Read

Image Verse: “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.” Matthew 26:38
See also Matthew 26:36-46

The Lenten Story: Matthew 26 to 28. Read sections devotionally or with Lectio Divina in the Appendix.

Reflect

Visio Divina

Breathe. View. Observe. Pray. See page one for suggested steps.

Meditation

Jesus is compelled to desperate prayer.
Think of Jesus’ complete honesty in prayer.
Jesus calls together his friends in his most desperate time of prayer. What drives you to such a desperate time of prayer?

Sense: Desperation

What feelings, sensations, smells, sounds, tastes, and sights do you associate with desperation? Pay attention, noticing how they appear within or around you this week.

Relate

Discussion Questions

●  What did you notice in your Visio Divina time this week?

●  Talk through the questions or statements in the meditation. What stood out to you?

●  For better or worse, how do you respond when overwhelmed or desperate?

●  In your reflections, what did you learn about Jesus? His relationships, values, priorities, and relationship to God the Father?

Read

Image Verse: “Friend, do what you came here to do.” Matthew 26:50
See also Matthew 26:14-16, Mark 9:31

The Lenten Story: Matthew 26 to 28. Read sections devotionally or with Lectio Divina in the Appendix.

Reflect

Visio Divina

Breathe. View. Observe. Pray. See page one for suggested steps.

Meditation

The son of God was betrayed by a friend.
The son of God was betrayed by his creation.

Sense: Betrayal

What feelings, sensations, smells, sounds, tastes, and sights do you associate with betrayal or being betrayed? Pay attention, noticing how they appear within or around you this week.

Relate

Discussion Questions

●  What did you notice in your Visio Divina time this week?

●  Talk through the questions or statements in the meditation. What stood out to you?

●  Discuss betrayal. Have you been on either side of it? What was it like?

●  What about betrayal causes such deep hurt? Are there degrees of betrayal?

●  “Friend, do what you came here to do.” Matthew 26:50 What do you think it was like for Judas to hear this from Jesus?

●  What does it look like to confront your own inner Judas that is capable of betraying Jesus rather than following him?

Read

Image Verse: “But this is your hour - when darkness reigns.” Luke 22:53
See also Luke 22:66-71, John 19:1-16

The Lenten Story: Matthew 26 to 28. Read sections devotionally or with Lectio Divina in the Appendix.

Reflect

Visio Divina

Breathe. View. Observe. Pray. See page one for suggested steps.

Meditation

Jesus submits quietly and peacefully. Jesus is condemned by religious leaders. What was their fear?

Sense: Fear

What feelings, sensations, smells, sounds, tastes, and sights do you associate with fear? Pay attention, noticing how they appear within or around you this week.

Relate

Discussion Questions

●  What did you notice in your Visio Divina time this week?

●  Talk through the questions or statements in the meditation. What stood out to you?

●  How do you respond when challenged, confronted, or accused? What are responses Jesus could have had that would have been totally justified?

●  Why do you think Jesus responded the way he did? What from the experience in the Garden and the Last Supper might have prepared him for this moment of public condemnation?

●  Consider what this means in terms of Jesus practicing solidarity with the accused and condemned.

●  How can you intentionally model Jesus’ solidarity?

Read

Image Verse: “But if I spoke the truth, why did you strike me?” John 18:23
See also Matthew 27:28, Matthew 20:18-19

The Lenten Story: Matthew 26 to 28. Read sections devotionally or with Lectio Divina in the Appendix.

Reflect

Visio Divina

Breathe. View. Observe. Pray. See page one for suggested steps.

Meditation

What brings on our mockery?
The soldiers brutalize Jesus.
Imagine the Son of God being brutalized by men.

Sense: Mockery

What feelings, sensations, smells, sounds, tastes, and sights do you associate with mockery? Pay attention, noticing how they appear within or around you this week.

Relate

Discussion Questions

●  What did you notice in your Visio Divina time this week?

●  Talk through the questions or statements in the meditation. What stood out to you?

●  What form(s) does mockery take in this day and age?

●  Are there people groups or individuals you respond to with mockery, either in word or in thought?

●  “But if I spoke the truth, why did you strike me?” John 18:23. What do you think Jesus is pointing out in this question?

●  What are practical ways you could shield someone if you see or hear them being mocked? What about if you are the target - how would Jesus offer protection and solidarity?

Read

Image Verse: “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” John 3:14-15

The Lenten Story: Matthew 26 to 28. Read sections devotionally or with Lectio Divina in the Appendix.

Reflect

Visio Divina

Breathe. View. Observe. Pray. See page one for suggested steps.

Meditation

The cross was a public murder device for criminals.
This is how Jesus was killed.
Imagine carrying the wood of the cross up the hill to your eventual slow and public death.

Sense: Carrying a Cross

What feelings, sensations, smells, sounds, tastes, and sights do you associate with carrying a cross? Pay attention, noticing how they appear within or around you this week.

Relate

Discussion Questions

●  What did you notice in your Visio Divina time this week?

●  Talk through the questions or statements in the meditation. What stood out to you?

●  Consider Jesus’ life, ministry, and teachings. If you were there watching him carry the cross, what would you be thinking?

●  What is significant about his execution being public rather than happening quietly away from the crowds?

●  Jesus was fully God and fully human. Discuss how both are fully on display here.

Read

Image Verse: “Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” John 12:24

The Lenten Story: Matthew 26 to 28. Read sections devotionally or with Lectio Divina in the Appendix.

Reflect

Visio Divina

Breathe. View. Observe. Pray. See page one for suggested steps.

Meditation

This station, although not found in scripture, is traditionally in three stations. It symbolizes Jesus’ humanity and his ever-decreasing strength as he moves towards his public death. Imagine Jesus experiencing weakness and distress in a public setting with nowhere to hide. Imagine the exhaustion of the last 24 hours.

Sense: Weakness

What feelings, sensations, smells, sounds, tastes, and sights do you associate with weakness? Pay attention, noticing how they appear within or around you this week.

Relate

Discussion Questions

●  What did you notice in your Visio Divina time this week?

●  Talk through the questions or statements in the meditation. What stood out to you?

●  When you stumble, fail, or mess up, what is your first impulse?

●  How does witnessing someone else’s weakness make you feel or think about them?

●  In your moments of weakness, can you see Jesus there with you having a shared experience?

●  Can you see Christ in others when their weakness is exposed? How could that change your posture and response to them?

Read

Image Verse: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” Matthew 16:24

The Lenten Story: Matthew 26 to 28. Read sections devotionally or with Lectio Divina in the Appendix.

Reflect

Visio Divina

Breathe. View. Observe. Pray. See page one for suggested steps.

Meditation

Imagine being pulled from the crowd and carrying this man’s device of death.
What is it like to walk alongside Jesus in this?

Sense: Solidarity

What feelings, sensations, smells, sounds, tastes, and sights do you associate with solidarity? Pay attention, noticing how they appear within or around you this week.

Relate

Discussion Questions

●  What did you notice in your Visio Divina time this week?

●  Talk through the questions or statements in the meditation. What stood out to you?

●  Have you experienced a friend or family member carrying your burdens with you? What was that like?

●  What does it take to come alongside others in their suffering, shame, or trial?

●  What can we learn from seeing Jesus weak and in need?

Read

Image Verse: “For if men do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?” Luke 23:31
See also Luke 23:34

The Lenten Story: Matthew 26 to 28. Read sections devotionally or with Lectio Divina in the Appendix.

Reflect

Visio Divina

Breathe. View. Observe. Pray. See page one for suggested steps.

Meditation

Romans crucified criminals naked.
Reflect on the shame of nakedness in the Garden of Eden. And the shame of nakedness at this moment.

Sense: Vulnerability

What feelings, sensations, smells, sounds, tastes, and sights do you associate with vulnerability? Pay attention, noticing how they appear within or around you this week.

Relate

Discussion Questions

●  What did you notice in your Visio Divina time this week?

●  Talk through the questions or statements in the meditation. What stood out to you?

●  Jesus was exposed physically to crowds and the elements in addition to all he had already endured. Discuss this aspect of his journey.

●  Discuss from the meditation: What is nakedness in the Garden of Eden? What has it become here?

Read

Image Verse: “My God My God, why have you forsaken me?” Matthew 27:46
See also John 8:28, John 12:32

The Lenten Story: Matthew 26 to 28. Read sections devotionally or with Lectio Divina in the Appendix.

Reflect

Visio Divina

Breathe. View. Observe. Pray. See page one for suggested steps.

Meditation

The long physical pain of crucifixion was excruciating. In fact, the word excruciating is derived from crucifixion.

Sense: Pain

What feelings, sensations, smells, sounds, tastes, and sights do you associate with pain? Pay attention, noticing how they appear within or around you this week.

Relate

Discussion Questions

●  What did you notice in your Visio Divina time this week?

●  Talk through the questions or statements in the meditation. What stood out to you?

●  How do you respond to pain? Is it different from when you were a child? How so?

●  What do you imagine it was like for the two criminals to watch this happening to Jesus?

●  Even in his most vulnerable and painful moment, where does Jesus focus his attention?

●  What does he use his last moments for? What do you take from that?

Read

Image Verse: “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” John 15:13
See also John 19:30, Luke 23:46, Isaiah 53:7

The Lenten Story: Matthew 26 to 28. Read sections devotionally or with Lectio Divina in the Appendix.

Reflect

Visio Divina

Breathe. View. Observe. Pray. See page one for suggested steps.

Meditation

Jesus died. He died.
Our greatest fear is death.
And He was not insulated from that fear. His physical body stopped working.
His friends watched Him die.

Sense: Death

What feelings, sensations, smells, sounds, tastes, and sights do you associate with death? Pay attention, noticing how they appear within or around you this week.

Relate

Discussion Questions

●  What did you notice in your Visio Divina time this week?

●  Talk through the questions or statements in the meditation. What stood out to you?

●  How does the fear of death express itself in you? What about death causes fear?

●  What was finished on the cross?

●  The finality of death is something none of us can avoid. Consider together the significance of Jesus, as fully God, experiencing an earthly death.

Read

Image Verse: “When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial.” Matthew 26:12
See also Luke 23:50-56

The Lenten Story: Matthew 26 to 28. Read sections devotionally or with Lectio Divina in the Appendix.

Reflect

Visio Divina

Breathe. View. Observe. Pray. See page one for suggested steps.

Meditation

His friends buried Him.
Have you ever buried a loved one? Imagine doing that with the one you believed was going to change the world and bring ultimate justice and healing.

Sense: Grief

What feelings, sensations, smells, sounds, tastes, and sights do you associate with grief? Pay attention, noticing how they appear within or around you this week.

Relate

Discussion Questions

●  What did you notice in your Visio Divina time this week?

●  Talk through the questions or statements in the meditation. What stood out to you?

●  In your life, what attitudes and rituals surround death, dying, and/or grief?

●  For the disciples, what else would have felt like it was buried with Jesus? What other feelings might have accompanied their grief?

●  There are many plants and seeds that also get buried. Is there a useful comparison there to Jesus’ burial?

Read

Image Verse: “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays his life down for his sheep.” John 10:11
See also Matthew 17:9, Revelation 1:17-18, Matthew 20:18-19, Matthew 11:28, 1 Peter 2:24-25

The Lenten Story: Matthew 26 to 28. Read sections devotionally or with Lectio Divina in the Appendix.

Reflect

Visio Divina

Breathe. View. Observe. Pray. See page one for suggested steps.

Meditation

Consider the other side of our greatest fear.
Jesus shows us that there is something beyond death.

Sense: New Life

What feelings, sensations, smells, sounds, tastes, and sights do you associate with new life? Pay attention, noticing how they appear within or around you this week.

Relate

Discussion Questions

●  What did you notice in your Visio Divina time this week?

●  Talk through the questions or statements in the meditation. What stood out to you?

●  What does it mean if death is no longer the final word?

●  Where are you longing for a refreshed spirit or signs of life?

●  How can the resurrection affect how you live, pray, and relate to others?

●  What was it like for you to use your senses to connect with Scripture and Jesus’ last days? Reflect together what you learned through what challenged and interested you in this study.

By @scottthepainter

The Stations of the Cross began as a remembrance that pilgrims had when they were retracing Jesus’ final steps in Jerusalem up to the hill where He was crucified. Wanting to share that practice and experience with people who couldn’t make the trip to Jerusalem, they created local stations of meditation that became in itself a tradition. You can find this tradition on the inside of many churches still today.

This journey to the cross is not only a meditation of Jesus accomplishing what He came to do - the redemption of humanity through His own willful sacrifice - but it’s also a contemplation of Jesus silently participating in some of the worst aspects of being human. We see Him being tempted to give up. Being betrayed by a friend. Being convicted in an unjust political system. Physical pain. Mockery. Public humiliation. Broken family relationships. And one of our greatest fears... having to die. These are all aspects of human life that He was not insulated from. In fact on the cross He quotes King David saying “My God My God, Why have you forsaken me?”... as if to say ”Why is it like this?” He was one who was not separate from our own suffering.

Many of us feel the weight of anxiety and fear as we journey through the current world. We are told many narratives of how it is and what is to come. During this season of Lent, we as a community look to the life and teachings of Jesus. We think that One who was in the midst of such political and empirical turmoil, who spoke the words of “Be not afraid”... and “Come to me all you are weary and carrying a heavy load, for I will give you rest”... is someone who can illuminate our desperate viewpoint.

These stations are a cross-section of elements, ideas, and objects from Jesus’ journey to the cross. As you work through these stations, may you see that we are not troubled guests in this world... that we are not forsaken... and that the good news of this season was expressed best by Jesus when He said... “I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

#stationsinthestreet scottericksonart.com

Ears 

Music: Common Hymnal: sort by category, Common Hymnal: “Ash Wednsday’s Early Morn”
Pay attention to the sounds around you as you go through your day. What are the sounds of nature, people, and life? Notice if you hear the themes of Lent. Is there shouting? Can you hear people in need? What could you learn by turning up your awareness of sounds? 

Eyes

We can get so used to looking down at our phones, feet, or straight where we are going that we can miss the world and people around us - even in our own homes. In your day-to-day ordinary life practice looking up and looking around for 10 seconds at a time. Ask God to open your eyes to see the way God sees. 

Mouth 

As you eat for a day or a meal, can you incorporate textures or flavors that resonate with the Lenten theme you are pondering? For example: dry for suffering, sour for mockery, extra spicy for pain, bitterness for betrayal, fermentation for death, etc. Discover what resonates with you. 

Nose 

Jesus’ final days were spent with people and among crowds. How would the smells have changed in the different spaces he entered? How would the smells have changed with the intensity of what was happening? For you, are there smells that you associate with good memories? How about difficult memories? 

Skin 

Elements that would have surrounded Jesus are still around us today. When reflecting on the cross, find a tree and touch the bark. What about sand or stones that Jesus would have felt as he fell to the ground? 

Select a section from the Lenten Story: Matthew 26 to 28 as it relates to the reflections for the week and prayerfully go through the following Lectio Divina exercise. Please note, the discussion questions provided in the Relate section can be used in your Small Group whether you chose to reflect on the Scripture or the artwork.

Read - Slowly read and re-read the passage several times, fully entering into the text. This step is an invitation to be intentionally slow and deliberate in your reading. Breathe. There’s no rush.

Meditate - Meditate on the text by allowing your focus to be pulled to whatever part of the passage you are naturally drawn to. Maybe that is a phrase, a word, or an image. You may even want to write it down or draw a picture of it. Be open to the Holy Spirit in this feeling of pulling and meditation. Know that your meditation does not necessarily mean making sense of the passage.

Pray - With the text at hand, direct your attention to God in prayer. Engage with God about this passage. Ask yourself what the text means to you and how God is addressing you personally through the text. Know that your prayer may take different forms: praise, lamentation, petition, thanksgiving; it may be formulaic, freeform, or your prayer may even be silence with God.

Contemplate - In this step, rest and just be with God―this is your contemplation. Rest and abide.

The Lectio Divina movements may be done in one sitting or spread over the course of a day or even a few days.

For more information about these steps and Lectio Divina itself visit https://www.thecontemplativelife.org/lectio-divina

Use this prayer structure for closing out and reflecting on your day through the lens of the love of God.

Awareness Prayer

A prayer of examen (by Mary Albert Darling, Spring Arbor University)

Step 1

Prepare yourself by quietly focusing your attention on God, and then recalling and thanking God for several specific gifts of the day - like the smell of rain or morning coffee; a kind smile from someone; laughter; and specific people or events.

Step 2

Review your day by responding to the following two questions, trusting the Holy Spirit to bring to mind what the Spirit wants you to remember.

1. When did I live out of love and freedom in Christ? Or, When did I walk with God today?

Ask the Holy Spirit to bring to mind when you acted out of love today, paying attention to feelings such as generosity, compassion, joy, and hope so that you can recognize when you were drawn to living with what comes when God's Spirit is guiding you.

2. When did I not live out of love and freedom in Christ? Or, When did I not walk with God today?

Ask God to reveal to you the events and patterns of the day that did not lead to love and freedom in Christ (such as anger, pride, jealousy, and anxiety). Ask God to help you see why you acted the way you did, to help you get to the root of your sin.

Tell God you are sorry, and accept God's forgiveness.

Step 3

Ask God to help you see any new awareness as a gift and an opportunity for growth in Christ-likeness through praying a prayer like this:

Dear God, thank you for what you have shown me today. Help me to accept with gratitude and grace all that you have revealed. Thank you for all the ways your love is already revealed in and through me. Give me strength and courage to change what needs to change, and to ask others for forgiveness if that is what you want me to do. Thank you that you have my true heart's desire in mind – work in me to always believe that, so that I can truly love and serve you and others. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Looking for more? These Lenten resources are recommended by Highrock Pastors and Staff