For the past several years, on Good Friday before Easter weekend, the kids and I have visited a unique and moving experience that takes place at Radius in downtown Greenville.

It’s called The Story of Redemption.  

My words are sure to be inadequate in describing the experience because it’s far more authentic and visceral than I will have the language to capture.

Each year the dynamics of the experience are varied, but the idea is the same.  Guests arrive and enter in the small group they came with, or individually.  Essentially, you are taking a guided “walk” through the story of God’s redemption of mankind, through the beginning, the Fall, the effects of sin, the broken manner in which we live currently, the death of Jesus on the cross, the hope of humanity in the form of His broken body, the promise of a future eternity.

The experience is both hands on and tangible.  You walk through various rooms and different scenes.  There are certainly a few rooms that are more emotional and heavier than other rooms.  I’ve taken the kids through with me each year and have felt comfortable with the level of intensity or visual reminders placed throughout, but it is not a lighthearted experience.

Like all experiential scenarios, you will certainly get out of it what you are willing to invest in it.  In other words, if you approach the Story of Redemption as an afternoon activity, or as a thing to do because it’s the season that you should do something, you might walk away disappointed, or at least – unmoved.

Opportunities are carefully provided throughout for you to pause, reflect, feel, think and acknowledge the weight and the depth and the real of what you are passing through.

Each year I have found The Story of Redemption to be incredibly meaningful, to be a guide to my heart and mind of a glimpse of the value and the sacrifice and the gigantic-ness of what Jesus has orchestrated to make my life acceptable to God.  I love having the tangible place to walk through this story with my children, to talk about Good Friday, to feel the weight of what matters.

You attend whenever you want to attend – any time from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Good Friday.  The doors are open all those hours and when you park, you’ll be easily directed to where to start and how the process works.  I’ve seen people spend an hour or more.  The kids and I usually are walking through in less than an hour, although I imagine if I was to go it alone I would linger a bit more in a few sections.  It’s completely free.

If you do have younger children, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. there is childcare available so you can walk through alone – which is a very kind gift to parents of young children.

This Radius event has become an important part of our family’s Easter tradition.  I really value the opportunity to make space on Friday to recognize and honor the indescribable sacrifice and to prepare my own heart for the grateful celebration that is Easter morning.

If you are local, I absolutely encourage you to create time to walk through this with your family and your friends.

All Photos by Jane Howard

The Details:

The Story of Redemption
Radius Church 
37 Pinckney Street,
Greenville SC

11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Childcare provided 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

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