FARMINGTON -- Using original, local artwork from a 9-year-old to an 89-year-old, Farmington First Church of the Nazarene gave visitors a glimpse of Good Friday and the last hours leading up to the crucifixion and burial of Jesus Christ.
"This is a great way to tell the story," said Patrick Garcia, pastor of Farmington First Church of the Nazarene.
Garcia and his wife have organized similar art exhibits, called "Stations of the Cross," at their previous church and this is the first time to present one in Farmington.
Local artists in Farmington were given a scripture from the last hours of Christ and asked to interpret it in their own way. The exhibits included paintings, drawings, string art, colored sand and art using fabric.
"How each artist interprets the passage is what makes it so unique," said Becky Garcia, Patrick Garcia's wife.
The stations were set up in the church's sanctuary from noon to 7 p.m., on Friday and people could come at their convenience and take as much time as they wanted to look at the stations. Each station had scripture, artwork and a meditative prayer to go along with it.
Garcia said he and his wife came up with the idea from early Christianity. A booklet that goes along with the stations notes that when pilgrims came to Jerusalem, they visited sites where Jesus was known to have been.
"Eventually, following in the footsteps of Jesus, along the way of the cross, became a part of the pilgrimage visit," the booklet says.
Traditional stations came about during the crusades when it was not safe to visit the holy sites. In the early 1500s, Garcia writes, villages in Europe created replicas of the way of the cross, commemorating the places along the route in Jerusalem. Eventually, the traditional 14 stations were set up in almost every Catholic Church in the world.
Farmington First Church of the Nazarene set up 14 scriptural stations as an alternative to the 14 traditional stations in Catholic Churches.
"These are a way of reflecting on the scriptural accounts of Christ's passion," Garcia wrote.
The first station is Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. The local art with this shows a beautiful sunset through the trees. Other stations are Jesus being betrayed by Judas and Jesus' arrest; Jesus denied by Peter; Jesus is judged by Pilate and Jesus bearing his own cross.
The last and 14th station is Jesus being placed in the tomb.
Virginia Harp of Farmington walked through the stations Friday and she said she had not been to anything like it before.
"It is really nice," said Harp, who visits Farmington First Church of the Nazarene.
Pat Odom and her family are founding members of the church and Odom, who is 89, painted a picture showing Peter outside the gates as he denied knowing Jesus.
"I think this is a good idea," said Odom. "Everyone has spoken in their own way (through art)."
Odom's great-grandson, Mason Mahan, 9, was the youngest person to submit artwork for the exhibit.
Becky Garcia said the church will have another Stations of the Cross next year but she said it would be completely different because new artists would be asked to interpret scripture for the event.
General News on 04/08/2015