On Good Friday each year we walk with Jesus the Way of the Cross through a service in which we gather in front of each of the fourteen painting, hung around the church, to meditate on the unfolding events of Jesus’ trial and execution. These paintings – The Stations of The Cross, by Chris Gollon – have such depth and emotion about them that we have moved away from the traditional service, which is full of words, to standing and contemplating each one with a piece of music. This has become a mixture of recorded and live pieces, involving members of the church community, friends of the church and those who have performed here.
(Last year’s Stations of the Cross can be found here)
Jesus Before Pilate
Iver Keive & Knut Reiersrud: Velt Alle Dine Veie from the album Bla Koral (1991)
Jesus Receives His Cross
Spaccanapoli: Santa Notte from the album Lost Souls (2000)
Jesus Falls For the First Time
Alastair Murray performing live: Oh Well by Peter Green
Jesus Meets His Mother
Muzsikas: Farewell to Shabbat, from the album Maramoras – The most Music of Transylvania (1993)
Simon of Cyrene Carries the Cross
The Blind Boys of Alabama: If I Could Help Somebody, from the album Down in New Orleans (2008)
Veronica Washes the Face of Jesus
St John’s Singers performing live: Love Divine
Jesus Falls For the Second Time
Mark Wagner performing live
Jesus Meets the Women of Jerusalem
Raymond Shine performing live
Jesus Falls for the Third Time
Yorkston, Thorne & Khan: Everything Sacred, from the album Everything Sacred (2016)
Jesus is Stripped of His Clothes
Leonard Cohen: You Want it Darker, from the album You Want it Darker (2016)
Jesus is Nailed to the Cross:
Diamanda Galas: Were You There?, from the album The Singer (1992)
The Crucifixion
Bomb Everyone: Variation on Descending Bells (commission for St John’s)
Jesus is Taken Down From the Cross
Bulawayo Church Choir: Funeral Song, from the album Dead & Gone 2 (1997)
Jesus is Placed in the Tomb
Miranda Sex Garden: Gush Forth My Tears (William Holborne), from the album Madra (1991)