Walk this Way!

Oh no - two song-titled posts in a row! I don't mean to trample someone else's blog theme; I won't make it a habit.

Jubilee's primary ministry consists of musical reflections on the Stations of the Cross. The group is entering our 11th year of taking this devotion into area parishes, and attendees are always moved by a new appreciation for what our Lord has done for us.

The addition of "living stations" in the last couple of years - with participants ("liturgical dancers," but they don't "dance" in the usual sense) posing to represent each station - has brought a new element to people's experience, and has been overwhelmingly well received. We're more in demand than ever, and will be singing in 11 parishes this Lent. But even with that, and while we've substituted in new music piecemeal through the years, we've been using the same basic flow, spoken reflections, and communal prayers from the beginning.

Our director decided she wanted to rework things for this year, so a subgroup of us have been meeting and working on them since October. I've been the primary text author (though insight has seemed to come straight from the Holy Spirit, at times), but the finished product really was a team effort. We've finally finished selecting songs and editing the new spoken reflections and prayers. I am so pleased with how it has turned out!

For starters, we've refocused our attention by using the other traditional title - The Way of the Cross - to reinforce that this devotion should lead us to walk the Way with our whole lives. Next, we made a change to our order of service that should result in a more prayerful service. Mainly, we were blessed with loads of fresh insights. Many of these we've included, others we had to sacrifice, both due to time considerations and to maintain a balance between head and heart. Filling our limited time with too many thought-provoking ideas (head) would interfere with a moving, transforming connection with the Lord's Passion (heart). I'm going to suggest we publish a companion pamphlet for next year with some of this additional content, so that attendees can continue to reflect more deeply long after our service is over.

The response we've received so far has been great. One team member who had an advance copy shared it with the youth group she leads. They liked it so well they've asked to use it for their own Lenten stations. And one of the more spiritual and prayerful members of Jubilee was also very pleased with what he sees. The nice thing about this limited sampling is that it reflects one of our goals: to allow the Spirit to touch people from diverse degrees of spiritual maturity.

It's already worth the long hours of meeting and writing and revising. I'm really looking forward to Lent!