Kanas City, USA -- Any other day of the year, they are simply a war memorial, a homeless shelter and a jail. But this Good Friday, they'll become stops in a symbolic retracing of Christ's final steps and reminders of everyday suffering.
The modern observances are becoming more popular among religious leaders trying to make the lessons of a 2,000-year-old crucifixion relevant today.
"It's just to bring to the surface suffering," said Linda Zeorlin, associate director of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph's Peace & Justice Office. "It's to keep the awareness, keep it smack in the face."
In Kansas City, the stops on the Good Friday procession are varied, from the federal building to a business that typically offers one-day gigs for the unemployed.
Along the way, the prayers and testimonies from participants will touch on many issues — war, economic inequity, unemployment, the death penalty, homelessness and government wrongdoing.
In Boston, Ecclesia Ministries' service will make stops where the city's homeless have died.
Thousands are expected to take part in a Way of the Cross service that stops at a point of unimaginable human suffering, the World Trade Center site in New York. Also, Hofstra University will host a 10-mile walk-a-thon commemorating Good Friday while raising thousands of dollars for Long Island's hungry.
Scholars say Christians have observed Good Friday for centuries, but during the past few decades, churches and other institutions have begun to tinker with tradition to offer the faithful services that might hit closer to home or touch on modern social issues.
"They're adaptations so people can start thinking about the crucifixion and the passion in terms of everyday experiences," said Patrick Carey, a religion professor at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wis.
Carey said more traditional services are still much more popular on Good Friday, but modern interpretations have been growing over the past few decades.
Paul Griffiths, a religion professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, said Good Friday services have long been used to focus on suffering, particularly during wars.
"The basic idea remains pretty much the same," he said. "The sufferings of Christ on the way to the cross represent, in concentrated form, the sufferings of all humanity."