The Harrowing

 

He descended into hell…

The longer I stick with faith

the more I need the harrowing of hell

to be true

I need the veracity of the Christ

fresh out of the grave

a bit dazed

scabbed over wounds leaking with the exertion

to stride purposefully into hell

as though he owned it

And go straight to his friend Judas

To take him by the hand,

give him a man hug

and get him the feck out of there

no passing go

no parting with £200

If that ain’t true

then what’s the point of any of it?

(Liz Crumlish Holy Saturday 2024)

Women watching

Sculpture of the Fallen Christ, Iona, by Ronald Rae

 John 19:25

Meanwhile, standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.

Just some more women watching

as their sons are murdered

by the vagaries of empire

Forced to bear the pain

and often the shame

that is heaped on to their loss

A scenario perpetuated

day in, day out

in cities and deserts

all over the world

Their lives offered up

in service of the hubris of imperialism

And, for all the pain and regret

nothing changes

and hope grows weary with longing

And still, the women watch and wait.

Hospitality

 

Mark 14:12-15

On the first day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb is sacrificed, his disciples said to him, “Where do you want us to go and make the preparations for you to eat the Passover?” So he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you; follow him, and wherever he enters, say to the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher asks, Where is my guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ He will show you a large room upstairs, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there.”

When subsequent events

drown out intention

And a quiet meal with friends

becomes a mere backdrop

to a politically charged execution

that eclipses the intimacy

of final teaching and preparation

for a life of discipleship

Something is lost

in the detail

of careful preparation

of hospitality writ large

Hospitality

that went beyond

the jostling festival crowds

to carve our space

for mutual encounter

in which true meeting is possible

Let words speak

Mark 12:12

When they realised that he had told this parable against them, they wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowd. So they left him and went away.

Words

once shared

take on a life of their own

They are no longer ours

but live in the soul

of the hearer

or the reader

We cease to have control

over how they are (mis) understood

Regardless of how careful we have been

or how clearly we think we’ve communicated

the impact of words

opens up new worlds

Worlds of fantastical adventure

or grounded rest

Worlds of abstract journeys

or concrete pathways

Worlds captured only in the imagination

or rooted in reality.

The same words may signal potential

or carry portents of doom

may fill one with dread

and another with delight

may stop one in their tracks

or set another free

We who share our words

must be content

to let them go

and be.

 

By what authority?

Mark 11:27-28

Again they came to Jerusalem. As he was walking in the temple, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders came to him and said, “By what authority are you doing these things? Who gave you this authority to do them?”

By what authority…

The question of those who fear being confronted

with their own incompetence 

A question that diverts attention

from their mediocre offering

It’s easy to be perceived as a threat

Sadly, often without even trying

We cannot legislate

for another’s insecurity

What we can control, however,

is the attention we pay

to continuing to do the best we can

and refusing to be caught up

in another’s drama

Being awesome

is not a competitive sport

It is a wholesome offering of self.

By whatever authority.

 

Ambivalent yearning

 Mark 11:18-19

And when the chief priests and the scribes heard it, they kept looking for a way to kill him; for they were afraid of him, because the whole crowd was spellbound by his teaching. And when evening came, Jesus and his disciples went out of the city.

Ambivalence: the state of having mixed feelings or contradictory ideas about something

Whatever happened to ambivalence?

That ability to hold two opposing views in tension

without ditching one in favour of the other.

I yearn for those days

when ambivalence was acceptable

When it was permissible to condemn 

the invasion of a city

and still want to see those whose land it is

live peaceably with their neighbour

It seems that there is a decree abroad

that we must take sides

It is no longer possible to denounce violence

and still have sympathy for its underlying causes

especially when we have been complicit

in the sheer complexity of the divisions

that feed warmongering

and when our lifestyle is funded

by the provision of armaments 

In this Holy Week

may our faithful observance

find a way to cradle ambivalence 

that fuels love, not hate

that deplores violence wherever it is found

and that takes no prisoners

in the pursuit of peace.

(Liz Crumlish Holy Week 2024)

Led by donkeys

 

Mark 11:7-11

Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it; and he sat on it. Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut in the fields.

Then those who went ahead and those who followed were shouting,

“Hosanna!

Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!

Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David!

Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

Then he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple; and when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.

Led by donkeys 

Synonymous with protest

A tale or tail as ancient as time

alerting those who willingly

go with the flow

to stop

and smell the droppings left behind

The carnage of political promises

that deliver hardship and suffering

a trail that if stepped in

sticks around

with its cloying smell of decay

May our Palm Sunday processions

call out today’s political shenanigans

and call us to account

to stand with those in this age

who need saving

from all that empire continues to leave in its wake

locally and globally

as the procession moves on.

(Liz Crumlish Palm Sunday 2024)