Northwood & Northwood Hills stns

Jesus falls for the first time by year 6 pupils from Hillside Juniors.

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,
as you
fall
for the
first time.

Simon helps Jesus carry his cross by ‘Edify’ (a group of local inter-church youth)

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 second time by students from RNIB Sunshine House School.

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 women of Jerusalem by a local family.

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 dies on the cross by Miriam Kendrick

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.

Today I went to Northwood and Northwood Hills to see their community art stations which explore some of the events in the final hours of Jesus' life. As with last year's Hertford stns project, these artworks are also accompanied by my meditations on the fourteen Stations of the Cross.

The artwork has been produced by local artists and community groups and includes photographic pieces, drapes, paintings, metal sculpture and collage. Each station is also accompanied by an explanation from the artist(s). The concept for Miriam Kendrick's Jesus dies on the cross was of particular interest as it explored through imagery of the crucifixion on TV the idea that we are disconnected and detached from the reality of his death.

As there is less involvement from established artists and artist-led workshops in this project, the artworks have much more of a community feel with youth groups, local families or friends and schools, as well as churches all producing and hosting artworks. Occasionally, this means that the depth of emotion in the Passion narrative is not fully tapped, with the Year 2 children at Hillside Infants, for example, producing a lovely piece that is understandably (because of their age) more about Mothering Sunday than Good Friday. Overall though, the broad community involvement means that this is genuinely a project in which the Passion is being explored and owned by the wider community and not just by the Church community.

Particularly strong works included: Simon helps Jesus carry his cross a fabric work by ‘Edify’ which uses the footprints of group members to form a cross; Jesus falls for the second time in which the crown of thorns has been created using discarded medical equipment used by students from the RNIB Sunshine House School and transfigured into a thing of beauty be being sprayed gold; Jesus meets women of Jerusalem which uses photos of a great grandmother, grandmother, mothers and daughters to question the legacy passed down through the generations; and Jesus is stripped by Martin Wilson where close up shots of a branch form the words 'I was naked and you clothed me.'

Throughout my walk around these stations I crossed paths with a group from Holy Trinity Northwood who were also walking the stations. We finally talked at the 11th station where they said how much they had appreciated the meditations as well as the artworks. Each one, they said, had given a fresh take on Christ's Passion.

The stations remain in location until 10th April and then will be gathered together at Fairfield, the home of Northwood Evangelical Church, for viewing on the 11th and 12th April.

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Iona - When I Survey The Wondrous Cross.