Homewood churches to follow Way of the Cross on March 30

An Easter tradition returns with The Way of the Cross procession on Good Friday, March 30, at 2 p.m.

Members of several churches meet at Central Park and walk down Oxmoor Road, stopping at eight stations for scripture readings and prayers as participants take turns carrying an eight-foot cross.

The procession includes singing and bagpipes, said Rev. Joe Genau of Edgewood Presbyterian Church, where the hour-long procession ends.

Genau said Edgewood doesn’t have a complete list of participating churches until just before the event. However, the procession stops at Trinity United Methodist Church, All Saints' Episcopal and Dawson Memorial Baptist Church, among others.

The Way of the Cross event and what it represents taps into a deep, personal meaning for Genau.

“A crucial part of my Christian faith is a deep honesty about the reality of life on this earth -- that life includes death and grief and suffering.,” he said. “We find peace and hope and grace in the midst of all that, but we don't deny that life is broken.”

However, the event itself provides some solace, according to Genau.

“On Good Friday, this most holy day of brokenness, I find power in very different churches coming together to walk and sing and pray and keep silence together,” he said.