Stations of the Cross for children

We did the following service at 10 a.m. on Good Friday this year.  We had a small group of children - the youngest was 5, the oldest was 12.  At different points, each one of them was intently focused on the worship; this goes to show that there is no need to "dumb down" our liturgical tradition for children, nor to constantly fill it with gimmicks, loud music, and bright colours.  This service is serious, solemn, and contemplative, and it worked.

The new verses of the Improperia are written partly by me and partly by my sister, the Rev. Grace Pritchard Burson.  Much of them focus on New Testament works of salvation, to counter the charges of anti-Semitism that have sometimes been laid on the Improperia, with its focus only on God's love for the Chosen People and their seeming "ingratitude" at Christ's death.  These new verses ensure that the blame for the death of Christ is on the sinfulness of humanity as a whole, not on any one group of people.

Set-Up and Preparation:

1. Stations of the cross in the church somewhere.  We use laminated posters of painting made by the nuns at Tunvey Abbey, which are only present from Palm Sunday to Pentecost - so you don't have to have permanent stations as part of your church building in order for this service to work.

2. An Easter garden.

3. Chairs and a lit candle at each station that you use (the service is set up for four stations, plus some time at the font at the beginning and some time at the Easter Garden at the end, which takes about half an hour).

4. At the fourth station, you need flowers in pots, and a figure of Jesus wrapped in grave bands.  We used the detachable figure of Jesus from the "4-in-1 Easter Storytelling doll," (available from Articles of Faith, among others).

5. If you are not using live musicians, you need a CD player with batteries (i.e., one that can be carried in procession with you, not tied to a wall by a cord) at the fourth station as well.  The music we used was the Bulgarian Orthodox chant of "The Noble Joseph," from a CD entitled "Lamentations: Orthodox Chants for Holy Week" by Archangel Voices.  It's available for download at Amazon - the one we used was Track 23.

6. In Sunday School on Palm Sunday, I had the children act out the Passion Story and draw their own Stations of the Cross.  Some of these were hung in the church below their corresponding Tunvey Abbey station.  This gave us an opportunity to compare two different interpretations of the same scene in our wondering questions - for example, the child had included Mary and John at the foot of the cross, while the Tunvey Abbey station left them out.  I haven't included these wondering questions in the text below, to keep it simple, but this is a good way to include the children even more in the service if you have the time to prepare for it.


STATIONS OF THE CROSS FOR CHILDREN:

We gather in the chairs by the font.

HYMN:

Were you there when they crucified my Lord? (x 2)

Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.

Were you there when they crucified my Lord?

Were you there when they nailed him to the tree? (x 2)

Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.

Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?

Reading:

So Pilate whipped Jesus, and delivered him to be crucified. And the soldiers led him away.  And they clothed him in a purple cloak, and put a crown of thorns on him.  And they began to salute him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!”

And they struck his head with a reed, and spat upon him, and they knelt down in homage to him.  And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple cloak, and put his own clothes on him. And they led him out to crucify him.

And they brought him to the place called Gol'gotha (which means the place of a skull).  And they crucified him.

And those who passed by made fun of him, and teased him, saying, “he saved others; he cannot save himself!  Let the Christ, the King of the Jews, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe!!”

THE FIRST STATION: Jesus meets his mother

We process to the first station, singing:

O sacred head, sore wounded,
defiled and put to scorn;
O kingly head surrounded
with mocking crown of thorn:
What sorrow mars thy grandeur?
Can death thy bloom deflower?
O countenance whose splendor
the hosts of heaven adore!

We look at the pictures and wonder about them.  These were our wondering questions - feel free to change or adapt them for your own congregation:

I wonder what you can see in this picture.

I wonder how Jesus is feeling.

I wonder if you've ever seen a crowd picking on someone.  What did you do?  How does it feel when everyone is against you? 

PRAYERS: My people, what have I done to you?  How have I offended you?  I led you out of Egypt, from slavery to freedom, but you led your Saviour to the cross.

All: Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy Immortal One, Have Mercy Upon Us.

A child is invited to blow out the first candle.

We go to the second station, singing:

Thy beauty, long-desirèd,
hath vanished from our sight;
thy power is all expirèd,
and quenched the light of light.
Ah me! for whom thou diest,
hide not so far thy grace:
show me, O Love most highest,
the brightness of thy face.

In thy most bitter passion
my heart to share doth cry,
with thee for my salvation
upon the cross to die.
Ah, keep my heart thus moved
to stand thy cross beneath,
to mourn thee, well-beloved,
yet thank thee for thy death.

THE SECOND STATION: Jesus is nailed to the cross

It is Friday.
And I stand at the foot of the cross.

Nothing can be said, nothing can be done.
I can hold the other's hands and weep, but I cannot be comforted.

It is Friday
And I stand at the foot of the cross.

The air is heavy still with waiting and longing.
Waiting for the inevitable, longing for the impossible.
Can this cup pass from me?
I look around me – all the colours are muted.
Dusty browns and greys – Cold and metallic.
Rolling black clouds cover the brilliant blue of the sky
As my soul is occluded by pain.
All that remains is the red of the blood
Running down the weathered wood of the cross.

It is Friday
And I stand at the foot of the cross.

I reach out and touch the raised grain of the wood.
It is rough against my fingertips.
I hear the laboured breathing from the cross.
Death is near.

It is Friday
And I stand at the foot of the cross.

Remember Him!
Remember Him as the silver cord is severed, as the golden bowl is broken.
Remember Him as the pitcher is shattered at the spring and the wheel broken at the well.
Remember Him as the dust returns to the ground it came from and
His spirit returns to the God who gave it.

It is Friday
And I stand at the foot of the cross.

-          By The Rev. Theresa Coleman

We look at the pictures and wonder about them.

I wonder what colours you can see in this picture.

I wonder how those colours make you feel.

I wonder how this picture is different from the last one.

I wonder what Mary and John are feeling.

PRAYER: My people, what have I done to you?  How have I offended you? 

I placed you in an abundant garden,

And you have laid hold of me in the garden of Gethsemane.

 I became flesh as part of my earthly creation,

and you have nailed that flesh to the cross.

All: Holy God, holy and mighty,

Holy Immortal One, have mercy upon us.

A child blows out the second candle.

We go to the third station, singing:

My days are few, O fail not,
with thine immortal power,
to hold me that I quail not
in death's most fearful hour;
that I may fight befriended,
and see in my last strife
to me thine arms extended
upon the cross of life.

THE THIRD STATION: Jesus dies.

And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?“   And he uttered a loud cry, and breathed his last.

We look at the pictures and wonder about them.

I wonder why Jesus had to die.

I wonder how Jesus' friends felt when he died.  Have you ever felt that way?

We are silent for a minute.

PRAYER:

Leader: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? *

and are so far from my cry

and from the words of my distress?

All: O my God, I cry in the daytime, but you do not answer;*

by night as well, but I find no rest.

Leader: Yet you are the Holy One, *

enthroned upon the praises of Israel.

All: Our forefathers put their trust in you; *

they trusted, and you delivered them.

Leader: They cried out to you and were delivered; *

they trusted in you and were not put to shame.

All: But as for me, I am a worm and no man, *

scorned by all and despised by the people.

Leader: All who see me laugh me to scorn; *

they curl their lips and wag their heads, saying,

All: “He trusted in the LORD; let him deliver him; *

let him rescue him, if he delights in him."

Leader: Yet you are he who took me out of the womb, *

and kept me safe upon my mother's breast.

All: I have been entrusted to you ever since I was born; *

you were my God when I was still in my mother's womb.

Leader: Be not far from me, for trouble is near, *

and there is none to help.

A child blows out the third candle.

We process to the fourth station, singing:

Were you there when they laid him in the tomb? (x 2)

Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.

Were you there when they laid him in the tomb?

THE FOURTH STATION: Jesus is laid in the tomb

There were also women looking on from afar, among whom were Mary Mag'dalene, and Mary the mother of Jesus. And when evening had come, Joseph of Arimathe'a, a respected member of the council, who was also himself looking for the kingdom of God, took courage and went to Pilate, and asked for the body of Jesus. And Pilate granted the body to Joseph. And he bought a linen shroud, and taking him down, wrapped him in the linen shroud, and laid him in a tomb which had been hewn out of the rock; and he rolled a stone against the door of the tomb. Mary Mag'dalene and Mary the mother of Jesus saw where he was laid.

A child blows out the fourth candle.

Each of the children is given a plant in a pot.  One child is given the Jesus figure, wrapped in gravebands.  We process to the Easter Garden as music plays.  We place our plants around the tomb and a child places the stone across the door of the tomb.

When the music is finished, we close with the following prayer:

Leader: My people, what have I done to you?  How have I offended you?

To lead you from slavery to freedom,

I parted the waters of the Red Sea,

But you have taken me captive

And parted my side with a spear.

All: Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy Immortal One, Have Mercy Upon Us.

Leader: I was born out of the darkness of my mother’s womb

To be the light of the world

And you have extinguished that light

And placed me in the darkness of the grave.

All: Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy Immortal One, Have Mercy Upon Us.

We leave the church in silence.

Church-School links: assembly ideas.

I have the privilege of doing Assemblies every two weeks with Hawkesdown House School in Kensington.  Here are some rules of thumb:

1. Make it interactive.  On an Assembly on the topic of Lent, I had five children come up to the front and hold sweets in their hands - which they were NOT allowed to eat - while I told the story of Jesus in the wilderness.  The children then talked about whether they were tempted to eat their sweets, how they resisted temptation, and so on.  The fact that "everyone was watching" was listed as one thing that helped them resist.  This could be an interesting jumping-off point for a longer discussion about sin.  Unfortunately, Hawkesdown assemblies are only 10 minutes and include children as young as 3, so I could only briefly touch on the point ("interesting - I wonder how Jesus managed in the desert when there was NOBODY watching!") before finishing up.

For my Pentecost assembly tomorrow, I'm going to ask them how to say "God loves you" in different languages - there's a large international contingent at that school, plus language education from an early age, so I should get a fair number of responses (I'm going to bring a crib sheet, though, just in case).  We're going to practice saying "God loves you" in each language, all together, before everyone chooses their favourite and we say it together in ALL the languages to finish.

2. Give it a visual focus.  A puppet, a picture (as big as you can make it - at least A3 size),a storytelling doll (they're available for several different stories, not just Easter), a feltboard for Beulah Land storytelling, an icon, a banner - there are many ways to do this.  But a visual focus engages children as well as expanding their vocabulary of Christian imagery.

3. Include time for quiet reflection. I personally find this scary.  I'm more comfortable with having my time with children be active and dynamic - the kids talking, singing, laughing, busily making stuff.  I find it hard to step back and say "now we're going to do nothing" and trust that it will be meaningful.  But it will be.  Introduce it slowly - start by encouraging them to sit comfortably (maybe with their hands on their knees, palms facing up, in a meditation pose) and close their eyes, to clear their minds and focus on listening to God.  Give this time a clear beginning and ending - lighting and extinguishing a candle, perhaps, or hitting a triangle to start and finish the prayer time.  At first, try for 30 seconds of quiet, then work your way up to a minute or two.  You can close with a communal prayer, such as the Lord's Prayer.  I use "keep us, O Lord, as the apple of your eye.  Hide us under the shadow of your wings" (Psalm 17:8).

4. Don't be afraid of a formula.  You don't need to re-invent the wheel every time.  As long as you do it well, there's nothing wrong with "story, discussion/activity, quiet reflection" as a consistent structure to your assembly.  Kids are a lot more comfortable with routine than adults are, and as long as the content is engaging, they won't get bored.

More ideas for Under-5's.

1. The Lost Sheep.  For the parable of the lost sheep, I hid ten cardboard cutout pictures of sheep around our nursery room.  (I left a list of where they were hidden for the nursery teacher, as I figured it would defeat the purpose of the parable if they couldn't find all the sheep!!)  Children heard the parable, wondered about it, and were then sent to find the lost sheep.  When they found one, the whole class stopped and cheered for the sheep that had been found.  Once all the sheep were found, if some children hadn't yet had the chance to find one, the teacher brought everyone back to the carpet and re-hid the sheep.  When I checked with the teacher after church, she said, "they LOVED this game.  We played it FOUR TIMES."  And all the sheep were safely gathered in!

2. Our sessions follow the basic model of Godly Play, but I'm somewhat hampered by the fact that we share our nursery space with a secular nursery, who uses the room from Monday to Friday.  So the room is full of secular toys and books, and we can't fill it with Godly Play materials that stay in the same place from week to week.  So what I did instead, for more than a year, was give each week a theme, based around the story they were working with that week.  There were some structured activities available for the children who wanted them, and free play, linked to that week's theme.  For example, the week they were doing Noah's Ark, there would be a water table with toy boats - the week they were doing the parable of the sower, there would be seeds and dirt.  But I'm starting to think that this approach is flawed in some ways.  When I've been leading the youngest class, they tend not to engage with the sacred objects as much as I hope they would.

I think this is partly because too many of the sacred objects are new and different each week.  Too many of them are structured; Rebecca Nye warns of lessons in which the creativity of the leader gets in the way of the creativity of the child, and I think some of my ideas for activities fell into that trap.  And I think this is partly because the brightly coloured plastic toys, and the books with familiar characters such as Peter Rabbit, Maisie, Peppa Pig, and so on, distract the child from taking the risk of engaging with something as odd and unfamiliar as a chalice and paten, or an icon, or a baby doll in a baptism dress.

So I'm putting away a lot of the secular toys from now on, and I'm investing in a half dozen or so wicker baskets that can take the place of focal shelves in a Godly Play room.  These wicker baskets will have playsets or collections of liturgical objects in them.  They will be in the same place in the room, week in and week out, so the children will know where to find them.  They will not necessarily have a thematic connection to the week's story, though sometimes there will be an extra basket linked to the story of the day or the season of the year.  There will be a child-sized altar, with a coloured cloth, a standing cross, an icon of the Virgin and Child (just like we have on a side table in the main church), and a candle which we light during our meditation time.  I will invest in some large cushions for the book corner.  And I will stop planning so many structured activities.

And we'll see what happens.