This week was the Living Stations presentation at Celia's school. The 8th grade plays the major roles, with 7th graders taking the supporting ones. This is a tradition that began years ago before the school even existed. ECA opened in response to the kids' former school being closed by the Diocese, but the celebration of Jesus' Death and Resurrection was too important to leave behind. This year marked the sixth ECA presentation and the final one our family would participate in.
Celia was chosen to begin the service with a violin piece entitled Via Dolorosa. The complete composition is about four minutes long, so she and her music teacher rearranged it to be a more practical length for the school presentation.
Celia asked me if I was planning to attend Stations. I said of course I was! She was glad because it meant she could stash her palm fronds with me. When she was done playing, I could trade her those for her violin and bow...and of course, take her violin home with me.
Moms live to serve, right?
I did videotape her playing, but she was frustrated with two missed notes -- the edge of her veil got caught in a string. Ever the perfectionist, she played the piece again so I could share it.
Via Dolorosa
Music by Billy Sprague and Niles Borop
Arr. C. Falciani and K. Jeffers
The devotion has always followed Everyone's Way of the Cross, written by Clarence Enzler. It's one of my favorites and invites self-reflection. I think most Stations of the Cross feel as if the participants are watching a bit apart, but with these, the congregation is invited to experience each Station personally, and see how Jesus' trials are not so unlike our own. After a short retelling and reenactment of the stories of Palm Sunday, The Last Supper, and The Betrayal, the student portraying Jesus begins:
These fourteen steps that you are about to walk,
you do not take alone.
I walk with you.
Though you are you, and I am I,
Yet we are truly one.
As the children go through the stations, each participates in a different way. Being the student chosen for the role of Jesus is an honor awarded for a combination of talent, being the right size to fit the cross, and bravery. (Not only is Jesus one of the few speaking roles, but it also involves ultimately standing in front of the school in nothing but a pair of basketball shorts.)
At the risk of sounding like I'm bragging, Luke was chosen as Jesus his eighth grade year.
I have to say that I was a bit distracted by my kid being hoisted up by a couple of other eighth graders. My prayers were more of the "Please don't drop him! Lord, don't let the cross slide..." variety, so as a mom, I appreciated Celia's major participation being over with at the start. I could set my nerves behind me and have the opportunity to really focus on what the children were saying as they narrated the devotion.
With this particular devotional writing, when we listen to each Station, we can see how much our burdens are like the Cross. When we share another's sorrows, we carry Jesus' Cross with Him. At times, life's burdens overwhelm us, yet with God's help we stand again and go on.
When Celia joined the group, she was part of the "Women" that were along the road to Calvary. They mourned his trials then, but would not listen before. The devotional invites us to be like Jesus and be kind even when met with those who would ridicule us.
This year, I feel like Lent has hurtled by. This was only one hour out of forty times twenty-four hours, but I left feeling ready for Good Friday. Now that I won't have these Stations each year, I've finally gotten myself a copy of the devotional. (I got the Kindle version so I can't lose it between now and next spring!) I would recommend them to anyone who wants a way to meditate on the Way of the Cross and find the little, everyday ways to take up our Crosses with Him.
May you have a holy Good Friday, a Blessed Easter, and find Jesus in all of the little moments of life.
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