Following along the way of the cross

For last Thursday night’s bread for your journey,we had an experience of Jesus’ journey to the cross and what it really means for us. If you weren’t able to be there, you can try out this virtual journey…

As you walk into the darkened conference room, your eye is caught by the colorful image projected on the wall you’re facing. It's a painting by Palestinian artist Sliman Mansour of Jesus and his disciples eating together, in an open-air roof-top room, sitting at a round table sharing a feast, under a canopy of grape vines.

The next thing you notice is there are several places to sit. Lots going on in the room. There are people sitting in a circle of chairs, so you head over to join their conversation. In the middle of the circle is a huge cross made from two tree trunks bound together with leather thongs, and in the very center is the gathering candle waiting to be lit.

After everyone introduces themselves to one another, someone lights the candle and you’re invited to join in a centering prayer. The leader talks a bit about the flow of the evening, what to expect, and then she hands out booklets of a dramatic reading of the story of Jesus’ journey to the cross, according to a writer named Mark. All read together the story, with those who volunteered having special parts to read.

(Here’s a link to the reading: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%2014:1%20-%2015:47;&version=65 )

The leader than explains that now that we have the big picture, we’ll be entering into the story for a more experiential version. Spreading out on the floor some shawls that look like those that might have been worn in Jesus’ day, she talks about how Jesus and his followers were welcomed into the great city of Jerusalem. Some people were so thrilled to see him that they threw their cloaks on the road in front of Jesus, while others were so threatened by Jesus’ charismatic presence that they started plotting to do away with him.

That was on Sunday. The next few days after that, the tension increases, with Jesus continuing to teach his radical views about God’s love being accessible to all. By the time Thursday comes around, and it’s time for the festive Passover meal, Jesus’ followers have got to be a mess of emotions: Is this all going to end badly, with Jesus getting in trouble bigtime?

The group that’s been sitting in the circle of chairs now gets up to walk over to the corner where a blanket and picnic basket are waiting. Someone carries the big cross over and puts it in the middle of everything, while everyone finds a seat on the blanket. You hear about what that Passover meal might have been like on that night, with all the joy of eating your favorite festive foods but all the tension of the looming reality of the executioner's cross that all realize may be Jesus’ fate.

The leader takes out of the picnic basket some round loaves of bread and a cup of wine, recalling how Jesus gave these items of the feast new meaning, saying the bread was his own body and the wine his own lifeblood. Just as Jesus’ followers ate and drank, this group also passes around the bread and the wine, talking about what this meal means to us today.

Then you leave the Passover picnic to go to a third area of the room, a half-circle of chairs facing a counter lined with votive candles. Here you have time to remember Jesus’ struggles in the Garden of Gethsemane… and your own struggles as well. You light a candle, remembering how Jesus knew the full range of human suffering, including doubt and fear and arguments with God.

The group returns to the place where the evening started and once again, the cross is in the middle of it all. Here you listen to others talk about what Jesus’ gift of his life on the cross means for them. The discussion is sometimes quite deep and other times light-hearted, but always respectful of the views and experiences of others. There are so many ways we experience the saving love of God, the forgiveness and second chances, the accompaniment in our times of pain and grief, the transformation that happens inside when we long to make Jesus' visions come to life in our world, the assurance that God will never let us go.

It seems like those gathered don't want the night to come to an end! They linger and get to know each other better, agreeing to come back next Thursday to share how the Resurrection becomes real and meaningful to us, as we celebrate the new life of Easter.