The Way Of The Cross (Part Two)

When walking the Way of The Cross in Jerusalem, one leaves the streets of the city and enters into The Church of the Holy Sepulchre for the final five stations.

The history of this extraordinary building is far too long and complex for me to go into here, but a few words about it's origin are worth noting. When Jerusalem fell to the Romans under Titus in 70 AD the Temple was destroyed and the city itself was almost completely demolished and depopulated. It stood in ruins until 130 AD when the Emperor Hadrian had it rebuilt as a pagan city which he named Colonia Aelia Capitolina, Aelia being the name of the Emperor's gens, or family, and Capitolina being a reference to Jupiter, the Roman god of governance. To make his point stick, he had a temple to Jupiter built on the site of the destroyed Jewish Temple. He also had an earthen mound raised over the sites of Jesus' Crucifixion and burial, which had already become places of Christian pilgrimage, and crowned that mound with a small temple of Jupiter over the site of the tomb and a larger temple of Venus over the site of the Crucifixion.

At the Council of Nicaea Bishop Macarius of Jerusalem urged the Christian Emperor Constantine to remove Hadrian's mound and build a church over the sites after they were uncovered. This was done. As I wrote above, the church has undergone many changes and even rebuildings since that time, but the sites that it encloses are still a place of pilgrimage for millions of Christians, and it is there that the final stations of the Cross are found.


10. Jesus Is Stripped Of His Garments. It was the usual custom for those who were crucified to be entirely naked. Public nudity was common among the pagans in certain circumstances but shameful and degrading to the Jews. To us it is a clear reminder that Jesus gave up everything for us in His self-sacrifice.

11. Jesus Is Nailed To The Cross. Unimaginable physical pain is added to his sufferings.

12. Jesus Dies On The Cross. His body has been broken and His blood has been shed.

13. Jesus' Body Is Taken Down From The Cross. John 19:39-40: “And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight. Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury.”

14. Jesus' Body Is Placed In The Tomb. His followers are distraught, His enemies are elated.
Bishop Allison once said that the greatest Eucharistic hymn ever written is “Were You There When They Crucified My Lord,” (an old American spiritual that is number 80 in our hymnal, the first spiritual ever to be included in any denominational hymnal) and that any Anglican or Catholic who takes the Church's teaching on the Eucharist seriously should be able to answer, “Yes.” I believe that The Stations of The Cross is a devotional practice that can add a great deal to any Christian's sense of the sufferings of Jesus and what they tell us about the great value that He places upon each of us.

Father Bragg+
 

Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth,
where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.

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Sunday Services, 7:45, 9:00 & 11:15 AM nursery care provided during 9 & 11:15 AM services  (for online participation for the services go to: https://www.facebook.com/saintsofscotland/ ) 

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Men's Group, Saturday March 19, 8:30 AM, undercroft, great breakfast, fellowship, and Bible study

Vestry meeting, Monday March 28, 7:30 PM, undercroft

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Your Food Donations are Greatly Needed
Please help this month with a food donation if you are able. Christ House is very thankful for the food we provide to them each month. Please also buy low sugar cereals (and not the kid's types that have lots of sugar).  Current needs include the following:
• canned meats (chicken, corned beef, spam)
• peanut butter
• jelly
• tuna
• canned vegetables (corn, green beans - (regular and low sodium)
• individual fruit cups (low sugar)
• canned fruit (low sugar)
• cereal (low sugar)
• pasta (regular and gluten-free)
• instant potatoes
• Macaroni & cheese kits
• Coffee, cooking oil, flour, sugar 

MaRIH Center is also in great need of our help  (crisis pregnancy center)
MaRIH Center with its all volunteer staff has been providing help to mothers-to-be and mothers in need.  If you can provide some of the items that are needed, please do so. (You can leave the donations where the food for the food bank is collected on the pew in the undercorft.)

Especially Needed
Baby wipes (an ongoing great need)
Diapers (sizes 1, 4, 5, & 6)
Similac Advanced Formula
Batteries (all sizes)
 
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