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Final Reflection on the Stations of the Cross
- What visual patterns and motifs do you identify?
- How do the Stations shift and change as they progress?
- Which Station is the most moving for you to view, and why?
- What assumptions or expectations did you bring to each image, and how were your assumptions and expectations challenged?
- How do the Stations help you see and experience Jesus’ journey to the cross in new ways?
reflect on your journey - What was it like to reflect on the visual qualities of each image?
- What insights did you glean from this practice in seeing?
- Which Station was the most difficult for you to visit?
- What emotions emerged for you as you walked through the Stations?
- How did your emotions shift and change along the way?
- What, if any, personal experiences or memories did you recall as you walked?
- Which character(s) in the story do you relate to the most?
- Which character(s) are the most difficult for you to relate to?
- Consider the emotions, thoughts, and meanings evoked for you along this journey—how do you connect them to your own personal journey?
Final Prayer
Pray
Walk through.
Walk to.
Walk on.
Walk despite.
Walk amidst.
Walk singing.
Walk in protest.
Walk in hope.
Walk in love.
Walk with your hands up.
Walk with your soul.
Walk with your neighbor.
Walk to the tomb.
Walk into the light.
Walk toward the dawn.
And when it’s dark, and the road is hard,
God, help us walk.
Walk on.
Amen.
—Prayer by Sarah Are
Introduction to the Stations of the Cross
The Stations of the Cross is an ancient meditative pilgrimage inviting the spiritually hungry to walk the “Way of Sorrows” with Jesus to his death on Calvary hill. Traditionally depicted in fourteen visuals, the Stations highlight pivotal moments in Jesus’ final hours. This graphic art rendition of the Stations by Lauren Wright Pittman nods to tradition while imagining Jesus’ journey toward crucifixion through a modern lens. In twelve black and white images, this series condenses the version Pope John Paul II introduced on Good friday in 1991. Stripped down and textured, these visuals highlight the metaphorical and emotional layers of Jesus’ journey toward his last breaths.
We invite you to use these Stations and this Companion Guide to walk the path of our suffering Savior with your eyes and heart wide open. Walk along the road with the One who took on human flesh, stepping into the depths of betrayal, injustice, mockery, judgement, and pain in order to free us from their grip. Walk the journey of the One who chose nonviolent resistance as the means to redemption. Walk the path of the One who leads us to the tomb but hushes death before it can speak the last word. Walk in the footsteps of the One who proves that even crucified love still lives.
With every step, may you know—fully and freely—
that there is no place God won’t go.
Walk on, friends.
Artfully yours,
The Sanctified Art Creative Team
A Sanctified Art LLC is a collective of artists in ministry who create resources for worshiping communities. The Sanctified Art team works collaboratively to bring scripture and theological themes to life through film, visual art, curriculum, coloring pages, liturgy, graphic designs, and more. Their mission is to empower churches with resources to inspire creativity in worship and beyond. Driven by the connective and prophetic power of art, they believe that art helps us connect our hearts with our hands, our faith with our lives, and our mess with our God.
Learn more about their work at sanctifiedart.org.
All Stations and reflections by Lauren Wright Pittman. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, Lauren is an artist, graphic designer, and theologian. She uses visual art to image the tension, joy, sadness, beauty, and energy she experiences in scripture.
Lisle Gwynn Garrity
Sarah Are
Hannah Garrity
Lauren Wright Pittman
Station 12- Jesus is Placed in the Tomb
Listen
Read
Matthew 27: 57-60 nrsv
When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named
Joseph, who was also a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate and asked
for the body of Jesus; then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. So
Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth and laid it
in his own new tomb, which he had hewn in the rock. He then rolled a
great stone to the door of the tomb and went away.
Look
Observe the visual qualities of the image: line, shape, movement, and
texture. How do the visual elements connect to the scripture text?
What emotions emerge for you as you observe the art?
Reflect
“When I consider this moment in Joseph’s life, I think about the
normalcy and strangeness of burying a loved one. The ritual act of
burial is a physical reminder of our own fragile mortality and also an
affirmation that we are more than our bodies. This is a completely
natural and wholly unnatural experience. We grasp onto the hope that
our loved one is with God in death, and at the same time, everything
fights within us to hold on to the physicality of those we love. The
contrast within the act of burial makes the duality of Jesus, the
humanity and divinity of Christ, very tangible. I imagine Joseph, filled
with despair, fights to hold onto Jesus’ body, afraid to let go. I imagine
he also feels grounded in faith that Jesus will not be contained.”
—Artist Lauren Wright Pittman
Pray
May I work to break free all that is entombed within and around me. Amen.
Station 11 – Jesus Dies on the Cross
Listen
Read
Luke 23: 44-46 nrsv
It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until
three in the afternoon, while the sun’s light failed; and the curtain
of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice,
said, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” Having said this,
he breathed his last.
Look
Observe the visual qualities of the image: line, shape, movement, and
texture. How do the visual elements connect to the scripture text?
What emotions emerge for you as you observe the art?
Reflect
“The sun has to go away; light is not welcome in this moment.
The curtains of the temple tear like the clothes of a mother rent
in inexplicable sorrow over the loss of her child. I wonder if Jesus’
countless tears change the character of his face, shifting the contours
that his mother and father knew so well. I wonder if his voice
becomes distorted and weathered after enduring such betrayal,
denial, and torture. I wonder if they can see the light in his breath as
it escapes from his lips and swirls up into the dark sky.”
—Artist Lauren Wright Pittman
Pray
May I remember, even in the darkness, that crucified love still lives. Amen.