Hello, all! I’m excited to share that I’ve been working on a new project with a gifted artist named Gabrielle Rowell. Gabby and I have collaborated on a new version of the Stations of the Cross, now available from Liturgical Press.

Why I Wrote These Stations

I have always loved the Stations of the Cross. The reason goes back decades. As many of you know, I grew up in a small Episcopal parish in Plano, Texas. The Stations of the Cross was an essential part of our Lenten practice as a parish family. Actually, the full practice was soup, sandwiches, and Stations! Every Friday evening in Lent for years, I ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with my friends in the parish hall, and then gathered in the church with the whole community to pray the Stations. I was an altar server, so I often walked from station to station with a large candle in hand. No doubt this experience remains a part of my muscle memory. I still prefer to walk the Stations rather than pray them in a pew.

The Stations of the Cross is a devotion that has structure but allows a good deal of imagination and creativity. When I began dreaming about a new version of the Stations, I wasn’t sure how to go about it. But I began to think and pray with these sacred moments, entering as much as possible into Jesus’ experiences. One day the painful Tenth Station was on my mind: Jesus is stripped of his garments. I wondered if—in that moment when every last thing was stripped from him—Jesus may have recalled the stories of Eden, where the first human beings were naked but not ashamed (Gen 2:25). A realization that the Scriptures he knew so well must have permeated Jesus’ mind and heart in moments of crisis allowed me to reimagine the scene. Perhaps Jesus was not utterly humiliated in that moment, as I had always thought. Perhaps he was comforted, even strengthened, by recalling this original truth—that we are all naked before God, and we need not be ashamed. No doubt this was a moment of suffering, but perhaps it was also an experience of total surrender and freedom before God.

I began to let this imagining inspire the way I thought and wrote about the other Stations. What might Jesus have been thinking as he walked this path? What bits and pieces of Scripture might have surfaced as he struggled? In the moment he saw his mother? When Veronica touched his face? When the first nail struck? We cannot know for sure, but there is value in wondering, in imagining, in entering the mind of Christ and hearing his voice speak within us.

There is one thing I knew for certain as I prayed with and wrote these Stations: whatever Jesus might have been experiencing and thinking, we are all invited to be a part of it. Because with God, every thought is outward movement. It is all invitation: Come to me, all of you. This invitation saturates these Stations. Whether Jesus is falling to the ground or being lifted up on the cross, he is thinking of us. He is calling us to stay close.

The Art

Art helps us imagine. As this project came into focus, I knew it needed art that would help us walk this painful, life-giving path. I reached out to Gabrielle Rowell, a young artist, photographer, and mother living in Washburn, Missouri, whose work I have followed for several years. Gabby’s art is both bold and gentle—this was the artistic tone I envisioned for Come to Me, All of You. And it is what Gabby created. You can visit gabriellerowellart.com to see her beautiful, original linocuts, each one carved by hand for this book.

Inside of Come to Me, All of You, you’ll also find a simple guide for praying with the art Gabby has created. It is our hope that both the words and images in this new version of the Stations of the Cross will help you enter more deeply into the mind and heart of Christ.

Learn More

To learn more about Come to Me, All of You: Stations of the Cross in the Voice of Christ and to see sample pages, visit litpress.org/stations. Multi-copy pricing is available for those who wish to purchase ten or more copies for sharing or parish use.

You can also view a “Question and Answer” author video about the book here.

Please feel free to share with others who may be interested in praying the Stations of the Cross in a new way! And thank you all, as always, for your encouragement and support—you are a blessing to me!