Occasional Impressions

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Occasional Impressions Prayer Collections

Stations of the Cross

Jesus carries the cross

Cross

Hewn with an axe - trimmed with an adze:

not planed but left rough - fit for rough justice.

Splintered wood for splintered bone

fit to carry a splintered life -

with splintered hopes and splintered dreams.

Cheap timber - not the finest:

knotty grain solves knotty problem:

knotted sinews, twisted in pain.

Iron nails wrought from the iron rod -

fit like the rod of birch with which to beat:

fasces

imposing an iron will -

the axe to hew, the adze to level.

jdy

Via dolorosa

Road, gate, ginnel, street.

Cobble, sett, flag, quoin.

Earth, dirt, grime, filth,

Rood to bear but here to fall.

Shout, cry, whoop, wail.

Beat, strike, push, trip.

Scorn, insult, jeer, mock.

Rood to bear and feel forlorn.

Birdsong, music, dance, drum.

Cheer, whistle, clap, call.

Loss, pain, chafe, scar.

Rood to bear but strength is gone.

jdy

Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus to the cross

Simon of Cyrene

I can’t believe what has just taken place

I’ve come here for a purpose and ended up

in an utterly different situation

How has this happened? Why me of all people?

Well I could come up with some possible reasons of course

I’m not from around here and maybe it shows

Do you know how far it is from Cyrene to Jerusalem?

It’s over a thousand miles and not a trip undertaken lightly

So why undertake it? What makes it worth the effort?

Well for a Jew in Cyrene, Jerusalem is the place to be at Passover

We’re a far-flung outpost, but it’s the centre of the faith

I’d done all the preparation and was just making my way

into the city

I saw this rag-tag procession coming towards me

with crowds alongside

What was this about? Was it curiosity that made me pause?

There were three of them, two carrying crosses and one who’d fallen

I’ve heard the pre-execution beatings often kill

and he looked more than half dead

No Jew would want to help and so draw attention to himself

And he would be defiled if he was to touch the cross or the man

Would the guards help? Or would they order someone else to do it?

Silly question, to my horror they seized on me

I had to do it - an order from a Roman cannot be disobeyed.

Even I know that

So here I was, shouldering a heavy cross,

when I should have been making my way to the temple

Some in the crowd were wailing, others were shouting abuse

Did they think I was a criminal? Whose cross was this anyway?

When we reached the place of execution, I didn't stay to watch

No thanks from anyone when they’d ruined my day - my whole trip

I heard tales later of strange happenings when he died

And even stranger ones a few days later

Was I just in the wrong place at the wrong time?

Or was I in the right place at the right time?

It was a very long way to come just for this

Will time show that it was more important than I thought?

Jill Holland

Jesus meets the Women of Jerusalem

I am tormented and suffering

I wonder just how much more agony I can take

I hear women wailing

I see women beating their breasts

I feel love and compassion for them

I am tormented and suffering

I call “do not weep for me, weep for your children”

I know there is worse to come

I worry that they do not understand

I cry “Blessed are the barren”

I want to prepare them for their own times of sorrow

I am tormented and suffering

I say “For if they do this when the wood is green,

what will happen when it is dry?”

I mean if they can do this to an innocent man

I dread what they will do to the guilty

I endure this to give them heaven

I hope they understand

I am tormented and suffering

Caroline Stevens

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