Welcome

This journal has been provided to guide you through nine prayer stations that will take you through the last hours of Christ’s life before His crucifixion, and His burial. Our prayer is that you will be humbled and deeply moved by your experience in the labyrinth. May God bless your time with Him as you come to a deeper understanding of the awful and beautiful sacrifice Jesus made for you.

As you move from station to station, you will also find numbers to help guide you. This guide contains suggestions for reflection and prayer activities at each station.

Station #1: Preparation

Luke 22:14-16

When the hour came, Jesus took His place at the table with the apostles. He said to them, ‘I have wanted so much to eat this Passover meal with you before I suffer! For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it is given its full meaning in the Kingdom of God.’

Before Jesus began His painful journey to the cross, He shared a final Passover meal with His disciples. One element of a traditional Passover meal is bitter herbs. Bitter herbs are eaten to remember the bitter and harsh experiences they endured during their time as slaves in Egypt.

As you begin your prayer journey, sit for some moments to quiet your heart and mind. Take the lettuce and dip it into the horseradish. Let the sharp taste linger as you walk with Jesus through His journey to the cross.

John 8:34-36

“I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave of sin. A slave is not a permanent member of the family, but a son is part of the family forever. So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free.”

Station #2: Garden of Gethsemane

Luke 22:41-42,44

And he withdrew from them about a stone's throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

The agony that Jesus felt in the Garden as He prayed to God His Father, was real, just as many of our prayers to God are frought with anxiety, desperation, and raw human emotion. He prayed as us. And in the end it was the will of God He desired above all things, even to the point of His own death. “Not my will but Yours”

What is it that you need to surrender to the will of God?

Artwork by Dave Chisessi

Station #3: Denial

Matthew 27:69-74

Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. And a servant girl came up to him and said, “You also were with Jesus the Galilean.” But he denied it before them all, saying, “I do not know what you mean.”And when he went out to the entrance, another servant girl saw him, and she said to the bystanders, “This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.” And again he denied it with an oath: “I do not know the man.”  After a little while the bystanders came up and said to Peter, “Certainly you too are one of them, for your accent betrays you.” Then he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, “I do not know the man.” And immediately the rooster crowed.

Luke 22:61-62

And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him, “Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly.

He became an abstract version of himself.

Peter denied the Christ three times. He did the unthinkable. Jesus said he would. Was it calculated? Did he intend to deny Jesus three times? Perhaps not, but as the early dark morning wore on, and the accusations that he was “with Jesus” kept mounting up he got better at it.

With the first accusation it could have been out of fear when he said ‘I don’t know what you are talking about.’ The second denial comes out stronger, with more conviction ‘I don’t know the man!’ With the third accusation there is rage and cursing, perhaps balling his hands in fists to emphasize his point, ‘I DO NOT KNOW THE MAN!!!’

Then the rooster crowed and the damage was done as Jesus looked at him. Peter was himself again… but broken and ashamed… but only for a little time when his Hope would rise with the Christ he denied.

2 Corinthians 5:17

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

Can we also be guilty of denying Christ in our actions and deeds with out even trying? If so take a few moments to let that go and walk in His forgiveness.

Artwork by Joel Fairley

Station #4: Take Up Your Cross

“And Jesus, bearing His cross, went out to a place called the Place of the Skull, which is called, in Hebrew, Golgotha.” John 19:17

Jesus’ commitment to us meant that He was willing to carry the cross to His death. His call to us is no less significant. We are to crucify our own sins and to put away all those things in our lives that get in the way of following God.

Now take one of the small crosses and begin the long walk to the cross that Jesus took. As you walk on His path, think about what Jesus must have felt.

Ask God to reveal to you the things you need to sacrifice for Jesus, just as He sacrificed for you. Will you make the commitment to daily carry your cross for Jesus, just as He carried His cross for you?

Artwork by Joel Fairley

Station #5: Crucifixion

Matthew 27:35a

“Then they crucified Him….”

Think about the nails that went through the hands and feet of Jesus. He was willing to go through this excruciating pain so that we wouldn’t have to pay the price for our sins.

Take a piece of paper to write down your own sins and nail them to the cross. Ask for God’s forgiveness and commit to leaving your sins on the cross, and not being burdened with them anymore.

Artwork by Joel Fairley

Station #6: The Presence of God

John 19:28-30

After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Matthew 27:51

And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. With the last bitter taste of this world still on his tongue Jesus died having completed redemption’s work…

At that moment in the Temple the veil that separated the Holy of Holies, where only a select few could have access to the presence of God, was rent in two as if by the hand of God Himself, making His presence accessible to everyone…

The death of Christ made it possible for us to receive the Lord’s blessing which continues to be poured down upon all who believe… which is the gift of His presence.

Artwork by Joel Fairley

Station #7: Burial

John 19: 38-39

Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs.

Galatians 2:20

My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Your old self has died and you now live through faith in Jesus. Your debt was paid and you now rely on His power to live in a way that pleases Him.

Write your name on a strip of cloth and put your “old self” into the tomb.

Artwork by Tarmo Pasto

Station #8: Resurrection

Matthew 28:16

Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come see the place where he lay.

Jesus was Dead. He died. That is an irrefutable fact. The Body of Christ was shrouded in the black ness of death. The heart that once beat out the rhythm of that which was His life, lay quiet in the tomb…

Until in the stillness of a new day, an answer to the finality of death rained down from Heaven, and death fell away, and the heart of Jesus roared back to life!

A life He now gives to us, and to all who believe in His rising.

As a child once said “Jesus rose from the grave so He could live in our heart.”

Artwork by Joel Fairley

Station #9: The Seven I Ams

As we reflect on Jesus’ journey to the cross where we see that through His Passion and sacrifice, He gave everything to us, all that He was and is. How do we respond who Jesus is?

Jesus, who the Bible describe as “The Lion of the Tribe of Judah,” tells us who He is.

John 6:35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life;  whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

John 10:7  “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep…”

John 10:14  “I am the good shepherd.”

John 8:12  “I am the light of the world.”

John 11:14  Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life…”

John 14:6  Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

John 15:14  “I am the true vine…”

With the risen Lord as our guide and friend, we can walk in His ways as He gives us ways to walk in, through the power of the Holy Spirit. AMEN!

Artwork by Joel Fairley

Station # 10: Remembrance

1 Corinthians 11:23-16

“The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread,  and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.”  In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”

As you reflect on your experience here today, take the communion elements, and give thanks. You are cleansed, forgiven and freed from your sin!

Thank you so much for joining us on this spiritual journey. We hope and pray that God has moved in your heart through this experience. The cross is not the end of Jesus’ Passion story; join us on Sunday morning to celebrate the power of the Resurrection!