This Good Friday I decided to skip the Protestant Good Friday worship and head to the Episcopal Church in Riverton to walk though the stations of the Cross.  I participated in the Protestant gathering last year, and it was fine - but I wasn't really interested in spending three hours sitting there while a succession of preachers came up and did "meditations."  I wanted to participate - and by participate I mean more than signing a couple of verses in some hymns (as a way of separating the pastors).  Actually, there the Protestant gathering in town is a little more involved than that, but the focus is still on the preachers.

Like I said, I was looking for something a bit more "involved" than the series of preachers.  I wanted to do some of the "work" of worship, liturgy was calling to me.  I'd never been to a traditional service following the Stations of the Cross before - so I was looking forward to it.

I wasn't disappointed, the liturgy we used for the stations was very well done (even though they're using books that they've kept usuable for 30 years) - and the chant that was sung that the end of the meditations brought home the emotional impact of the story nicely.  I appreciated how it was put together, and was appropriately brought into a state of mourning appropriate for Good Friday.

My only problem was that everyone sat in place.  Normally the congregation follows the Priest up and down the site aisles of the sanctuary as the progression of the stations is followed - but the aisles of the Riverton Church were too narrow for this.  People were encouraged to follow down the center aisle, but no one got up and moved and as this was my first time in the Church I did feel a little uncomfortable breaking new ground (this is my fault entirely).  So we sat as we meditated.  Kind of a bummer there, really.

What I like is that there was no attempt to fit a sermon into the worship.  The story was brought into our midst, and we were called to be part of it.  I like how the focus was entirely on the Cross, and that the priest (who is a friend of mine) was part of the people doing the liturgy rather than the voice on high from behind the pulpit.

It was stark, and that was so appropriate for this holy day.

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