The Stations of the Cross is a Christian tradition based around remembering the journey that took Jesus to his death on a Roman cross in occupied Palestine. It takes many forms and can be followed at any time of the year but is particularly appropriate on Good Friday — today!
I’ve been to two events this year. This morning I joined a group of churches from East Oxford, including St Clement’s, for the annual walk down Cowley Road. With its colour and pressing together of diverse cultures it is a major artery for the city of Oxford and an excellent location to reimagine by moving along between the buildings of Cowley Methodist and SS Mary and John remembering five key scenes and related themes in the journey of Christ’s Passion. I have just got back from a second event at St Francis on Hollow Way, which makes use of a series of semi-relief sculptures that are permanently on the walls inside the building as well as a complementary set of posters.
Perhaps tonight I’ll make a third journey round that track and rewatch Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ, which also draws heavily on the narrative of the stations to provide its structure. It is a day for travelling and, of course, it is not a journey without purpose. Here we are at Friday but Sunday, Easter Sunday is rolling down the line.