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Stations of the Resurrection
Norwood Chapel 20 May 2009
The Stations of the Resurrection, the Via Lucis, were discovered in the ancient Catacombs of St. Callistus in Rome. They reflect upon the final chapters of each of the four gospels, which narrate the appearances of the Risen Christ to his disciples. Each reading will be followed by a short reflection, 2 or 3 minutes of silence and then a prayer.
Reading: 'For we have grown into union with Christ through a death like His, we shall also be united with Him in the resurrection....If, then, we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall live with Him....Consequently, you too must think of yourselves as being dead to sin and living for God in Christ Jesus: (Romans 6: 5, 8, 11).
Reflection: Let us walk this pilgrimage of faith, as daughters and sons of the light and as witnesses of the Risen Lord. Let us meditate upon the resurrection of Christ and discover the pathway of light that Christ blazes through our lives.
Silence
Prayer
May the crucified Christ shatter our brittle fear,
draw all people to his glory,
and make us servants living for the world.
Amen
Jesus Rises from the Dead
Reading: "The angel of the Lord said to the women: 'Do not be afraid! I know that you are seeking Jesus the crucified.
He is not here, for He has been raised just as He said."
(Matthew 28: 5b-6a).
Reflection: On the first day of the week, at the dawning of the new creation, Jesus arose from the dead. No one saw the event, yet like the apostles, we are called to be witnesses of this central faith event. The light and power of Christ's death and resurrection has become the pattern for our living. May we recognize Christ's dying and rising in our midst.
Silence
Prayer:
God of new creation,
from the womb of earth you raised the Lord of life:
may we receive the word of women
who braved the soldier's spears
and met him in the dawning light;
may we live with morning joy
that love will never die,
through Jesus Christ, the resurrection and the life.
Amen.
Hymn 188 All you who seek the Lord who died
The Risen Lord Appears on the Road to Emmaus
Reading: "...It happened that while they were conversing and debating, Jesus Himself drew near and walked with them, but their eyes were prevented from recognizing Him.... And He said to them, 'Oh, how foolish you are! How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke! Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and enter into His glory?' Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, He interpreted to them what referred to Him in all the mscriptures" (Luke 24: 15, 25-27).
Reflection: The Emmaus road is the story of the Christian life. These disciples were walking away from Jerusalem and the apostolic faith community in defeat and dejection. They had lost hope. We too, have moments of despair and desolation. The Risen Lord Jesus accompanies us along the road, even when we are moving in the wrong direction. Only the Lord can "break open" the Word in order to help us understand the stories of our lives, especially suffering, and read them in harmony with the pattern of the Scriptures. Only the Lord can rekindle our energy and our resolve to devote ourselves to what is most important in life.
Silence
Reading: " ...They urged Him, 'Stay with us, for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over.' So He went in to stay with them. And it happened that while He was with them at table, He took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them. With that, their eyes were opened and they recognized Him, but He vanished from their sight. Then they said to each other, 'Were not our hearts burning within us while He spoke to us on the way and opened the scriptures to us'" (Luke 24: 29-32).
Reflection: The encounter on the road leads to the table, the breaking of the bread and the total gift of self. Recognition of the Risen Lord is always linked with the Eucharist. At the heart of our Christian life is this meal of Word and Eucharist which we celebrate. The Risen Lord presides over all our journeys, wishing to set our hearts on fire in generous service to all people in need, near and far. The gift we have received is the gift we share.
Humbly, we set out on the various roads of our lives to respond to all the hungers of the human family.
Silence
Prayer:
Lord of the gathering feast,
you walk with us on the shadowed road:
burn our hearts with scripture's open flame;
unveil our darkened eyes
as bread is torn and shared
and from the broken fragments
bless a people for yourself;
through Jesus Christ, the host of the world.
Amen.
Hymn 186 I know that my redeemer lives
Jesus Appears to the Community of Disciples
Reading: "'Why are you troubled? And why do questions arise in your hearts? Look at My hands and My feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have,' And as he said this, he showed them his hands and his feet" (Luke 24: 38-40).
Reflection: The disciples on the road to Emmaus quickly returned to the other disciples in Jerusalem with "burning hearts." Their despair had been reversed and they were eager to convince the others that Jesus was alive. Jesus the Christ is always eager to gather the community of disciples at the table of faith and to show them that He has risen with His wounds glorified. All our wounds will one day be glorified. We seek to understand how the Risen Lord invites us to be "wounded healers," recognizing now that the Lord desires us to be ambassadors of reconciliation, while we ourselves are being forgiven and healed.
Silence
Prayer:
Wounded God,
disabled and divine:
give us faith to perceive you
pierced and embodied,
standing here among us
feeding us forgiveness,
beautifully broken;
through Jesus Christ, the suffering servant.
Amen.
The Risen Lord Breathes Peace and Gives the Power to Forgive
Reading: "Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, 'Peace be with you'... The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, 'Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.' And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained' " (John 20: 19b, 20b-23).
Reflection: Even though the doors of the Upper Room were bolted shut, the Risen Lord pierced through all fear and united the hearts of the disciples with the gift of peace. Deep inner peace is the root and source of the peace and joy that the world cannot give. The Risen Lord calls us to seek peace always through a non-violent commitment to conflict resolution and thus transform the world, relationship by relationship.
Silence
Prayer:
Holy One,
you breathe the word of love
and the promise of new creation
into the secret places of the soul,
opening heart to heart:
in the wildness of your Spirit,
uncaptured in the wide world,
teach us the costly way
of fearless love
and priceless peace;
through Jesus Christ, through whom God dwells with us.
Amen.
Sharing the peace
The Risen Lord Eats with the Disciples on the Shore of Tiberias
Reading: "Jesus said to them, 'Bring some of the fish you just mcaught.' So Simon Peter went over and dragged the net ashore full of one hundred fifty-three large fish. Even though there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, 'Come, have breakfast.' And none of His disciples dared to ask him, 'Who are You?' because they realized it was the Lord" (John 21: 10-12).
Reflection: After the crucifixion, the apostles returned to their former way of life. Out on the familiar Sea of Galilee, these expert fishers find themselves ineffective and baffled because not even a single fish was caught. From the shore, the Risen Lord guides them and directs their nets until they are filled to overflowing. As He prepares breakfast for them, He nourishes their hearts and promises them that they can also be fed by making disciples in His name. He calls them to an entirely new way of fishing – fishing for people.
Silence
Prayer:
God of the new fire, and feasting at daybreak:
come to us
in the dullness of routine and the pain of betrayal;
call to us
in the way of the cross and the joy of resurrection;
through Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God.
Amen.
Hymn 190 Christ is alive
The Risen Lord Sends the Disciples into the World
Reading: "'Go therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age'" (Matthew 28: 19- 20).
Reflection: From the mountaintop, the Risen Lord gives the "Great Commission" to the disciples to reach out to the ends of the earth. We realize that we are the recipients of this faith-filled mission: our ancestors embraced the faith of the apostles, who were the original witnesses of the resurrection.
The greatest response we can give to such a legacy is our dedication to offer the Good News of Christ to our contemporary culture. We must allow the Risen Lord to reinvigorate our whole way of living, helping us to re-evaluate every aspect of our lives with the values of the Kingdom of God.
Silence
Prayer:
Trinity of love,
deposing the powers of hate and isolation;
gathering creation in bonds of mutual care:
through the waters of baptism
may our relatedness be reborn
in justice, mercy and peace;
through Jesus Christ, who is with us always.
Amen.
The Risen Lord Ascends into Heaven
Reading: "So then the Lord Jesus, after He spoke to them, was
taken up into heaven and took His seat at the right hand
of God. But they went forth and preached everywhere,
while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the
word through accompanying signs" (Mark 16: 19-20).
Reflection: One thing that Ascensiontide does for us is to confront us with the third great darkness. Lent confronted us with our own darkness, the darkness of sin and our inability to set our own lives in order. Passiontide showed us the darkness of the suffering and the death it was necessary for the Son of man to undergo: the darkness located as it were at the place where God and humanity join in Christ. But Ascensiontide confronts us with the darkness of God - the unfathomable and unknowable boundless depth and height to which Christ returns, and to which he irrevocably draws us on. We learn respect for the otherness and mystery in God, and in one another.
Silence
Prayer:
God unheld by word or wall;
power of love beyond all lords of war:
lift us from dullness and cynical contempt;
make us ready for your Spirit of transforming love;
and turn our hearts to the mending of the world;
through Jesus Christ, the name above all names.
Amen.
Hymn 459 God your glory we have seen in your son
The Disciples Keep Vigil in the Upper Room for the Spirit's Coming
Reading: "When they entered the city, they went to the upper room where they were staying.... All [the apostles] devoted themselves with one accord to prayer, together with some women, and Mary, the mother of Jesus, and his brothers" (Acts 1: 13a, 14).
Reflection: Throughout the history of the Church, there have been apostolic movements dedicated to prayerful contemplation, and others resulting in transforming action.
We look to the "Upper Room" as a symbolic place where we return over and over again, so that we can become "contemplatives in action." As persons who are both prayerful and energetic in service to the Gospel, we must always keep vigil for the advent of the Risen Lord, with the flame of faith alive in our hearts.
Only the Lord can refresh our spirits and renew us in the ministries that flow from our life of faith.
Silence
Prayer:
Sanctifying God,
your gift to us is one who overcame
the system which enslaves and feeds upon the victim:
send us to your world to speak the truth of peace,
to stand with those who suffer,
to show another way;
through Jesus Christ, the life of all things.
Amen.
Song
Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me.
Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me.
Break me, melt me, mould me, fill me.
Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me.
Conclusion
Reading: "After this, Jesus himself sent out through his disciples from the east to the west the sacred and ever-living message of eternal salvation." (Mark 16:8, the Shorter Ending ).
Reflection: Through these reflections, we have shared our pilgrim journey with the Risen Lord.
As servants and witnesses of Christ, let us now pray in the way that he taught us:
All: "Our Father..."
Closing Prayers:
May the one who goes from our sight
prepare a place for all creation
in the wideness of his grace
and bring the powers of every quarter
to worship at his wounded feet.
Amen
Lord, may everything we do
begin with your inspiration,
continue with your help,
and reach perfection under your guidance.
We ask this through Christ, our Risen Lord.
Amen.
Inspired by material from St. John's Center for Youth and Family, Plymouth, Michigan
Prayers taken from "Prayers for an Inclusive Church" by Steven Shakespeare.
Tune for 459 by Peter Relf
CCLI No. 1233521 Song ‘Spirit of the Living God' from Mission Praise
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