Happy Easter From EADJ!

The following is a Good Friday entry from my Mom. It has been published in its entirety and unedited:

On Good Friday , our local church offered a rare living performance of the stations of the Cross.Instead of praying in front of a picture ,one would follow the actors in the roles of the persons present at the time of the Crucifixion. The cast included Mother Mary, Mary Magdalene, John, Roman soldiers, mourners, etc who would follow Jesus as he walked with the cross to his final breath at 3 PM . The participants were the Bible students at Ascension Church.

In the beginning, I found the church dark except for the light at the altar where the students were assembled .All the statues were covered with purple shrouds. The daylight illuminated the stained glass window which had the portrait of the full length Jesus walking.

The students were dressed in character as Hebrews . Jesus wore a thorny crown and since it was cold in church, the actor wore a protective Tee shirt emblazoned with the word "Zippo" . I was disturbed by that and by the fact that I was the only person in the audience except for the priest and the director. I felt lucky to be in retirement while other people had to work and could not get away to watch this performance. The audience could either sit down or follow the procession as the players moved from the altar to the sides of the church as Jesus carried his cross on his way to his death.

I chose to follow the procession. For each station, the lector explained what was happening then concluded with a short prayer. Since I was the only audience, I responded each time with a loud "Amen". Even though I was not in Hebrew costume , I was solemnly dressed in black from my hat to my boots. During the flogging of the actor Jesus, he yelped twice in pain .The younger students snickered and thought his reaction was funny. Veronica held up a linen sheet with the drawing of Jesus' face . The man that was supposed to carry the Cross part of the way did not show up.

The actor Jesus stumbled on cue at the altar .His wooden lifesize cross was then placed upright behind a wooden bench on which he stood . He outstretched his arms for the Roman soldiers to bind his wrists to the cross.
The soldiers were dressed in togas which looked like graduation robes .The players moved in all seriousness. When the crucifixion ended with the final gasp , Jesus properly writhed in agony and hung his head in terminus still wearing his Zippo tee shirt. His body was removed from the cross and his mother Mary cradled his head on her lap in the manner of Pieta. Then the church lights sequentially turned on from front to the back illuminating the church .This must have been the depiction of the thunder and lighting that split the Hills of Golgotha when an earthquake marked the death of Jesus.

There was no applause . When the lights went on , there were people in the back of the church approaching the seats. That's when I realized I had been a witness to a dress rehearsal that was so authentic I thought it was the real show. The priest approached the altar and congratulated the players .Now it was time for their real performance but I left the church, content that I had a private and personal living stations of the Cross on this special Good Friday.

To everyone, Happy Easter.