ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO) — Christians around the world are commemorating the Crucifixion and death of Jesus by observing the Stations of the Cross on Good Friday.

Congregants from several Rockford-area churches have participated in the annual Good Friday walk for 34 years.

“It’s a time when we can kind of reflect on what it was like on that Good Friday when Jesus was crucified,” said Scott Garwick, a member of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Rockford.

Garwick said he has participated in the annual event for 10 years.

To observe the Stations of the Cross, Garwick and others take turns carrying a wooden cross through downtown Rockford, in a 14-step Catholic devotion that involves stopping for prayer and meditation at each of Jesus’ stops on the road to his eventual crucifixion and burial.

“When I carry the cross, I just try to I try to reflect and I try to think about what it must have been like that day that Jesus carried the cross and carried the cross to his crucifixion,” Garwick said.

Rockford Urban Ministries director Stanley Campbell said “Good Friday is a good time to get out into the community and remind people that there is a loving God, and that God wants us to be out in the community working and saying prayers with people that need it.”

Rev. Violet Jonicker, Rockford Urban Ministries’ associate director, said “There really is a strong energy out here of justice-seeking Christians coming together across lots of different faith traditions to say that what Jesus did was to stand against empire, to work against oppression, and we’re called to do the same.

“And so, as we progress through the stations today, we’re going to highlight a number of different justice issues that our organization and many churches in the Rockford area have worked on together.”

“I just kind of try to remember what that sacrifice means to all of us and especially what his love means to all of us,” Garwick said.