Local worshippers follow Way of the Cross on rainy Good Friday

About 75 worshippers and several local ministers braved bad weather to take part in a religious ceremony that has become a Homewood tradition, the annual The Way of the Cross procession, on the afternoon of Good Friday, April 19.

The event was blessed with a perfect sunny afternoon in 2018, but not this year. The skies were cloudy on Friday, with intermittent hard rain.

But the event continued, with participants meeting at Homewood Central Park at 2 p.m. and walking to Edgewood Presbyterian Church, a distance of about one mile.

Along the route, worshippers periodically paused to read scripture and pray, and representatives from different churches took turns carrying the 8-foot wooden cross

Trinity United Methodist Church Senior Pastor Brian Erickson carried the cross on the first leg of the procession on Friday.

“As we’re walking, we’re remembering the stations of the cross, the primary moments of Jesus’ final hours on earth,” Erickson told The Homewood Star recently.  

Dawson Memorial Baptist, All Saints Episcopal Church, Bethel A.M.E, Homewood Cumberland Presbyterian, Raleigh Avenue Baptist, Second Presbyterian and Trinity West Homewood were among the local churches set to participate, according to Erickson.

The roughly hour-long procession Friday was scheduled to close with a worship service at Edgewood Presbyterian.