Stations of the Cross

During free time in the Incumbency Skills course I was able to head up the road to Hertford to catch up with Alan Stewart.

Alan shared the plans that Hertford and District Churches Together have for creating an innovative set of Stations of the Cross during Lent for Holy Week. Some of the Stations will be paintings by local artists displayed in a local gallery and local churches while others will be pieces of public art created in Lenten arts workshops and displayed at a series of public locations around Hertford during Holy Week.

A booklet showing the locations of all the Stations will be produced and will also include meditations on each Station. Excitingly, he asked whether I could be involved the writing of the meditations. Their visual ideas are so strong that I've been able to immediately begin drafting initial ideas which include the following two pieces:

Veronica wipes the face of Jesus

Your face, set like flint,
set towards Jerusalem,
bears the mark of the cross.
You carry the cross
in the resolution
written on
your features.
Death is the choice,
the decision,
the destiny,
revealed
in the blood,
sweat and tears
secreted from
your face
in prayerful questions,
prophetic grief,
pain-full acceptance,
then
imprinted on
Veronica’s veil.


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.

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Lauryn Hill - The Passion.