Lord Jesus, lead us, together, to your cross.

The cross is the way of the lost. 

The cross is the support for those who stumble.

The cross is the guide of the blind.

The cross is the strength of the weak.

The cross is the hope of the hopeless.

The cross is the freedom of the enslaved.

The cross is the water of the seeds.

The cross is the consolation of the suffering.

The cross is the voice of the voiceless.

The cross is the source of those who seek water.

The cross is the cloth of the naked.

The cross is the faith of the doubter.

The cross is the solution to personal and collective sin.

The cross is the offer of welcome and embrace for those excluded.

The cross is the holy rage against injustice.

The cross is the love for those who are enemies.

The cross is the way of peace and reconciliation.

The cross is the healing of the broken.

The cross is the justice of the wronged.

The cross is the reconciliation of those in conflict.

The cross is the cure to violence and vengeance.

The cross is the fellowship of his sufferings.

The cross is the comfort for those who lament and mourn.

The cross is the way to the power of the resurrection and the fullness of the resurrection life.

The cross is the hope of a new creation and a new humanity.

The cross is the peace of the world and the church.

Lord Jesus, lead us, together, to your cross.

(By Graham Joseph Hill—a modified and contemporized version of a song by Yared of Ethiopia, 505–571 CE (sometimes referred to as a “Tenth-Century African Hymn” or “Litany of the Cross”). Also adapted from “On the Cross” by St. Ephraim the Syrian. Specific phrases from these hymns are used verbatim or modified, and Graham Joseph Hill introduces other phrases).