CAMA guides guests through Jesus’ final day

CONNEAUT – Each year, Rev. Joshua Krenz attempts to attach a theme to the Lenten season.
Throughout the Stations of the Cross service presented at Conneaut Township Park by the Conneaut Area Ministerial Association on Friday, April 3, Krenz was thinking about the role Jesus Christ might play in today’s world.
“Peace, I’m trying to trying to get myself in this headspace that Christ brings peace,” Krenz, who organized the service for CAMA, said. “In this world right now, where I feel like there’s a lot of unease and wars going on, whether you agree with them or not, they’re still affecting people. If Christ was here, I think there’d be more peace and if we can make it available and let people know that Christ is here, we just have to accept him, we can be in peace. So peace is one of the big things I’ve been trying to focus on this year, especially during this season of Lent.”
A message of peace surely fits the Easter season.
“For our Lenten journeys, I try to do something new every year,” Krenz said. “It’s still focused around the idea of repentance and reflection, but this year, instead of giving up something just for the season, like chocolate or coffee or whatever, I’m saying, ‘Let’s give up something that we can live without for a long time,’ and that’s hostility.”
“We can live without hostility,” Krenz continued. “We can live without hating one another. We can take on loving one another, take on loving God, and that’s what Lent and the culmination of this day of Good Friday is kind of all about, how Jesus climbed up on the cross for us and for our salvation and for our ability to love one another without having to worry about our own salvation, our own souls.”
The Stations of the Cross service guides the faithful through Jesus’ final day on Earth. The service begins with Jesus on the Mount of Olives and moves through Judas’ betrayal and Jesus’ arrest, the judgement by Pilate, the crown of thorns and the crucifixion.
“I think the humility of Christ is a big thing,” Krenz said. “There’s a piece of scripture that says, if he wanted to, he could call up to his Father and have legions of angels come down and save him, but he didn’t. Instead, he willingly let himself be crucified, let himself die for the beneficiary of humanity and for the salvation of all. That humility says, ‘Okay, our pride is something that we can put aside.’ We need to put aside our egos. We need to put aside our pride and take on our humility just like Christ did when he climbed up on that cross.”
At approximately noon on his final day, a darkness that lasted three hours fell over the land and Jesus died. He was placed in a tomb, thus ending the service.
As Krenz ponders his message of peace, he believes there’s a lesson to be learned from Jesus climbing onto the cross.
“The Stations of the Cross service is just one of those where it’s a good reminder that we talk about each station individually, and we talk about how Christ went from The Last Supper to the cross, and the fact that all the churches in CAMA, all the people that have come to see this, even if they’re not available to come, know about this idea of Christ sacrificing himself for us and this ego that goes away with it,” he said.
Krenz was pleased to have a crowd gathered for the service in the upper pavilion at Conneaut Township Park.
“It’s fantastic,” Krenz said. “I think we’re growing in number here, the number of people coming in here, and in participation. We have a few new pastors, Pastor Jarrod Blood of Amboy (United Methodist Church), Pastor Christy (Suffecool) from New Leaf (United Methodist Church), and Pastor April (Osborne from Conneaut First Congregational United Church of Christ) now being part of CAMA, and they’re just bringing new energy and new people. The fact that more and more people are coming and seeing this and participating in this just makes my heart glow.”
It was only fitting that, as the service ended, sun and warmth were replaced by clouds and cold.
“I think there’s definitely something special when you start off with a sunny day on this Good Friday, and then towards the afternoon, it starts getting cloudy,” Krenz said. “It reminds us that from noon on to about three, it was darkness. And, then, after Jesus died, at three, there was a great darkness, but then, of course, we remember, in a few days, we’re going to celebrate Easter, where the light comes back, Christ is the light, and then we’ll pronounce Christ as risen again.”