Good Friday
For Good Friday 2020, we published a 'Virtual Stations of the Cross' to be used as a digital devotional. You can find it here.
We have also created a list of Good Friday resources for children and families here.
All the poems and texts which accompany the devotional are reproduced below.
First Station: 5 Minutes (In The Garden) by KJ-52I got 5 minutes 5 minutes leftFive minutes till the soldiers till they bring me to my deathSo very close just to breathe my last breathAs I'm here in the garden I felt the heave of my chestMy disciples are asleep and they restAnd they can't seem to see just what be coming nextThrough the trees the soldiers speed from the westGetting closer and closer for me to arrestI see blood drops like beads in my sweatThey run down like a crown right down on my headI'm laid on the ground face down like I'm deadCrying out to you Father let me pass what's aheadThey pound the nails in my hands the hands and my legsAs the time runs outs then I hang and I bledThey are coming down I understand what you saidSo with 4 minutes left this is now what I did saying..Not my will but let your will be doneI got 3 minutes 3 minutes left3 minutes till the soldiers bring me to my deathI can hear them loud and clear closer then I guessedWhile Judas is coming down with the crowd and the restThey don't even understand right now what this isThey don't know who I am what I have just to giveFor ever man every girl every child every kidSee my death has been planned so many can come to liveSee I know that I got just a few minutes thenThen they'll come and they'll grab me its the beginning of the endSee I wont make a sound see I won't even defendMyself to the crowd now I'll go just with themCuz I came for this now I came for they sinI came to lay my life down then I'll take it up again2 minutes I'll be bound and I'll face what's aheadWith the words from my mouth came out then I saidI got 1 minute 1 minute left1 minute till the soldiers gone bring me to my deathI can hear all there voices its like a 100 feet aheadI can see all the torches now I know what is nextI'll be beat and tortured then struck on my headForced to carry the cross and I'll be leadUp a hill to be killed then I'm left now for deadBut now it's not my will Father I want yours now insteadAnd so I pray won't you please let this cup pass from meSee I want what you want that's all I want for meNow I was just betrayed for some fast moneyBut the ones that you gave they could never snatch from meNow my life that I gave see I gave it all awayAnd I'll be buried in a grave but I'll come back SundayI was born in a cave but I'll come back one dayBut the time's now up they coming now for me
Third Station: ‘Crucifying’ by John Donne (from La Corona)By miracles exceeding power of man,He faith in some, envy in some begat,For, what weak spirits admire, ambitious hate :In both affections many to Him ran.But O ! the worst are most, they will and can,Alas ! and do, unto th' Immaculate,Whose creature Fate is, now prescribe a fate,Measuring self-life's infinity to span,Nay to an inch. Lo ! where condemned HeBears His own cross, with pain, yet by and byWhen it bears him, He must bear more and die.Now Thou art lifted up, draw me to Thee,And at Thy death giving such liberal dole,Moist with one drop of Thy blood my dry soul.
Fourth Station: The Look by Elizabeth Barrett BrowningThe Saviour looked on Peter. Ay, no word,No gesture of reproach; the Heavens sereneThough heavy with armed justice, did not leanTheir thunders that way: the forsaken LordLooked only, on the traitor. None recordWhat that look was, none guess; for those who have seenWronged lovers loving through a death-pang keen,Or pale-cheeked martyrs smiling to a sword,Have missed Jehovah at the judgment-call.And Peter, from the height of blasphemy--'I never knew this man '--did quail and fallAs knowing straight THAT GOD; and turned freeAnd went out speechless from the face of allAnd filled the silence, weeping bitterly.
Fifth Station: Ecce Homo by Andrew HudginsChrist bends, protects his groin. Thorns gougehis forehead, and his legsare stippled with dried blood. The part of usthat’s Pilate says, Behold the man.We glare at that bound, lashed,and bloody part of us that’s Christ. We laugh, we howl,we shout. Give us Barabbas,not knowing who Barabbas is, not caring.A thief? We’ll take him anyway. A drunk?A murderer? Who cares? It’s better himThan this pale ravaged thing, this god. Bosch knows.His humans waver, laugh, then change to demonsas if they’re seized by epilepsy. It spreadsfrom eye to eye, from laugh to laugh until,incited by the ease of going mad,they go. How easy evil is! Dark voices sing,You can be evil or you can be good,but good is dull, my darling, good is dull.And we’re convinced: How lovely evil is!How lovely hell must be! Give us Barabbas!Lord Pilate clears his throat and tries again:I find no fault in this just man.It’s more than we can bear. In gothic scriptour answer floats above our upturned eyes.O crucify, we sing. O crucify him!
Eight Station: 'The Way of the Cross’ by Matt RedmanShow me the way of the cross once againDenying myself for the love that I've gainedEverything's You now, everything's changedIt's time You had my whole lifeYou can have it allShow me the way of the cross once againDenying myself for the love that I've gainedEverything's You now, everything's changedIt's time You had my whole lifeYou can have it allYes, I resolve to give it allSome things must die, some things must liveNot "what can I gain," but "what can I give"If much is required when much is receivedThen You can have my whole lifeJesus have it allI've given like a beggar but lived like the richAnd crafted myself a more comfortable crossYet what I am called to is deeper than thisIt's time You had my whole lifeYou can have it allYes, I resolve to give it allSome things must die, some things must liveNot "what can I gain," but "what can I give"If much is required when much is receivedThen You can have my whole lifeJesus have it all
Tenth Station: XI: Crucifixion by Malcolm Guite (from 'Sounding the Seasons')XI: Crucifixion: Jesus is nailed to the crossSee, as they strip the robe from off his backAnd spread his arms and nail them to the cross,The dark nails pierce him and the sky turns black,And love is firmly fastened onto loss.But here a pure change happens. On this treeLoss becomes gain, death opens into birth.Here wounding heals and fastening makes freeEarth breathes in heaven, heaven roots in earth.And here we see the length, the breadth, the heightWhere love and hatred meet and love stays trueWhere sin meets grace and darkness turns to lightWe see what love can bear and be and do,And here our saviour calls us to his sideHis love is free, his arms are open wide.