This last week I had a post-holy week debrief with my leadership team from Iglesia de la Resurrección and Santa Cruz. As we went around the circle, each individual told their most memorable moment of Holy Week. To my surprise, almost every leader mentioned our Good Friday procession.
One of my leaders told how this procession helped them enter into to the reality of Jesus' suffering. One leader mentioned how it brought her back to her childhood days of walking in procession during Holy Week with her grandmother in Mexico.
"These traditions are a part of our heritage, but when we come to this country they are lost. No one does processions here." For many it was the first time in years that they had been a part of one.
What exactly was this procession? On Good Friday, Iglesia de la Resurrección joined with our new church plant, Santa Cruz, to do an outdoor stations of the cross through neighborhood streets in Glen Ellyn. We sang and walked, pausing at various points for readings and prayers, marking each step of Jesus' journey towards Golgotha. Our journey began with a prayer: "Lord, allow us to walk with you in remembrance of these sacred mysteries" and between each stations we sang "I will walk in the presence of the Lord."
At the stripping of Jesus' clothes we prayed for the homeless and the naked. When Jesus' cross was taken by Simon of Cyrene, we prayed for immigrants and a just immigration policy. When his hands and side were pierced we prayed for all those suffering from violence in Mexico and Latin America.
The response from those we passed by was mixed. As we went by the first house, the windows which were partly open were quickly shuttered closed. Some passersby exchanged bewildered looks and hurried on their way. At another house, as we paused to do the readings for one of the stations, a man reverently knelt down at his window in prayer.
For all of us it was a vivid reminder of the public and scandalous nature of Jesus' crucifixion and death and of Jesus' invitation to walk every day and everywhere in the light of his presence. It brought all the more close to home our parish's mission statement:
"Walking with Christ, Transformed by him, Transforming the world.
Caminando Con Cristo, Cambiados por él, Cambiando al mundo."
Caminando Con Cristo, Cambiados por él, Cambiando al mundo."
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