You are invited to an installation of 14 paintings by Brendan Rigdon depicting the final scenes of the life of Christ.
Monday, April 3 through Friday, April 7
8:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.
On the corner of Grove and Arthur Ashe Boulevard
A meditative guide will be provided for your use.
Click to listen to a conversation between Corey Widmer (Lead Pastor—Third Church) and Dan Marotta about Stations on Boulevard and approaching Holy Week.
History of Stations of the Cross
The practice of retracing the final steps of Jesus dates to the fourth century when, for the first time, Christians were legally allowed to worship in the Roman Empire and thus allowed to openly make pilgrimages to Jerusalem. As the practice of observing the season of Lent in preparation for Holy Week and Easter was established throughout the global church, many Christians who were unable to make the pilgrimage to Jerusalem opted to set up artistic recreations of the final scenes of Christ’s passion in their own towns. These were installed either as statues in prayer gardens, stained glass windows, or paintings.
Today, the practice of employing works of art as an aid in meditating on the passion of Jesus is common amongst Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox Christian churches alike.
““I could never myself believe in God, if it were not for the cross. The only God I believe in is the One Nietzsche ridiculed as ‘God on the cross.’ In the real world of pain, how could one worship a God who was immune to it? I have entered many Buddhist temples in different Asian countries and stood respectfully before the statue of the Buddha, his legs crossed, arms folded, eyes closed, the ghost of a smile playing round his mouth, a remote look on his face, detached from the agonies of the world. But each time after a while I have had to turn away . And in imagination I have turned instead to that lonely, twisted, tortured figure on the cross, nails through hands and feet, back lacerated, limbs wrenched, brow bleeding from thorn-pricks, mouth dry and intolerably thirsty, plunged in Godforsaken darkness. That is the God for me! He laid aside his immunity to pain. He entered our world of flesh and blood, tears and death. He suffered for us. Our sufferings become more manageable in the light of his. There is still a question mark against human suffering, but over it we boldly stamp another mark, the cross that symbolizes divine suffering.”
