WASHINGTON, D.C. (Episcopal News Service) -- Rain, snow and temperatures that were barely
ENS PHOTO: Mary Frances Schjonberg
Episcopalians of all ages walked the Way of the Cross to witness against gun violence.
above freezing did not deter a group of about 400 Episcopalians from taking to the streets of the nation’s capital March 25 to transform the traditional reenactment of Jesus’ journey to Calvary and the tomb into a prayer procession meant to challenge what they called a culture of violence.
The modern-day version of the ancient Holy Week ritual of the Stations of the Cross began outside St. John’s Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square, at the corner of 16th and H streets northwest, across from the White House. The moving liturgy went past the White House and concluded on the west steps of the U.S. Capitol some two and a half hours later. Bishops, priests and deacons in the procession wore cassocks or other clerical attire, and the worshipers were led by a wooden cross as they made their way past the White House and down a lane of Pennsylvania Avenue that had been blocked off from traffic.
“You walked for Christ at a time when most people would have just gone inside and found something else to do,” one of Connecticut's bishops suffragan, James Curry, told the worshipers after they finished the Way of the Cross.
At a “media availability” event before the Way of the Cross began, Curry had said that “the place of the church in our society is the place of Jesus Christ who faced down violence itself and died because of it.”
“We know that this is a struggle that will take years and years, and our pledge is continue to carry that cross for our children and for our society,” he said.
While there was mention in the liturgy of the ready availability of guns and the grief caused by gunplay, the worshipers during their stops near memorials, government buildings and works of art primarily offered prayers for an end to a culture of violence and the social and economic conditions that spawn violence.
The Stations of the Cross is an ancient ritual that commemorates the ordeal of Jesus from his condemnation by Pontius Pilate to his crucifixion and burial. Worshipers metaphorically walk with Jesus, stopping to offer prayers inspired by events, some legendary, that occurred as Jesus carried his cross.
Curry and Connecticut's bishop, Ian T. Douglas and bishop suffragan Laura J. Ahrens organized the service after the killing of 28 students, teachers and others at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown on Dec. 14, 2012. Among those who died was Benjamin Andrew Wheeler, 6, who was a member of Trinity Episcopal Church in Newtown. The bishops worked in cooperation with the Diocese of Washington's bishop, Mariann Edgar Budde, and a team from her diocese.
Other Episcopal bishops who participated in some or all of the event were Wayne Wright of
ENS PHOTO: Mary Frances Schjonberg
Bishop Mary Glasspool of Los Angeles captures video of Bishop Gayle Harris of Massachusetts leading prayer.
Delaware, Nedi Rivera of Eastern Oregon, Mary Glasspool of Los Angeles, Larry Provenzano of Long Island, Gayle Harris of Massachusetts, Steven Miller of Milwaukee, Mark Beckwith of Newark, David Bailey of Navajoland, Rob Hirschfeld of New Hampshire, Gene Robinson (retired) of New Hampshire, W. Nicholas Knisely of Rhode Island, Dorsey Henderson of Upper South Carolina, Shannon Johnston of Virginia, Douglas Fisher of Western Massachusetts and Porter Taylor of Western North Carolina. The Rt. Rev. Dinis S. Sengulane, Bishop of Lebombo, Mozambique, in the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, who helped to end the civil war in his country and inspired the collection and conversion of weapons from that war for peaceful purposes, was also a participant.
Read the full Episcopal News Service story here.
Watch these video clips from the walk on our Facebook page, sent by Bishop Gayle Harris via phone.