Stations of the Cross

Jesus takes up his Cross

John 19:16- 18 Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified. So the soldiers took charge of Jesus.  Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). There they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle.

A rough hewed gibbet made of wood;

An angry crowd by pavement stood;

A royal declaration shunned;

An unrelenting sentence stunned,

The inner depths of Pilate’s mind;

“Is this the Christ in humankind?”

And so the dark armed cortège winds

It’s funeral route as hill it climbs.

The heavy yoke of cruel kind

Drums it’s own beat upon the mind.

With questioning yet undefined; 

“Is this the Christ in humankind?”

© 2020 Paul Collings

Lord as you takes up your cross, I question, is it really our cross that you carrying. And as I view the world today the effects of climate change are mostly caused by people in the more affluent parts of the world. The cross of flooding, disease, homelessness and even death itself falls on the most vulnerable in the developing parts of our planet. We can acknowledge this as we see where we stand in relation to images of affliction or of affluence. Do I turn away from the news of suffering, drought and destruction and find comfort in advertisements for cars, flights and food? Do I avoid Christ when I avoid the cross? 

Lord, as you take up your cross give me courage to follow in your footsteps. Amen