Description
Jesus is condemned
Jesus and Pilate
head-to-head
in a c
lash of cultures.
Pilate is
angular, aggressive, threatening
representing
the oppressive, controlling
Empire of dominating power,
with its strength in numbers
and weaponry,
which can crucify
but cannot
set free.
Jesus is
curves and crosses,
love and sacrifice,
representing the kingdom of God;
a kingdom of love,
service and self-sacrifice
birthing men and women
into the freedom
to love one another.
The way of compassion
or the way of domination;
the way of self-sacrifice
or the way of self;
the way of powerlessness
or the way of power;
the way of serving
or the way of grasping;
the kingdom of God
or the empires of Man.
Jesus takes up his cross
Take up your cross:
accept and use
your suffering and pain;
become a servant
wash the feet of others;
give yourself
for the benefit of others;
don?t walk by on the other side;
give away your shirt and coat;
go the extra mile;
turn the other cheek;
love your enemies;
do good to those that hate you;
love God
with heart, mind,
soul and strength;
love others
as you love yourself.
Take up your cross.
Jesus falls for the first time
Down, if you can save yourself!
Down, if we are to believe!
Down, if you are Son of God!
Down, if you are King of Jews!
Down, if in three days
you can rebuild the Temple!
Down, if you have
committed no crime!
Down, you blasphemer!
Down, you destroyer of the Temple!
Down, you pretender to the throne!
Down, you false Messiah!
Down!
Down, if you believe God is your saviour!
Down, if you want us to believe it too!
Down, if you believe you are part of divinity!
Down, if you harbour delusions of grandeur!
Down, if believe in the lunacy
of resurrection!
Down, as your belief in love
is the root of all violence!
Down, you Bible-basher!
Down, you demeaner of the material!
Down, you challenge to „Man come of age?!
Down, with your false vision of the spiritual!
Down!
Jesus meets his mother
Mother,
you bore me
so that I
can bear the world
on my shoulders.
Mother,
you birthed me
so that I
can give birth
to God?s children.
Mother,
you sheltered me
so that others
can find shelter
under my wing.
Mother,
you carried me
so that I
can carry others
into heaven?s kingdom
on earth.
Mother,
you bore me,
birthed me,
sheltered me,
carried me,
to release me
and give me
in broken pieces
to the world.
Mother,
in a little while
you will not see me
and your heart
will break.
Mother,
in a little while
you will see me
and the shattered
shards of your heart
will be gathered up
and restored.
Simon helps Jesus carry his
cross
Take up your cross:
accept and use
your suffering and pain;
become a servant -
wash the feet of others;
give yourself
for the benefit of others;
don?t walk by on the other side;
give away your shirt and coat;
go the extra mile;
turn the other cheek;
love your enemies;
do good to those that hate you;
love God
with heart, mind,
soul and strength;
love others
as you love yourself.
Take up your cross.
Jesus meets Veronica
Jesus is seen
as you recognise the agony of an other.
Jesus is seen
as you respond to pain with relief.
Jesus is seen
as you share the shame endured by an
other.
Jesus is seen
as you are reviled for the sake of an
other.
Jesus is seen
as you lift a burden from an other?s
shoulders.
Jesus is seen
as you enable an other to regain their
footing.
Jesus is seen
as you assist an other to arise.
Jesus is seen
as you wipe the blood, sweat and tears
from the face of an other.
His face imprinted
on your action.
Jesus falls for the second
time
Gravity pulls at your head.
Sweating blood,
questioning
whether this cup can be taken from you.
Not your will, God?s will.
Gravity pulls at your shoulders.
Red raw,
wicked wood
splintering in lacerations.
Weight of wood pressing down.
Gravity pulls at your legs
having walked
the length and breath of the country,
having knelt
in prayer in Gethsemene,
having stood
while beaten and whipped.
Gravity pulls you down.
Jesus meets the women of
Jerusalem
Do not weep for me.
I go to prepare a place
for you to wait
in my Father?s courts.
I go to reveal a temple
not made with human hands.
I go to return and bring
the Holy City
from heaven
to earth;
God?s home with
humankind –
no death, no grief
or crying or pain,
tears wiped away,
the healing of the nations.
Do not weep for me
but pray.
Pray for the kingdom come,
on earth
as it is in heaven
for I go to reveal the Temple
as it has always existed –
the creation and human story;
His story.
Weep only for yourselves.
For the foot of human pride
will soon descend
as the armies of the Empire of power
ring this city
to crush this Temple
and destroy.
How terrible for mothers
in the violence
of those days;
it would be better
for children not to be
than to suffer
in the killing fields.
Cry for yourselves
and for your children,
cry for the mountains
to fall and hide you,
cry,
for the terror
inflicted by
the Empires of power
will be great.
Jesus falls for the third time
Falling …
when chained
when whipped
when bearing a cross
Falling …
through weakness
through tiredness
through failure
Falling …
when pushed
when pulled
when mocked
Falling …
from prestige
from riches
from grace
Falling …
by stumbling
by tripping
by leaping
Falling …
into sin
into poverty
into depravity
Falling …
into the grave
into debt
into grace
Falling …
through time
through space
through eternity
Falling …
in love
Falling …
into
the arms of God
Falling …
Up
Jesus is stripped
Stripped of equality with God.
Stripped of glory.
Stripped of power.
Stripped of family.
Stripped of occupation.
Stripped of possessions.
Stripped of followers.
Stripped of respect.
Stripped of clothing.
Stripped naked.
Stripped raw.
Stripped to the bone.
Becoming nothing,
no one,
everyone.
Jesus is nailed to the cross
What holds you here?
The cruel nails
driven into wrists and feet?
Armed guards
ringing the base of your cross?
The crowd
mocking your purpose and pain?
The exhaustion
of a battered and beaten victim?
A willed commitment
to a loving, reconciling purpose?
Jesus dies on the cross
Death comes in an agony of mind:
questioning whether the cup could be withdrawn;
forsakenness experienced within your very self;
normality faced as the last temptation.
Death comes in an agony of relations:
deserted by those who had followed;
betrayed by one who was your friend;
forsaken by God, your loving Father.
Death comes in an agony of body:
evaporation of fluids in wilderness heat;
steady drip of lifeblood from lacerations and wounds;
suffocating angle of body pinned to wicked wood.
Death comes in finality.
“It is finished”;
agony ended,
purpose fulfilled.
Jesus is taken down from the
cross
And a sword pierced her heart,
as the whip flayed his back,
as the cross made him fall,
as the nails pierced his wrists and feet,
as the spear pierced his side,
as she held the limp, lifeless adult body
she had once held, as a newborn babe, to her breast.
Jesus is laid in the tomb
still
be still
be still and know
God
born
still God
still man
still born
still born among us
God
in flesh appearing
defenceless
helpless
needing us
all-knowing
un-knowing
all present
confined in space
a child
God child
incarnate
incarnate still
be still
be still and know
still
be still
be still and know
God
dead
still God
still man
still buried
still buried in the ground
God
in flesh appearing
defenceless
helpless
killed by us
falling
buried
germinating
growing
a seed
God man
incarnate
incarnate still
be still
be still and know
Mary
Why do you weep?
For the body taken away
For not knowing its location
For the escalation of grief
For the suspension of closure
Why do you weep?
For the frustration of expectations
For the pain of crucifixion
For the victory of might
For the loss of my beloved
Why do you weep?
For the voice that called my name
For the body that I held
For the teacher who still teaches
For the dead man who now lives
Why do you weep?
For the reversal of all my expectations
For the joy of resurrection
For the victory of love
For union with my beloved
Emmaus
Walking through the valley of the shadow of death
Walking on the turbulent waters of faith and doubt
Walking up the rough, steep mountain road of grief
Who is the third who walks always beside you?
Walking through deserts of despair and disillusion
Walking in the middle of sad forests of introspection
Walking, crawling, on crooked highways of confusion
Who is the third who walks always beside you?
The sound of ancient footsteps
on the white road, like the motion of the sea,
I see, but do not recognize,
the third who walks always beside you.
The day is dark and done.
We go in and sit to eat.
Bread is blessed and broken
our eyes open –
Take and eat,
this is my body broken for you,
the living bread from heaven
the bread to end all hunger,
the flesh and blood Messiah
beside us, in us and through us.
Take and eat
Peter
The cock crows
and trust fails as you deny
the one that you had sworn
never to leave or forsake
The cock crows
with the falling away of commitment
which tears away, where denied beliefs stuck to you,
the flesh from the bone
The cock crows
And there is nothing except pain
and a cry and a hate, extreme crisis and no belief,
memories and facts and realities of denial.
The question is posed,
“Do you love me?”
and guilt is re-inhabited
in order to be understood and redeemed.
The question is posed,
“Do you love me?”
and the promise of wholeness comes
as the fragments of a shattered psyche are gathered up
through self-knowledge.
The question is posed,
“Do you love me?”
Three affirmations countermand three denials
and the guilty party walks free to love and feed God?s
flock.
Thomas
Unless I see
the scars
of the nails
in his hands
and put my finger
on those scars
and my hand
in his side,
unless I can touch,
unless he is tangible,
unless I have proof,
I will not believe.
If you see
the scars
of the nails
in my hands
and put your finger
on those scars
and your hand
in my side,
if you can touch,
if I am tangible,
if you have proof,
you will not have belief.
Blessed are those
who cannot see
the scars
of the nails
in my hands
and put their fingers
and their hands
on those scars
in my side,
blessed are those who
cannot touch,
who are without
tangible proof,
for they truly believe.
Ascension
Where is Jesus now?
Not here!
Jesus has left the building,
left the earth.
The last we saw of him
was the soles of his feet
as he ascended to heaven.
Where is Jesus now?
No longer God with us,
now God in heaven.
Distant,
removed,
out of our league.
What is he like?
We do not know –
we cannot see him!
What does he say?
We do not know –
we cannot hear him.
What is he to us?
We do not know –
he is not with us.
Where is Jesus now?
Here in body.
Here in what body?
The body of his people.
In the diverse,
differing,
fallible,
forgiven folk
who follow him
forming
his body on earth,
becoming his hands and feet,
his eyes, ears, mouth
on earth.
Where is Jesus now?
Here in Spirit.
Here in what Spirit?
The Spirit of love,
joy, peace
and hope.
The Spirit that
animates his body
into acts of service
and words of love.
Who are we
to be where
Jesus is now?
Only the struggling,
the failing,
the falling.
Only those calling out
for the Spirit?s
empowering.
Where are we
who are where
Jesus is now?
Only a fragment –
the minutest part -
of the glorious whole
that is his body
on earth.
How do we feel
to be where
Jesus is now?
Affirmed and humbled,
gifted and graced,
on top of the world
and
put in our place.
What does it mean
to be where
Jesus is now?
Like children
becoming adult
to grow up into him,
together
becoming him.
Each playing
our part
in the whole
that is Jesus,
Emmanuel,
God with us.
Paul
Saul, Saul,
why do you persecute me?
Who are you?
I am those you persecute,
they are my Body,
they are in me
and I am in them.
I am one Body
though made of many parts;
Jews, Gentiles,
men, women,
slaves or free,
all are one in me.
Apostles, prophets,
teachers, miracle workers,
healers, helpers, directors,
speakers in strange tongues;
all are one in me.
Black, white,
young, old,
gay, straight,
disabled, able-bodied
upper class, working class,
all are one in me.
When one part suffers,
all parts suffer;
when one part is persecuted,
all are persecuted.
Saul, Saul,
why do you persecute me?
Who are you?
I am Jesus,
whom you persecute.
Who are you?
I am like one
whose birth was abnormal,
the least of the Apostles,
not even deserving
of that name,
for I persecuted you
by persecuting your people.
I am Paul,
your servant,
your Apostle to the Gentiles,
a part of the Body of Christ.