Our Savior’s Lutheran Church includes local circumstances within annual Good Friday Justice and Peace Stations of the Cross event
Good Friday Justice and Peace Stations of the Cross event ... Pictured above is the group of walkers in front of Our Savior’s Lutheran Church who participated in Lansing’s third Justice and Peace Stations of the Cross event held Good Friday, April 7. In the photo at left, prayers are said for peace in Ukraine at The Good Life and Frame Shop owned and operated on Main Street in Lansing by Ukrainian immigrant Lesya Ryzhenkova. Pictured in the photo, left to right, with Ryzhenkova are Marlene Duffy, Mike Larsen, Ann Fields, Judy Schild (former owner of the frame shop) and Lanny Fields. Photos courtesy of Lynsey Moritz.
Friday, April 7, Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in Lansing led a Good Friday Justice and Peace Stations of the Cross event. This was the third such walk hosted by the congregation with the largest group of walkers so far. Some carried signs calling for justice or declaring God’s wide embrace.
The tradition began in 2021 when being outside was the safest way to hold the service during the pandemic. “We wanted to make a strong connection between our faith in Christ and how his suffering continues whenever any of God’s people suffer,” explained Pastor Laura Gentry of Our Savior’s Lutheran Church.
The church created a walking route around town that makes 12 stops around the city of Lansing that symbolize suffering today. At each, they contemplate the pain people bear and the larger systems of injustice which lead to it. Then, they pray together for God’s healing and peace. Andrew Boddicker and Ian Zahren, Eastern Allamakee Community School District teachers, led singing at each station this year.
The route varies with the news. For example, after the Ukraine was invaded by Russia in 2022, the Station of the Cross route made a stop at The Good Life Gallery and Frame Shop, where owner Lesya Ryzhenkova, a Ukrainian immigrant, had begun raising funds for war relief, which she sends directly to friends and her brother, who is fighting in the war.
This year, the group stopped there again to review how much suffering and death the war has caused in the subsequent year. Ryzhenkova shared about how much the suffering of her country continues as the war rages on. A special offering was taken at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church to support the relief work she is doing.
One participant, Tricia Koeller, brought her family from McGregor to participate in the walk. They were deeply moved. She wrote of their experience: “The way Pastor Laura Gentry applied the prayers to our current world - I’ve never experienced the Stations of the Cross like this before. It was, by far, one of the holiest highlights leading up to Easter Sunday that we experienced this week. There were so many lovely people, such a beautiful common goal, and the vocalists who led us - I truly could have listened to them sing all day! Warm smiles and oh, so hospitable. This will become a Holy Week tradition for us, without a doubt.”
Our Savior’s Lutheran Church plans to continue this tradition next year. To watch the 2023 walk, visit LansingLutheran.org.
