Christians to carry Cross to Newtown on Good Fri

30 March 2009

Christians to carry the Cross to Newtown on Good Friday

For Christians in south-central Wellington, this year’s Easter celebrations will have a new flavour, with the inaugural inter-church Good Friday “Way of the Cross” pilgrimage to Newtown on 10 April.

St Anne’s Catholic Church has held a street procession on Good Friday since 1993. This year they will be joined by members of St Paul’s Lutheran Church, St Cuthbert’s Anglican Church, and the Urban Vision Mission Order.

Members of other churches are welcome to come along too, says Br. Richard Noble, community minister at St Cuthbert’s Anglican Church. “There may also be folk from outside the churches who would like to commemorate the true meaning of Easter, and they are most welcome to join us”.

“The story of the death and resurrection of Jesus has been told at Easter for almost 2,000 years. It may not be the oldest story around, but it’s arguably the greatest story ever told,” says Br. Richard.

“Look at what we see in the news every day - many people suffer greatly in their lives and wonder why God – if there even is a God – allows this to happen. And of course we all face the inevitability of our own death. The Easter story cuts to the heart of the matter: the one God, the Creator, has become one of us in the person of Jesus Christ, and suffered a brutal death. But it doesn’t end there: a couple of days after he was executed, Jesus’ tomb was found empty and he appeared to his disciples in the flesh as the Risen Lord of life,” Br Richard says.

“This “gospel” – the good news - that God in Christ has overcome suffering and death, is the living hope that has inspired Christians for the last two millennia, and is surely a hope that the whole world desperately needs.”

The Way of the Cross Pilgrimage begins at 9am on Good Friday (April 10).

People can join the procession at one of two starting places, St Paul’s Lutheran Church, King Street (off Adelaide Road near the Basin Reserve) or St Cuthbert’s Anglican Church, Luxford Street, Berhampore. The two groups will proceed from their respective staring points to St Anne’s Catholic Church in Newtown.

ENDS

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