STATION #1

ASHES TO ASHES“For dust you are

and to dust you will return.”God speaking to Adam and Eve in Genesis 3:19

Yesterday, I was at the funeral of a 48 year-old man from my church. He died of cancer.

Life is short. In some cases much too short. While I’m sure you don’t think about death often, the reality is your life is a blip… a flash… a flower blooming for a short season, then quickly fading away.

Before you is a bowl with ashes. Take some ash and rub it between your fingers. Now look at your skin and compare the two. Someday your body, full of life right now, will be like these ashes. Our time here on earth is short.

We have this one life, this short time here, and the critical question is: What are you doing with yours?

Will you look back on your life one day with regrets or with joyful anticipation of the life to come? Each day each one of us has a choice: to live for ourselves or to live for Christ; to pursue Christ or to put Him off for another day. That choice is before you right now… at this moment… in this place.

As you start this journey tonight, take time now to slow down and reflect on the state of your life. Think about your relationship with your Creator… your Savior… your God. Say a prayer asking God to speak to you tonight, and prepare yourself to hear His voice.

*Before you leave this station, use some hand sanitizer to clean your hands.

STATION #2

SANDALSGod left heaven to come here. Have you ever thought about that? What did He give up, what did He leave behind to become a human?

It is strange to think about God as a baby. Completely vulnerable, completely dependent on His mom and dad. And He had to grow up; He was once a teenager with zits! It is strange, and a little gross, to think that God pooped. But He did. And He got sick, and there were times He was lonely. Sad. Disappointed. Frustrated. Angry. He had good days and bad days.

God experienced life… just. like. us.

Why? Why did He give up heaven? Because of love for you and for me.

Look at the different pairs of sandals. Think about Jesus leaving heaven for you. Think about all He went through for you.

STATION #3

THE VEIL

STATION #4

PAPER SHREDDER

When Jesus died, some crazy things happened. It was as if there was this amazing ripple effect that pulsed out throughout creation because the Creator had just given up His life. There was a violent earthquake, rocks split and tombs came open – even some dead people came back to life! But

the most significant thing happened in the holy temple in Jerusalem.

In the temple, there was a room called the Holy of Holies where God’s presence dwelt. God is so holy, and humans are so sinful that no one was allowed in this room except once a year when the high priest brought a sacrifice with him. The other priests tied a rope around him just in case the sacrifice he brought was not worthy and God should strike him dead. Then they would be able to drag his body out by the rope, because if they entered they would be struck down dead as well!

The door to the Holy of Holies was a thick curtain, a veil. This was no ordinary veil. It was 60 ft. by 30 ft. and was at least an inch thick. It took 300 priests just to lift it.  

And when Jesus died on the cross, this veil was torn from top to bottom! An earthquake would not do that or even be able to tear it… it was torn by God Himself. The significance of the torn veil is in Christ there is now nothing keeping us from God. Our sins have been wiped away.

However even though this veil no longer remains, in my experience and yours it seems there is still something blocking us, keeping us from deep intimacy with God. A.W. Tozer in his classic book, The Pursuit of God, offers us insight into this barrier between Christ and us:

What is it? What but the presence of a veil in our hearts? A veil not taken away as the first veil was, but which remains there still shutting out the light and hiding the face of God from us. It is the veil of our fleshly, fallen nature living on, unjudged within us, uncrucified and unrepudiated… We have but to look into our own hearts and we shall see it there, sewn and patched and repaired it may be, but there nevertheless, an enemy to our lives and an effective block to our spiritual progress.

Can you identify the veil on your heart? What is it that you are too afraid or too proud or too in love with that you cannot take to the cross of Christ and crucify it there and turn and leave it there forever? Why do you cling to it so? Is it really worth more to you than Christ Himself?

Take some time to look inside and identify what things might be there, blocking your way to Christ. Decide now to rip these out – to tear this veil between you and Christ – to embrace Him fully with all that you are.

If this is your decision, pick up a cloth and tear it from end to end, signifying your choice to forsake your sin and embrace Christ.

Before you are papers and pencils. Take a piece of paper and a pencil. Write down your sins: things you have done or

said or thought, things you have clung to in your heart, things you have not done or not said, and things you have not clung to. Attitudes, actions, habits, thoughts.

If you feel convicted about something, go ahead and “confess” by writing it down. No one else will read this, but you can write in code if you want to.

Look over your list. Do you “repent” of these things? Can you say, “From this point on, I want nothing to do with this stuff. I want to be as far from these things as possible. I want a clean slate, a do-over. I want to be forgiven.”

Take your paper and feed it through the paper shredder. Watch it go through and come out in shreds. This is what Christ has done to our sins through His death on the cross.

Thank God for His grace, His patience, and His long mercy.

STATION #5

WASHING BOWLYou have identified your sins. You have confessed your sins. You have repented of your sins. You have said, “These things that keep me from You,

God, I want them to go. I choose You over them.”

Yet you might not feel different. You might not feel forgiven. You might even feel worthless. Maybe you feel you’re still unclean.

1 John 1:9If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

It doesn’t matter what you feel. You are forgiven. You are clean. God’s Word says so.

Wash your hands in the bowl. As you clean your fingers, your palms, read 1 John 1:9 over and over.

Believe it.

You are forgiven. You are clean. Jesus died to make it possible, and God has said it is so.

STATION #6

THE PASSIONWatch these clips from The Passion. As you watch, reflect on what Christ went through.

Reflect on His love for you.

Reflect on the hope that we now have for this life and the life to come.

“Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in.

And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you’ll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love.

Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights!

Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.”Ephesians 3:17-19

STATION #7

ANGUISH part oneIn the Garden of Eden, God had one rule, and one consequence if it was broken: Adam and Eve would surely die. Then they chose to break that rule, yet

they did not die.

Or did they?

Throughout the Bible, there is an understanding that death equals separation. So while their physical bodies did not die, something inside of them did. Their relationship with each other immediately changed. The innocence and purity of the intimacy they had enjoyed was lost; separation had come to stay and would darken the rest of their days.

Death also invaded their relationship with God. Where there had been connection with the Creator, there was now separation. In Genesis 3:9, God calls out to Adam, “Where are you?”

Mankind’s relationship with God was fundamentally changed. In a way, God could not find Adam. Sin had gotten in the way; sin was hiding Adam and Eve from God. Because of their choice, God had lost His children.

Imagine how God felt when this happened. Imagine the pain in His voice, the desperation, the longing. Imagine God like a mother in a grocery store who has just realized her baby girl is no longer by her side. She retraces her steps, beginning to run up and down the aisles, but there is no sign of her beloved child. She becomes frantic; she is in anguish as the tears start streaming down her face.

Her voice breaks as she cries out, “Where are you?”

God loves us and wants a relationship with us. Our choosing sin over Him breaks His heart. He is in anguish over us.

STATION #7

ANGUISH part twoFast-forward several thousand years. We find God in another garden. This time He’s the God-man, and He’s talking to God the Father:

“Father, if there is another way, take this cup from me. But I will not do what I want, I will do what you want me to.”

Jesus is on His way to the cross. He is going to take the sins of the world upon Himself and die with them. We get overwhelmed thinking of the physical pain Jesus endured for us, but the mental and emotional suffering was greater and is beyond human comprehension.

Pure. Anguish.

About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Matthew 28:46

In taking our sins upon Himself, God the Son also accepted separation from God the Father. For the first time in the history of everything, God was separated from God. I can’t even begin to grasp how painful this would have been for Jesus. Jesus lost His Father.

Imagine the little girl who lost her mother in the grocery store. She’s realized that she’s alone, surrounded by strangers. She does not feel safe, and she begins to think she might never see her mother again.

Panic grips her, and she cries out,“Mommy! Where are you?”

Jesus endured all this to re-establish arelationship with you. And He was motivated by His great love for you.

STATION #8

RESPONDHow will you respond to God’s great act of love?

This is the station to express your thoughts and feelings to God. Be bold, be creative, be yourself.

Respond.