With just a short time left before Easter, I thought I’d share a series of prayer stations I put together for the Wesley Foundation at Georgia Tech. They are all based around Isaiah 53, the last of the Servant Songs which are traditionally read around this time of year in reflection on the crucifixion.
Contemplative or creative prayer exercises like these area great way to connect with God. I am always amazed to see God move in experiences like prayer stations. Feel free to use them in your own setting or simply explore them on your own.
Isaiah 53:1-3
1Who can believe what we have heard,
and for whose sake has the Lord’s arm been revealed?
2 He grew up like a young plant before us,
like a root from dry ground.
He possessed no splendid form for us to see,
no desirable appearance.
3 He was despised and avoided by others;
a man who suffered, who knew sickness well.
Like someone from whom people hid their faces,
he was despised, and we didn’t think about him.
Before you sits a laptop with a series of images. For centuries, Christians have created artwork and imagined what Jesus would have looked like. Cultures from various times and locations of course created their artwork to reflect a different understanding of what he may have looked like. All of these works of art are beautiful in their own way.
As Isaiah 53 begins, we are told that the suffering servant was not beautiful. Jesus, God’s ultimate suffering servant, was a man who suffered. He was a man who was despised, and many people didn’t think much of him.
As these images scroll by, take a moment to reflect on what the true face of Jesus might be for us today. Consider how Jesus was mistreated and misunderstood by religious and political authorities. We can never know in this life the true face of Jesus. However, perhaps there are faces we can see. There are the faces of the sick, suffering and despised to whom we owe our attention.
—
Isaiah 53:4-6
It was certainly our sickness that he carried,
and our sufferings that he bore,
but we thought him afflicted,
struck down by God and tormented.
5 He was pierced because of our rebellions
and crushed because of our crimes.
He bore the punishment that made us whole;
by his wounds we are healed.
6 Like sheep we had all wandered away,
each going its own way,
but the Lord let fall on him all our crimes.
In Isaiah 53, Jesus as the servant takes on the punishment for our crime, even though he doesn’t have to. The text uses a number of violent words to describe the way in which Christ takes on our sin making the passage very rich with movement.
Taka a moment to observe the drama of the verbs in this passage (“carried,” “pierced,” “bore” etc). Consider what they communicate about your salvation through Christ.
Before you are index cards. Draw a response or representation to one of these verbs. When you are finished, take a thumb tack and attach the card to the cork board.
—
Isaiah 53:7
He was oppressed and tormented,
but didn’t open his mouth.
Like a lamb being brought to slaughter,
like a ewe silent before her shearers,
he didn’t open his mouth.
It is easy to forget that Jesus didn’t want to die. On the night before he gave himself up for us, he prayed asking that God let the ‘cup of suffering’ pass from him. Luke tells us he prayed so earnestly that he begins to sweat blood.
Yet, on the day of his prosecution before Pilot, Jesus offered no defense. He submitted to the cross for our sake. Jesus did not speak.
Imagine you can speak across the void of time. You can throw your voice back to the moment of Jesus’ trial before Pilot and the Jewish authorities. If you could say one thing to Jesus at the time just before his death, what would it be?
Take a moment to write whatever it is on a sticky note. When you are done, post it to the cross.
—
Isaiah 53:10
But the Lord wanted to crush him
and to make him suffer.
If his life is offered as restitution,
he will see his offspring; he will enjoy long life.
The Lord’s plans will come to fruition through him.
Jesus endured suffering and death on a cross in order to bring about our salvation. God as Creator laid a plan for our restitution, for our redemption, and Christ saw the plan through in obedience.
Through Christ, now we are all free to participate in God’s work of reconciliation for the entire world.
Take a moment to contemplate your salvation in Christ. Travel back in your mind and reflect on your own testimony. What has God done life that has brought you to where you are today? How has God been working out a plan in your life?
Consider a single word that describes or responds to your testimony as it is right now. Then use the letter tiles provided to write out word. Make you word connect to the words of others “Scrabble-style” as a reflection of how all our lives connect.
—
Isaiah 53:11
After his deep anguish he will see light, and he will be satisfied.
Through his knowledge, the righteous one, my servant, will make many righteous, and will bear their guilt.
The beauty of the story of Christ is that it doesn’t end in the dark. Our sin and guilt, Jesus’ suffering and death, they are only a portion of the great story of God’s work of redemption.
The story of God doesn’t end in death. The story begins in resurrection. There is a light. Take a moment to light a candle in honor of the hope of resurrection.
—
Isaiah 53:12
Therefore, I will give him a share with the great,
and he will divide the spoil with the strong,
in return for exposing his life to death
and being numbered with rebels,
though he carried the sin of many
and pleaded on behalf of those who rebelled.
Jesus ‘exposed his life to death’ and pleaded with God on our behalf in order that we might gain forgiveness. Jesus carried the weight of our sin and rebellion and made it possible for us to reunite with God our Creator.
Consider you own life. Is there something you regret? Is there sin in your heart that gets in the way of relationships? Whatever the sin is, take a moment to write about it on the chalkboard in front of you. Say a prayer giving this sin over to God, and ask for forgiveness for what you have done.
When you are finished, take the eraser and wipe away what you have written. Know that because of the love of God, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and through the power of the Holy Spirit we have confidence in the forgiveness of sins.
Kena Hawkins Newkirk 