus is accepted as a great teacher, an outstanding moralist, a good man, or even God in a limited sense.

Many people, appalled by the bloody, messy Jesus of Calvary — and by crucifixes and other religious works of art emphasizing His atoning sacrifice — opt for Friend Jesus while ignoring what His friendship with fallen man cost Him. This, in turn, led to parodies of what is already a parody of true Christianity, such as the Buddy Christ of the film Dogma.

Playing His assets against each other is another means used to marginalize the Lord. When His holiness trumps His love, you get people who wage protests because they worship a God who hates sin so completely that they feel compelled to picket the funerals of soldiers who die defending a country that refuses to persecute those of a different moral code. Others are so blinded by their image of a loving God that they refuse to acknowledge Jesus’ claims that He will return in judgment and that unrepentant unbelievers will face everlasting punishment.

This sort of distortion continues with Environmentalist Jesus, Outsider Jesus, Republican Jesus, Democrat Jesus, and all the other false christs substituted for the genuine article.

So if you want to be truly involved with the authentic Church, you need first to believe in an authentic Jesus Christ. This includes God and man, blood and dirt, absolute judgment and unlimited love — the whole incarnate package as revealed in the Scriptures and confessed in the Creeds. Until the end of time, the pure doctrine of our pure Savior is the only purity we can expect.

Next, you need to be in fellowship (Greek: κοινωνία; communion, as the King James translation says) with Christians. We’re not talking about a group of pumped-up do-gooders, moralists, or crusaders. I mean real Christians ... the blood-stained butcher, the flour-covered baker, the wax-spattered candlestick maker ... also the weak and the meek, the strong and the dynamic, the tolerable and those who make you glad you have caller ID.

Yep, you’re stuck with liars and cheats, with people of loose tempers, loose mouths, and (gasp!) loose morals — completely surrounded by born and bred sinners! And true Christianity doesn’t just mean acknowledging that they’re believers, just as you are. It means welcoming them to worship and supporting them in their daily lives. True Christians don’t separate fellow believers into black, white, or red Christians. The only black and white that matters is the black and white contrast of sin and grace, Law and Gospel, damnation or salvation and the only red worth anything is the blood that Jesus spilled for us.

Obviously, where we live makes a difference concerning with whom we worship but any congregation or larger corporate body that excludes others by race, wealth, language, or the like also excludes the Lord of the Church from its midst. More subtle discrimination is also wrong, whether it’s those who resent the racket of young children disturbing the tranquility of their worship or those whose contemporary practices push old-timers out the door.

Then there’s the matter of being “in the world (cf. John 17:11)” without joining ourselves to its sinful desires and practices. The Church remains on earth until the end of time as the means through which our Lord reaches out to sinners, inviting them to faith, forgiveness, and fellowship. If your church is barely distinguishable from the surrounding society, then it’s barely distinguishable as part of the body of Christ. Pandering to the world never grows the Church.

Likewise, if your church won’t reach out in love to those in need — whether spiritual, physical, or emotional — then it’s not acting in the manner modeled and prescribed by the Lord of the Church. Jesus calls us to get “down and dirty” with the citizens of this world without “wallowing in the mud” — just as He did during His years on earth.

Pure doctrine, rightly taught and correctly believed, practiced by forgiven sinners in fellowship with each other and in compassion for the world ... now we’re starting to think, look, and act like the Church for which Jesus prayed in John 17. And what if we fall short in accepting and embracing living as Christ’s people? Even if “anyone” — or any congregation or any church body — “does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. (1 John 2:1)”

May Christ grant each of us the courage — not of our convictions, but of His — to live lovingly and faithfully in His service, both for the benefit of our fellow believers and for the whole wide world around us. Instead of longing for a sanitized Church, may we pray for hearts cleansed and purified by the blood of the Lamb, that we may plainly speak and live holy lives in the world until we achieve our eternal, perfect home.

Scripture quoted from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version™, © 2001 by Crossway Bibles.

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Walter Snyder is a Lutheran pastor, conference speaker, author of the book What Do Lutherans Believe, and writer of numerous published devotions, prayers, and sermons.

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