Enhance your Holy Week observances with this free Stations of the Cross artwork and devotional experience.

The Stations of the Cross, also called The Way of the Cross, is a historic practice of Christians around the world, observed especially during Lent and on Good Friday in particular. The concept was originated in medieval times, to bring a taste of Holy Land pilgrimage to people in their own churches. Rather than walking the Via Dolorosa (Way of Sorrows) around Jerusalem to remember Jesus' humiliation and sacrifice, devotees could process from station to station within the church or an outdoor space, meditating on visual representations of Jesus' journey—often sculptures, paintings, or reliefs.

There are traditionally fourteen stations, marking Jesus' experience from condemnation to burial, though adaptations exist, including the addition of a resurrection station (which some would say defeats the purpose of meditating on Christ's suffering before jumping to Easter) or a version that only depicts scenes explicitly recorded in Scripture. (Jesus stumbling and falling under the weight of the cross might be logically assumed, though not stated in Scripture, and one station—Veronica wiping Jesus' face with a towel—introduces a completely extrabiblical character and incident.)

The Stations of the Cross experience offered below follow the traditional fourteen stations, with the substitution of resurrection (as Station 14) for the traditional station 13, Jesus is taken down from the cross. These worship elements may be projected or printed free of charge for use in congregational settings.

Artwork is mixed media collage, created by Jessica Miller Kelley in 2006, photographs ©2013.

Corresponding and thematically-related scriptures are from the Common English Bible, ©2010.