The following pages contain a meditation guide appropriate for any contemplative experience, especially for Good Friday; you can adjust the introductory comments to suit your own situation.
As presented, it is designed to follow a labyrinth; we use a large floor pattern designed after Chartre Cathedral… so it requires more of a “guide” than smaller models!
If you’re doing a non-labyrinth experience, just take out the first couple of paragraphs and insert your own instructions. Cut and paste as needed to make it easily followed; this document is set up to fold vertically as shown below.
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There is a green hill far away,
Without a city wall,
Where the dear Lord was crucified
Who died to save us all.
We may not know, we cannot tell
What pains he had to bear.
But we believe it was for us
He hung and suffered there.
Why must I walk about mournfully? Why is my soul downcast? Why is there no quietness in my spirit? Hope in God; eventually I shall praise him again.
God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved.
Ah, holy Jesus, how have you offended,
that man to judge thee hath in hate pretended?
By foes derided, by thine own rejected,
O most afflicted.
Who was the guilty? Who brought this upon thee?
Alas, my treason hath undone thee.
‘Twas I, Lord Jesus. I it was denied thee;
I crucified thee.
For me, kind Jesus, was thy incarnation,
Thy mortal sorrow and thy life’s oblation.
Thy death of anguish and thy bitter passion
for my salvation.
Therefore, kind Jesus, since I cannot pay thee,
I do adore thee and will ever pray thee (to)
Think on thy pity and thy love unswerving,
not my deserving.
By grace you have been saved through faith. It is a gift of God, not of works, lest any of us should boast.
They took the body of Jesus and wrapped it with the spices in linen cloths according to the burial custom of the Jews. Now there was a garden in the place where he was crucified, and in the garden there was a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid. They laid Jesus there.
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Passages in Bold Print are from John 18 & 19; hymn texts are in italics.
Walking the Labyrinth
Reflecting with Christ’s Agony upon the Cross
A Few Suggestions:
- Follow the path to the center of the labyrinth.
- Stop as often as you wish to pray or meditate.
- This is intended to be a quiet, contemplative experience.
- If the person ahead of you is taking more time than you prefer to spend, passing them without comment is appropriate.
- When you have reached the center, spend some time there in continued reflection, then simply cross the grid anywhere to exit.
As you spend time at the stops along the labyrinth, we encourage you on this Good Friday to reflect on the sufferings of Christ. We have provided here several verses of scripture and some brief passages from the great hymns of our faith. You are welcome to use these as you would like:
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness.
Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is peace.
Have mercy on me, O God, according to thy steadfast love. Wash me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; cleanse me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.
Jesus walked this lonesome valley;
He had to walk it by himself.
Nobody else could walk it for him;
He had to walk it by himself.
To the garden of Gethsemane, Judas brought a detachment of soldiers… with lanterns, torches and weapons… They arrested Jesus, bound him, and took him off to be tried.
O Jesus, I have promised to serve thee to the end.
Be thou forever near me, my Master and my Friend.
I shall not fear the battle if thou art by my side,
Or wander from the pathway if thou wilt be my Guide.
After the trial, Pilate took Jesus out and had him flogged. The soldiers wove a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they dressed him in a purple robe. Saying to him, “Hail! King of the Jews,” they struck him on the face.
“Man of sorrows!” What a name
For the Son of God who came
Guilty sinners to reclaim.
Hallelujah! What a Savior!
Bearing shame and scoffing rude,
In my place condemned he stood,
Sealed my pardon with his blood.
Hallelujah! What a Savior!
Pilate brought Jesus outside and sat on the judge’s bench; he said to them, “Here is your King!” They cried out to him, “Away with him! Crucify him! We have no king but Caesar!”
King of my life, I crown thee now;
Thine shall the glory be!
Lest I forget thy thorn-crowned brow,
Lead me to Calvary.
Lest I forget Gethsemane,
Lest I forget thine agony,
Lest I forget thy love for me,
Lead me to Calvary.
They took Jesus out, and carrying the cross by himself he went out to what is called “The Place of the Skull.” There they crucified him.
I must needs go home by the way of the cross,
There’s no other way but this.
I shall n’er get sight of the gates of light
If the way of the cross I miss.
I must needs go on in the blood-sprinkled way,
The path that the Savior trod.
For the Lord says, “Come!” and I seek my home
Where the soul is at home with God.
Jesus: “If I be lifted up, I will draw all people to me.”
When the soldiers had crucified him, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, one for each soldier.
“Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”
Standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother Mary, his mother’s sister, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold your mother.”
When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of Glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.
When Jesus knew that it was now finished, he said, “I am thirsty.” A jar full of sour wine was standing there, so they put a sponge full of the wine on a branch of hyssop and held it to his mouth.
As the deer pants for the waterbrook, so my soul longs after you. My soul thirsts for the living God. My soul is cast down within me; therefore, I remember you.
Fairest Lord Jesus, Lord of all nations,
Son of God and Son of man,
Glory and honor, praise, adoration
Now and forevermore be thine.
He said, “It is finished.” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
I will pour out a spirit of compassion and supplication … so that when they look on the one whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him as one weeps over a firstborn.
When the soldiers came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs; instead, one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once blood and water came out.
See from his head, his hands, his feet
Sorrow and love flow mingled down.
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?
Surely, he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. He was wounded for our transgressions. The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
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