The Stations of the Cross and a guide and explanation to ceramics in the Church - see next page
1. In the first station Christ is condemned. Thefigure of
Christ is most real, Pilate a simple puppet, the sinister soldiers
have great helmets that
cast shadows where their faces should be. The people can only shout
and gesticulate like a sound in nature. Their arms wave like natural
forms - grasses or branches.
2. Jesus receives the Cross. There is great pressure on
the figure of Christ. One is a ware
of the great weight of the Cross. The whole design bears down on
Christ. With great kindness the people almost crush him.
3 .
Jesus falls the first time. We feel his loneliness. There are no
other figures but Christ in all three of the falls.
4. Jesus is met by his Mother. She is almost a phantom: at this moment less real than thewooden
Cross which has become his most intimate companion.
5. The Cross is laid upon Simon of C yrene
- an attempt, almost to belittle the drama - but it extends the
drama and helps to turn the drama of Christ into the drama of every
man.
6. Veronica wipes  Jesus'
face and throughlove and pity his image is spread even further amongst
people.
 7.
Jesus falls the second time. More violent than the first fall, and
he is even more isolated and alone.
|
8. The women of Jerusalem 
mourn for Jesus; but he insists that they mourn for themselves.
The drama excludes no-one.
 9.
Jesus falls the third time. He falls far, and isalmost crossed out
by the Cross. He is utterly alone.
10. Jesus is stripped
of his garments. Cruelty. The faceless soldiers, like feelingless
beetles, prepare the tender flesh of man for the great sacrifice.
11. Jesus is nailed to the Cross. The  soldiers
continue their robot- like task. The soldiers have a timeless presence.
They could be Roman soldiers or they could be contemporary Marines.
 12.
Death on the Cross. Christ and the Crossbeing absorbed into the very
irregular shape of the relief.
13. Jesus is taken down from the Cross .
A scene of great pity. The soldiers recede into the background and
the figures of love and tenderness fill the centre of the drama.
14. Jesus is laid in the grave. Whilst the  figures
of love bury their Christ the last of the soldiers is seen moving
off into the distance.
15. .The large Resurrection panel on the Altar is a beautiful
but rather frightening piece .In spite of the cruelty of the Crucifixion
and the terror of the grave - the weeping and the wailing - the
Resurrection is a fact. The design is in many parts. It has the
look of a breaking ice pack. It creaks and cracks as Christ sheds
his grave-clothes. Or it cracks like the shell of an egg as it releases
the life within.
On the third day....
On the third day he rose again to a new and everlasting life. And
now he calls all men to find faith in him by listening to his word.
Those who have faith in Christ are baptised in his name. Filled with
his everlasting life, they become members of a single community, his
body, the church. |
