Before Easter, Christians are encouraged to reflect on Christ’s last earthly journey. From March 25 to 28 this year, Wesley Methodist Church opened its doors to all for a special Lent event called the Journey to the Cross – a contemplative, moving, and multisensory public event inviting all who came to take the path Jesus walked during his last days on earth. Journey to the Cross at Wesley was made possible with the support of the pastors and a team of 100 Local Church Executive Committee (LCEC) leaders, Wesley staff, volunteers and vendors.
With four prayer stations designed to facilitate a meaningful encounter with God, each station at Wesley’s Journey to the Cross reflected a different aspect of Christ’s journey, from the agony of Gethsemane to Judas’ betrayal, Peter’s denial, trial and suffering of Christ and finally, His final breath on the cross.
As a special gesture of hospitality to our visitors, guests to the Holy Week installation at Wesley were also treated to a special barista coffee created by our staff members Timothy Ho and Benedict Tay. During the four-day event, many more volunteers came forward as station stewards to staff the stations and give visitors guidance and directions about the individual stations.
Planning and work behind the scenes started two months before the event. Most of the props were designed and constructed on-site with the help of a Wesleyan, Bobby Tay, who is in the building and construction business. A week before the event, an incredible team of volunteers and staff worked alongside LCEC Chairperson Alvin Tay, church members Bobby and his wife Julie, the Events and Facilities team, the Worship teams from both the Prayer and Praise and Traditional services, and the Communications Ministry to transform our plaza hall, prayer and praise hall and sanctuary into the four stations. Their dedication was evident in the detailed props and scenes depicting the Garden of Gethsemane, the denial of Peter, betrayal, and Christ’s last sayings.
Stations 1 and 2 had elaborate props to depict the Garden of Gethsemane and the betrayal of Christ by Judas. At station 3, participants were presented with a scenography of Christ’s persecution. Participants were given a glimpse of that through the lights, music, sound effects, video and visuals specially created by Matthew Peters, a staff member, and his team from the Prayer and Praise team. Finally, participants at the last station in the beautiful sanctuary of Wesley, which held the last seven sayings of Christ, reflected on our Lord’s words, against the background music specially arranged by our Worship and Music pastoral team member Wong Ee Hwee.
Because of this unique contemplative experience, many participants at this year’s Journey to the Cross gained a fresh perspective on the Easter story, which hopefully helped deepen their faith powerfully. Said Yeo Su Chen, a volunteer and participant: ” Apart from reflections at the stations as a participant, I also had the opportunity to reflect on the Passion story deeply as I re-read the journey of Christ to Calvary for this project as a volunteer. I am happy I could be part of the team that served in Journey to the Cross at Wesley. Journey to the Cross was a transformative experience that reminded me of what God has done for me and to recommit to being His faithful disciple.”
(Photos by Gaius Ho)
