Episcopal News Service March 21, 2008
Good Friday brings many blessings for Presiding Bishop's Holy Land pilgrimage
Bishop Epting preaches at Good Friday liturgy
By Matthew Davies
[Episcopal News Service, Jerusalem] Good Friday in Jerusalem was a day filled with many blessings and a solemn reminder of Jesus' painful journey to his crucifixion as Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and an Episcopal Church delegation joined pilgrims and Christians in the Holy Land to share in Christ's Passion.
Shortly after sunrise, a crowd representing Anglican, Lutheran and Presbyterian Churches gathered at St. George's Cathedral in Jerusalem before embarking on Jesus' passage along the Via Dolorosa -- a Good Friday devotion known as the Stations of the Cross.
The Presiding Bishop and Bishop Christopher Epting, the Episcopal Church's ecumenical and interfaith officer, offered readings and prayers at some of the 14 stations that represent chief scenes of Christ's suffering and death.
"Our morning journey through the Old City was interrupted by shopkeepers opening their shuttered shops, small tractors chugging through the narrow lanes, and other pilgrim groups taking their equivalent journeys, singing and praying in a variety of languages," said Jefferts Schori.
In addition to readings and prayers alternating in English, Arabic and German, the crowd sang familiar hymns telling of Jesus' final hours and crucifixion.
The journey culminated at the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, where representatives of the Churches, including Holy Land Lutheran Bishop Munib Younan, led the final prayers.
"I was struck at the way we carried on through the normal activities of the city, crossing busy streets, walking past garbage waiting for pick up, past people who alternately stared at us, greeted us warmly, or ignored us," said Jefferts Schori. "This morning we were spat on by a young Jewish man. How similar must have been Jesus' journeys the last week of his life."
Full story and photos:
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_95934_ENG_HTM.htm
-- Matthew Davies, editor of Episcopal Life Online and Episcopal Life Media correspondent for the Anglican Communion, is traveling with the Presiding Bishop in the Holy Land.