We, and creation itself, actualize the possibilities of the God who sustains the world, towards becoming in the world in a fuller, more deeper way. - R.E. Slater
There is urgency in coming to see the world as a web of interrelated processes of which we are integral parts, so that all of our choices and actions have [consequential effects upon] the world around us. - Process Metaphysician Alfred North Whitehead
Kurt Gödel's Incompleteness Theorem says (i) all closed systems are unprovable within themselves and, that (ii) all open systems are rightly understood as incomplete. - R.E. Slater
The most true thing about you is what God has said to you in Christ, "You are My Beloved." - Tripp Fuller
The God among us is the God who refuses to be God without us, so great is God's Love. - Tripp Fuller
According to some Christian outlooks we were made for another world. Perhaps, rather, we were made for this world to recreate, reclaim, redeem, and renew unto God's future aspiration by the power of His Spirit. - R.E. Slater
Our eschatological ethos is to love. To stand with those who are oppressed. To stand against those who are oppressing. It is that simple. Love is our only calling and Christian Hope. - R.E. Slater
Secularization theory has been massively falsified. We don't live in an age of secularity. We live in an age of explosive, pervasive religiosity... an age of religious pluralism. - Peter L. Berger
Exploring the edge of life and faith in a post-everything world. - Todd Littleton
I don't need another reason to believe, your love is all around for me to see. – Anon
Thou art our need; and in giving us more of thyself thou givest us all. - Khalil Gibran, Prayer XXIII
Be careful what you pretend to be. You become what you pretend to be. - Kurt Vonnegut
Religious beliefs, far from being primary, are often shaped and adjusted by our social goals. - Jim Forest
We become who we are by what we believe and can justify. - R.E. Slater
People, even more than things, need to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed; never throw out anyone. – Anon
Certainly, God's love has made fools of us all. - R.E. Slater
An apocalyptic Christian faith doesn't wait for Jesus to come, but for Jesus to become in our midst. - R.E. Slater
Christian belief in God begins with the cross and resurrection of Jesus, not with rational apologetics. - Eberhard Jüngel, Jürgen Moltmann
Our knowledge of God is through the 'I-Thou' encounter, not in finding God at the end of a syllogism or argument. There is a grave danger in any Christian treatment of God as an object. The God of Jesus Christ and Scripture is irreducibly subject and never made as an object, a force, a power, or a principle that can be manipulated. - Emil Brunner
“Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh” means "I will be that who I have yet to become." - God (Ex 3.14) or, conversely, “I AM who I AM Becoming.”
Our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy. - Thomas Merton
The church is God's world-changing social experiment of bringing unlikes and differents to the Eucharist/Communion table to share life with one another as a new kind of family. When this happens, we show to the world what love, justice, peace, reconciliation, and life together is designed by God to be. The church is God's show-and-tell for the world to see how God wants us to live as a blended, global, polypluralistic family united with one will, by one Lord, and baptized by one Spirit. – Anon
The cross that is planted at the heart of the history of the world cannot be uprooted. - Jacques Ellul
The Unity in whose loving presence the universe unfolds is inside each person as a call to welcome the stranger, protect animals and the earth, respect the dignity of each person, think new thoughts, and help bring about ecological civilizations. - John Cobb & Farhan A. Shah
If you board the wrong train it is of no use running along the corridors of the train in the other direction. - Dietrich Bonhoeffer
God's justice is restorative rather than punitive; His discipline is merciful rather than punishing; His power is made perfect in weakness; and His grace is sufficient for all. – Anon
Our little [biblical] systems have their day; they have their day and cease to be. They are but broken lights of Thee, and Thou, O God art more than they. - Alfred Lord Tennyson
We can’t control God; God is uncontrollable. God can’t control us; God’s love is uncontrolling! - Thomas Jay Oord
Life in perspective but always in process... as we are relational beings in process to one another, so life events are in process in relation to each event... as God is to Self, is to world, is to us... like Father, like sons and daughters, like events... life in process yet always in perspective. - R.E. Slater
To promote societal transition to sustainable ways of living and a global society founded on a shared ethical framework which includes respect and care for the community of life, ecological integrity, universal human rights, respect for diversity, economic justice, democracy, and a culture of peace. - The Earth Charter Mission Statement
Christian humanism is the belief that human freedom, individual conscience, and unencumbered rational inquiry are compatible with the practice of Christianity or even intrinsic in its doctrine. It represents a philosophical union of Christian faith and classical humanist principles. - Scott Postma
It is never wise to have a self-appointed religious institution determine a nation's moral code. The opportunities for moral compromise and failure are high; the moral codes and creeds assuredly racist, discriminatory, or subjectively and religiously defined; and the pronouncement of inhumanitarian political objectives quite predictable. - R.E. Slater
God's love must both center and define the Christian faith and all religious or human faiths seeking human and ecological balance in worlds of subtraction, harm, tragedy, and evil. - R.E. Slater
In Whitehead’s process ontology, we can think of the experiential ground of reality as an eternal pulse whereby what is objectively public in one moment becomes subjectively prehended in the next, and whereby the subject that emerges from its feelings then perishes into public expression as an object (or “superject”) aiming for novelty. There is a rhythm of Being between object and subject, not an ontological division. This rhythm powers the creative growth of the universe from one occasion of experience to the next. This is the Whiteheadian mantra: “The many become one and are increased by one.” - Matthew Segall
Without Love there is no Truth. And True Truth is always Loving. There is no dichotomy between these terms but only seamless integration. This is the premier centering focus of a Processual Theology of Love. - R.E. Slater
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Note: Generally I do not respond to commentary. I may read the comments but wish to reserve my time to write (or write from the comments I read). Instead, I'd like to see our community help one another and in the helping encourage and exhort each of us towards Christian love in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior. - re slater
Showing posts with label Faith and Religion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Faith and Religion. Show all posts
University of Muhammadiyah Prof. DR. HAMKA (referred to as UHAMKA) is one of the private universities owned by Muhammadiyah located in Jakarta. As one of Muhammadiyah's movements in education, UHAMKA is an Islamic university that implements the Al-Quran, As-Sunnah, Pancasila and the 1945 Constitution. UHAMKA also carries out the catur dharma Muhammadiyah universities involving obligations in education, research, community service, and Al Islam and Ke-Muhammadiyahan.
As a transformation process at Private Universities (PTS), Uhamka is here to build a progressive civilization as an effort to realize Islam Rahmatan Lil'Alamin, the Uhamka Vision for 2024 is formulated, namely:
Vision
"To become a prophetic teaching university that educates spiritually, intellectually, emotionally, and socially to create a progressive civilization"
Mission
Organizing education that integrates the values ??of Al-Islam and Muhammadiyah with science.
Organizing high-quality and innovative student education and development to produce graduates who are spiritually, intellectually, emotionally, and socially intelligent;
Organizing research and community service that is excellent and tangible;
Organizing high quality university asset management and services based on competency quality with the support of ICT;
Organizing financial and non-financial asset management to improve performance and welfare in a sustainable manner
Goals
Realizing a campus which has academic norms that integrate Al-Islam and Muhammadiyah with science;
Producing graduates who are spiritually, intellectually, emotionally, and socially intelligent;
Producing high-quality and broad-impact in scientific and community service works;
Realizing a transparent and accountable higher education governance system;
Realizing a transparent and accountable higher education governance system;
Basic ValueIntegrity : All Leaders, Lecturers, Education Personnel, Students, and Alumni of UHAMKA must make the value of honesty the basis for self-development.
Trust.: UHAMKA as the fire of civilization is responsible for continuously building trust for the sake of truth through studies and research.
Compassion (Caring) : UHAMKA must develop science, technology, arts and culture that provide great value for humanity. UHAMKA teaches and trains all human resources and students to care and have a strong side to the oppressed and marginalized groups.
"Dominant Western presuppositions have lacked the imagination, or capability, or unwillingness to engage with questions about ‘shadows.’ They have preferred their God to descend on any antagonism with force, akin to a hammer, and if your God is a hammer then, yes, everything else will be a nail. So, even as Western Christian theology was manufacturing a clean and indefectible origin story it was doing so at the cost of its own depth, witness, and salvation. Seeking to erase and ignore all traces of chaos it forced itself into deeper and deeper cycles of suppression, repression, and violence." - Jonathan Foster
Staying in the Present Moment
Thich Nhat Hanh (short teaching video)
Mar 19, 2020
In this short teaching video from the Plum Village app https://plumvillage.app/, Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh talks about the importance of staying in the present moment especially during difficult times.
"... go home to the present moment."
"... next time when you find present moment not pleasant, don't think that running away from it is the best way. It may be a chance. So stay in that moment. Look deeply into the nature of your suffering.
If you know how to practice mindful breathing, mindful walking, generating the energy of mindfulness. And then, that energy of mindfulness generated by practice helped you to be strong enough to recognize encountered pain and embrace it tenderly..."
"Your Appointment with Life is in the Present Moment."
- Thich Nhat Hanh
We are different at every moment.
The ancient doctrine that 'no one crosses the same river twice' is extended. No thinker thinks twice; and, to put the matter more generally, no subject experiences twice.
- Alfred North Whitehead, Process and Reality, page 29
Every moment is present in every other moment.
The principle of universal relativity directly traverses Aristotle’s dictum, “A substance is not present in a subject.” On the contrary, according to this principle, an actual entity is present in other actual entities. In fact, if we allow for degrees of relevance, and for negligible relevance, we must say that every actual entity is present in every other actual entity. The philosophy of organism is mainly devoted to the task of making clear the notion of being present in another entity.
- Alfred North Whitehead, Process and Reality, page 50
Love is gentle, kind, and non-violent.
It dwells upon the tender elements in the world, which slowly and in quietness operate by love; and it finds its purpose in the present immediacy of a kingdom not of this world.
- Alfred North Whitehead, Process and Reality, 343
Love is contagious.
In a process world, the quantum world, the connections between us are deep and mysterious and invisible, like sub-atomic particles that we cannot see but are nevertheless vibrating with a song that could be entitled "Be Kind to One Another." Sadly, not enough people pick up on these vibrations that are the most real part of the universe. People look at matter alone, the surface, the way we seem so disconnected and alone and in competition. We fight and throw bombs and disfigure children for a cause....We often speak of hate as a contagion. Hate is like that, a disease that spreads quickly and disfigures and kills....But in that same universe where disease and hate can spread like a virus, so can kindness. Kindness itself is a form of beauty, a beautiful contagion, one that the philosopher Alfred North Whitehead would say is the essence of the Soul of the World. So, if you happen to be diagnosed with the contagion of kindness, be very careful: you might just be multiplying happiness in the world.
- Patricia Adams Farmer
God is made of non-god elements.
Thich Nhat Hanh says that, when we really understand a flower, we know that the flower is composed on non-flower elements: the soil, the sunshine, the water, and nutrients that nourish it. And when we really understand God, we know that God is composed of non-God elements, too, namely our own lives and feelings: indeed, the lives and feelings of all sentient beings on Earth and everywhere else in the universe. As God feels them, they become part of God's ongoing life, which means that we ourselves are part of God's ongoing life. God helps create us by giving us fresh possibilities and our own innermost desire to realize them, and we help create God by giving God our feelings.
- Jay McDaniel
The world helps create God.
It is as true to say that God creates the World, as that the World creates God...Thus the actuality of God must also be understood as a multiplicity of actual components in process of creation.
- Alfred North Whitehead, Process and Reality, 348, 350
We live in a thoroughly miraculous world.
But I am a believer who is also convinced that more and more can be learned about the amazing capacities of the mind, the soul, and the spirit. If their influence on the course of events is all considered “miraculous,” then the world we inhabit is thoroughly miraculous. The events we are likely to call miracles are just the tip of the iceberg.
In a process world, our own experience is an act of feeling the presence of others and being causally affected by them. As we feel their presence, their feelings become part of us, which means that we are partly composed of their feelings. Sometimes we do this by imagination: we imagine what it is like to be inside their skin. Sometimes we do this directly; in the immediacy of the presence we sense their moods. We can feel the suffering of others, the joys of others, the loves of others, the hatreds of others. This is deep listening.
- Jay McDaniel
God is Deep Listening.
Deep Listening can be another name for the receptive and empathic side of God, the Soul of the world. Whitehead speaks of this as the consequent nature of God, because it comes after, and is shaped by, the joys and sufferings of the world. The idea is that there is in the very nature of the universe as deep and fathomless listening who, if given the chance, might well speak the four mantras recommended by Thich Nhat Hanh:
Darling, I am here for you; and,
Darling I know you are happy and I am happy with you; and,
Darling I know you are sad and I am sad with you; and,
Darling I suffer, please help me.
These expressions express the spirit of Emmanuel, which literally means God with us.
- Jay McDaniel
The self is made of non-self elements.
Since I am a philosopher, let me tell you a great secret of life—a soul is not a thing, it is not something which stands untouched by the events of your life. Your soul is the river of your life; it is the cumulative flow of your experience. But what do we experience? The world. Each other. So your soul is the cumulative flow of all of your relationships with everything and everyone around you. In a different image, we weave ourselves out of the threads of our relationships with everyone around us.
Beloved Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh, who reached across the world and to people of all religious traditions, died on January 22, 2022. The International Plum Village released this statement about his passing:
"International Plum Village Community of Engaged Buddhism announces that our beloved teacher Thich Nhat Hanh has passed away peacefully at Từ Hiếu Temple in Huế, Vietnam, at 00:00hrs on 22nd January, 2022, at the age of 95. We invite our global spiritual family to take a few moments to be still, to come back to our mindful breathing, as we together hold Thay in our hearts in peace and loving gratitude for all he has offered the world. More official news will be coming shortly. Please sign up for email updates here: https://bit.ly/3fJx7pd"
We in the Spirituality & Practice team have been deeply influenced by Thich Nhat Hanh over the years and have reviewed more than 60 of his books. His poem "Please Call Me by My True Names" became the model for some of our own "I Am" prayers. His life was a blessing to us and to so many around the world. May he rest in the peace that he encouraged us to seek and be.
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Thay (teacher in Vietnamese), as his friends and students call him, was a world-renowned writer, spiritual leader, scholar, poet, peace activist, and Buddhist monk. He was born in Vietnam in 1926 and became a monk at the age of sixteen. After founding a Buddhist learning center in South Vietnam, he came to the United States in the 1960s to study and teach. However, during the Vietnam War, he returned to his homeland and become a pioneer of "engaged Buddhism," which melds meditative practices with active nonviolent civil disobedience. He founded a peace magazine, worked unstintingly for reconciliation between North and South Vietnam, lobbied world leaders to put an end to the conflict, set up relief organizations to rebuild destroyed villages, and started the School of Youth for Social Service. These incredible good works inspired Martin Luther King, Jr., to nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1967.
When he was 40, Thich Nhat Hanh was banned from Vietnam by both the non-Communist and Communist governments for his role in undermining the war effort and speaking out against the violence that was destroying the lives and liberties of his people. Into the 1970s, he was still involved with rescue missions for Vietnamese trying to escape political oppression. He led a Buddhist delegation to the Paris peace talks that helped establish a new relationship between Vietnam and the United States.
In 1982, he founded Plum Village in southwestern France, a Buddhist retreat center and monastic community where he taught the art of mindful living and trained a new generation of teachers. He conducted retreats around the world for American Vietnam War veterans, psychotherapists, artists, environmental activists, and children. During visits to the United States, he taught, wrote, gardened, and worked help refugees worldwide at Green Mountain Dharma Center in Vermont and Deer Park Monastery in Escondido, California.
There is a simple elegance to the spiritual teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh that shines through every one of his books. He gracefully conveys the beauty of essential Buddhist teachings. He is a master of the art of mindful living and staying in the present moment. His practice of engaged Buddhism has led to the transformation of many people’s consciousness, and his writings on dealing with anger and violence are very concrete, recommending specific practices to undertake in our families and communities. Another of his core teachings — being peace in this conflicted world — has led many to new respect for their enemies and a firmer resolve to bring about reconciliation in our tattered world.
Our practice of everyday spirituality has been enriched by the use of Thich Nhat Hanh's gathas — mindfulness verses said during daily activities, such as when opening a window, brushing your teeth, hearing a bell, washing the dishes, and throwing out the garbage. Thousands have followed his instructions for walking meditation and found it a way of connecting to the Earth and their neighbors. Thich Nhat Hanh spoke to people of all religious backgrounds and was a bridge builder in interfaith encounters.
Read For:
Wise counsel on meditation practices and living in the present moment.
Imaginative ways to take seriously your connection to everything else on the planet.
Suggestions on being peace in a world of unending violence.
Wonderful teachings on the spiritual practice of transformation in this realm of impermanence and constant change.
* * * * * * * *
Thich Nhat Hanh, Zen Master | Photo by Paul Davis.
Larry Ward shares a poem about Thich Nhat Hanh, whose teachings
have guided many towards a life of mindfulness, joy, and peace.
What can I say about my beloved teacher?
I can say that the soft whisper of his voice in the dark night of confusion, of fear and sorrow, calls us home to our true selves.
I can say that his teachings bring the dharma rain, bathing us in healing energy in the blessed peace of our lives.
I can say that his gentle footsteps upon the earth ride on the winds of peace, the thunder of compassion, and reflect the powerful moonlight of understanding.
I can say that he tirelessly engages with his whole being in the noblest of causes, to heal and transform the breaking waves of our shadows.
I can say I love my teacher because he has nourished the teacher in me to wake up, wake up, wake up.
I can say that his practice, his prose, and his poetry speak with the beauty and clarity of the buddha within each of us.
I can say that on this very day we are most fortunate to be here together, to be in touch with the miracle of deep breath, and the holy moment of awareness in which we are touched by that which is not coming and not going.
So here we are together in the heart of Thich Nhat Hanh.
* * * * * * * *
Thich Nhat Hanh, influential Buddhist monk, dies at 95
Jan 22, 2022
One of the world’s most influential Buddhist monks, Thich Nhat Hanh, has died in Vietnam at the age of 95, his Zen teaching organisation said in a statement.
* * * * * * * *
Thich Nhat Hanh Memorial Ceremony
Day 2 | Live from Hue, Vietnam
Streamed live on Jan 22, 2022
A powerful and moving ceremony for laying our teacher's body in the casket, broadcast live from Từ Hiếu Temple, in Huế, and Plum Village, France. The ceremony is in Vietnamese, with commentary in English by Sister True Dedication in Plum Village. (To watch without commentary, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrfOC...)
Please follow your breathing as high monks and Thay’s senior disciples accompany Thay’s body to the Full Moon Meditation Hall at Từ Hiếu Temple, in Huế. The ceremony took place at 8AM on January 23 in Vietnam (2AM CEST; 5PM on January 22 PST).
Even by trusted friends Still shows us charity Life for us you mend
Your power brings to serve People you call your own Condemned to death, for us A Father’s promise sown
Jesus on the cross, by your love heal us.
Station 2: Jesus bears his cross
Cross, you bear means love Almighty’s gift to the world Jesus, brother, keeper To journey with us, Lord
You became man Mercy for humanity Sky and earth unite Miracle flowing sanctity
Jesus on the Cross, by your love heal us.
Station 3: Jesus falls the first time
Lord, let us hold you Lord, let us rise with you Power in humility Shows us to be true
No man is perfect Only God - is Lord Jesus, as example If fallen, hold to peace
Jesus on the cross, by your love heals us.
Station 4: Jesus meets his mother
What grief for a mother What grief for a child What grief for a beloved Alone in sorrow, Jesus guides
Feel us Jesus In sorrow and isolation But God’s will is best Have mercy in temptation
Jesus on the cross, by your love heal us.
Station 5: Jesus is helped by Simon
Simon of Cyrene, hail to God Courage and cross you lifted Bridge to us from heaven Angel signs we’re gifted
And so we come in prayer Flesh, thoughts, and our hearts Your holy cross dear Jesus To us don’t ever part.
Jesus on the cross, by your love heal us.
Station 6: Veronica wipes the face of Jesus
Saint, Oh Saint Veronica Ring bells to God’s workers Crown of thorns on Holy face Hope and bliss, His blood carves
O, poor Face we love you Face of beauty, Face of light In suffering and brokenness Sacred Face of might
Jesus on the cross, by your love heal us.
Station 7: Jesus falls a second time
My Lord! My God! My Savior! We trust our lives in Thee You know how weak we all are We beg, we beg, we plea
My Lord! My God! Be here to servants frail Hold me, hold us O’er wind we fly, on sea we sail
Jesus on the cross, by your love heal us.
Station 8: Jesus speaks to the women
Help us to love Mother Mary You longed your parents, too The crowd, are us, your family How precious all to you
Speak to us, we long for Thee The bravest soldier frees From sin and wars Your words a bomb and keys
Jesus on the cross, by your love heal us.
Station 9: Jesus falls a third time
Race and blows The third’s the final count Your sacrifice, a painful lash Forgive our sins abound
Hold tight hold, dear Jesus Please - do not let go These eyes are full of tears Wash us white as snow
Jesus on the cross, by your love heal us.
Station 10: Jesus is stripped of his garments
When all is done for love So fair and pure the nakedness And all that Christ gave T’ was peace for all and happiness
Strip all, be all We ask You for nothing Let You alone fill us Christ, O Christ be everything!
Jesus on the cross, by your love heal us.
Station 11: Jesus is nailed to the cross
Nails piercing us First pierced on you Nations already won Sacred Cross on earth anew
Man and tides pushing rocks When life cries in pain Trials come harrowing Lord let Your Kingdom reign.
Jesus on the cross, by your love heal us.
How You loved us, Jesus; How great, You are God’s Son How You loved us, Jesus; How great, You are God’s Son:
“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise Woman, this is your son. And this is your mother My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? I thirst It is finished.”
Then, Jesus cried out in a loud voice “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.”
Jesus on the cross, by your love heal us.
Station 12: Jesus dies on the cross
Tomorrow’s death so scary Life today we pray Us - forever with you Jesus With Almighty Father lay
Jesus how we love you Let us see Thy face Forgive us in transgressions A Holy Cross wins grace
Jesus on the cross, by your love heal us.
Station 13: Jesus is taken from the cross
God’s justice stark in love Priests on temples pray Breath of Holy Spirit blows Forever brothers all we stay
Body whole and pure No evil can defeat The triumph of the cross For holy workers banquet
Jesus on the cross, by your love heal us.
Station 14: Jesus is laid in the tomb
Love never fails; never ends The Holy Bible writes Wake us up dear Jesus At dawn, resurrect flight
We adore you O Christ Have mercy - Your holy cross be salvation Hearts with Thee forever, have mercy.
View our organ concert online Friday, April 10 at 7pm! “The Stations of the Cross” by Marcel Dupré. Featuring organist, Ken Cowan, the poetry of Paul Claudel, and Rev. Alison L. Boden, Ph.D. as narrator. The link is available here and the program is below.
Organ Concert: “The Stations of the Cross” (Le Chemin de la Croix) by Marcel Dupré (1886-1971) with poetry of Paul Claudel, organist, Ken Cowan and reader, Rev. Alison L. Boden, Ph.D.**
Poem: “The Way of the Cross” by Paul Claudel, translated by J. Eric Swenson, and read by Rev. Alison L. Boden, Ph.D.
First Station: It’s all over. We have judged God and we have condemned him to die. We don’t want Jesus Christ with us any longer, for he exasperates us. We have no other ruler than Caesar! No other counsel than blood and gold!
Crucify him if you like, but get rid of him! Get him out of here! “Take him away! Take him away!” Since it can’t be helped, let him be sacrificed, and give us Barabbas! Pilate sits in judgement at the place called Gabbatha. “Have you nothing to say?” asks Pilate. And Jesus does not answer. “I find no wrong in this man,” declares Pilate, “but, let him die, since you insist! I give him to you. “Behold the man.” Here he is, a crown on his head and dressed in purple. One last time these eyes turn towards us, full of tears and blood! What can we do? There is no way to keep him with us any longer. As he was a scandal for the Jews, he is among us an absurdity. Besides, the sentence has been pronounced, lacking no detail, in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. And one sees the crowd clamor and the judge wash his hands.
Second Station: They return his clothes and bring him the cross. “God be with you,” says Jesus. “O Cross that I have long desired!” And you, Christian, watch and tremble! O what a solemn moment in which Christ first accepts the eternal Cross! O day of consummation of the tree of knowledge! Look, sinner, and see what your sin has led to.
No more crosses without Christ, and no more crimes without a God upon them! Certainly man’s misery is great, yet we have nothing to say, for God is now here, come not to explain, but to fulfill. Jesus receives the Cross just as we take Holy Communion.
As prophesied by Jeremiah, “We give him wood for his bread.” How long, how ungainly, how massive weighs the cross! How hard, how stiff, how heavy the burden of a useless sinner! How long to bear, step by step, until one dies upon it! Are you going to carry that all alone, Lord Jesus?
Make me patient, in turn, with the wood you wish me to bear. For we must carry the cross before the cross carries us.
Third Station: March on! Victim and oppressors together, everything shudders toward Calvary. God led by the collar, suddenly falters and slumps to the earth. What do you say, Lord, of this first fall? Now that you know it, what do you think of this moment? When one falls, pushed by the sway of an unbalanced load! How do you find it, this earth which you created? O not only is the righteous path harsh and rough, the evil path also proves treacherous and dizzying! It is not followed quickly and easily, for one must learn stone by stone, and the foot often slips, although the heart perseveres. O Lord, by these blessed knees, these two knees which together failed you, by the sudden nausea and fall at the beginning of the gruesome Way, by the trap which succeeded, by the earth which you have known, save us from the first sin, which one commits inadvertently!
Fourth Station: O mothers, who have watched a first and only child die, remember that last night beside the moaning little being, the water not taken, the ice, and the thermometer, and death, which comes little by little, no longer to be ignored. Put on his old shoes and change his clothes. Someone is coming who will take him away from me and put him in the ground. Goodby my dear little one! Goodby, flesh of my flesh!
The Fourth Station is Mary, who has accepted everything. Here on the street corner she awaits the Treasure of absolute Poverty. There are no tears in her eyes, her throat is dry. She says not a word and watches Jesus approach. She accepts. One again she accepts. Her outcry severely repressed in her firm, strict heart. She says not a word and watches Jesus Christ. The Mother watches her Son, the Church her Redeemer, her soul goes out to him as violently as the wail of a dying soldier! She stands before God and lays bare her soul. There is nothing in her heart which protests or draws back, every fiber of her transfixed heart accepts and consents. And as God himself is there, she is also present. She accepts and watches this Son she conceived in her womb. She says not a word and watches the Saint of Saints.
Fifth Station: The moment comes when one simply cannot go on. That’s where we fit in, and you allow that we be used also, perhaps coerced, to carry your Cross. As Simon of Cyrene, who is harnessed to this piece of wood. He grasps it firmly and walks behind Jesus, so that none of the Cross may drag on the ground and be lost.
Sixth Station: All of the disciples have fled. Peter himself passionately denies all! A woman throws herself into the thick of insults, into the arms of death, finds Jesus and holds his face in her hands.
Teach us, Veronica, to defy human respect. For he who sees Christ not merely as a symbol, but as a true person, to others soon appears offensive and suspect. His way of life is inside out, his motives are no longer theirs.
Something in him always seems to escape elsewhere. A mature man who says his rosary and impudently goes to confession, who abstains from meat on Friday and is seen among women at mass, is laughable and scandalous; amusing, but also irritating. He had better watch what he is doing, for others see him. He had better watch each step, for he serves as a sign. For each Christian shapes the actual, although unworthy, image of his Christ. And the face he shows bears the trivial reflection of the abominable and triumphant face of the God in his heart!
Show it to us once again Veronica, on the cloth with which you comforted the holy countenance of the Last Sacrament. This veil of pious wool Veronica used to hide the face of the Vintager on the day of his intoxication, so that his image might cling to it forever. An image made of his blood and tears and our spit!
Seventh Station: It is not the stones under foot, nor the halter overstrained; it is the soul which suddenly fails. O in the middle of our life! O the spontaneous fall! When the magnet no longer has a pole and faith no longer a heaven, because the road is long and the end distant, because one remains alone without any consolation! How slowly time passes! Nurturing a secret hatred for the uncompromising injunction and for this wooden companion! This is why we stretch forth both arms at once like someone swimming! No longer do we fall on our knees, but on our face. The body falls, it is true and in the same moment the soul consents. Save us from the Second fall, which one takes willfully and out of boredom.
Eighth Station: Before he ascends the mountain for the last time, Jesus raises his hand and turns toward the people following him, a few poor women in tears with their children in their arms. Let’s not simply look, let’s listen to Jesus, for he is there. It is not a man who raises his hand at the center of this pitiful illumination, it is God who, for our salvation, has suffered not only in paintings. Thus was this man Almighty God! It is true then! There was a day when God truly did suffer for us! What is this danger, from which we have been spared at such a price? Is man’s salvation such a simple matter that the Son must tear himself away from the Father to attain it? If that is Paradise, what is Hell? What shall be done with the dead wood, if green wood is treated like this?
Ninth Station: “I have fallen again, and this time, it’s the end. I would like to get up again, but it’s impossible. For I have been squeezed like a fruit and the man on my shoulders weighs too much. I have done evil and the man who died in me is too heavy! So let’s die, for it is easier to lie down than to stand up, harder to live than to die, more difficult yet, on the Cross than beneath it.”
Save us from the Third sin, that of despair! Nothing is lost as long as death has not been tasted! I have finished with this piece of wood, but the nails are yet to come! Jesus falls a third time, but he is at the top of Calvary.
Tenth Station: Here is the barn floor where the grain of the holy wheat is ground. The Father stands naked, the Temple veil has been torn away. God is manhandled, the Flesh of the Flesh trembles, the Universe, attacked at its source, shudders to its very core! Now that they have taken the tunic and seamless robe. We raise our eyes and dare to look at Jesus, pure and unadorned. They have left you nothing, Lord, they have taken everything, even the clothes which cling to the flesh, for today they pull off the monk’s hood and the blessed virgin’s veil. They have taken everything, there remains nothing for him to hide in. He stands totally defenseless and stark naked. He is delivered to mankind and revealed. What! That’s your Jesus! He is ridiculous! He is beaten and covered with filth. He belongs with the psychiatrists and the police. “Gross beasts have besieged me. Deliver me, Lord, from the mouth of the dog.” He is not the Christ. He is not the Son of Man. He is not God. His teachings are false and his Father is not in heaven. He’s crazy! He’s an imposter! Make him talk! Keep him quiet! Anne’s servant slaps him and Renan kisses him. They took everything. But the scarlet blood remains. They took everything. But the open wound remains! God is hidden. But the man of sorrows remains. God is hidden. My weeping brother remains! From your humiliation Lord, from your shame, take pity on the defeated, on the weak oppressed by the strong! From the horror of that last garment taken from you, take pity on all those who are mutilated! On the child, operated on three times, encouraged by the doctor, and on the poor invalid whose bandages are changed. On the humiliated husband, on the son beside his dying mother, And on this terrifying love, which must be torn from our heart!
Eleventh Station: Now God is no longer with us. He lies on the ground. The mob has taken him by the throat as dogs take a stag.
So you did come! You are truly among us Lord! You have been sat upon, your heart has been knelt upon. This hand forced by the executioner is the right hand of the Almighty. This Lamb has been tied by the feet, the Omnipresent is bound. His height and span have been marked on the cross. When he feels our nails, we’ll watch his expression.
Eternal Son, limited only by the bounds of Infinity, Marked here among us by that narrow space which you have controlled! Here is this body Elijah stretches out in death, here lies David’s throne and Solomon’s glory, here is the bed of our cruel, powerful passion with You! It is difficult for God to assume our stature. They tug, and the half-dislocated body snaps and cries aloud. Drawn with the tension of a wine press, he is hideously quartered. So the prophecy might be fulfilled that: “They have pierced my hands and feet, they have numbered each of my bones.” You are captured Lord, and can no longer escape. You are nailed on the cross, hand and foot. Like a heretic or a lunatic, I seek nothing more from heaven. This God held by four nails is enough for me.
Twelfth Station: A moment ago he was suffering, it is true, but now he is going to die. The Great Cross sways faintly in the night to the pulse of God’s breathing. Everything is ready. One can only leave the Apparatus alone, to inexhaustibly draw from the bond of man’s double nature, from the hypostatic union of body and soul, all of his inherent potential for suffering. He is all alone as Adam was alone in Eden. For three hours he remains alone and savors the Wine, the unconquerable ignorance of man in the absence of God! Our guest grows weary and his forehead slowly droops. He no longer sees his Mother, and his Father abandons him. He tastes the cup, and the death, which slowly poisons him. Have You not had enough of this bitter wine diluted with water, to cause You to suddenly straighten up and cry: “I thirst”? Are You thirsty Lord? Are You talking to me? Do You still need me and my sins? Am I needed so that all may be consummated?
Thirteenth Station: Here the Passion ends and the Compassion continues. Christ is no longer on the Cross. He is with Mary, who has received him; as she accepted him in prophecy, she receives him consummated. Christ, who suffered before all, is again cradled at his Mother’s breast. The Church forever embraces and watches over her beloved. That from God, that from the Mother, and that which man has done, all of this is with her forever under her habit. She has taken him in; she sees, touches, prays, weeps, and admires; she is the winding sheet and the ointment, the sepulcher and the incense. Here ends the Cross and begins the Tabernacle.
Fourteenth Station: The tomb where Christ is put, having suffered and died, the hole hastily unsealed so that he might spend his night there, before the crucified revived and ascended to the Father, this is not merely a new tomb, it is my flesh, it is man, your creature, more profound than the earth! Now that his heart is open and his hands are pierced, there is no cross among us on which his body will not fit, there is no sin in us to which his wound will not correspond. So come to us, from the altar where you are hidden, Redeemer of the World!Lord, your creature is rent open and how profound he is!
Music: “The Stations of the Cross”
(Le Chemin de la Croix),
by Marcel Dupré (1886-1971)
performed by organist, Ken Cowan.
I. Jesus is condemned to death. Opening with a trumpet solo evoking Pilate’s command, “Gardes, saisissez-vous de cet homme,” (“guards, seize this man”) the music becomes increasingly tumultuous, depicting an agitated crowd shouting for the release of Barrabas, and for Jesus to be put to death. The theme for “Barrabas” is the rhythm of the name, (if pronounced BAR-ra-bas) played on trumpet stops. The crushing two-note climax, “To death,” which precipitates the quick dispersal of the mob, is heard again in station XII.
II. Jesus receives His cross. The March to Calvary begins, and the melodic theme of the Cross is heard repeatedly on reed registers; the stumbling steps of Jesus are illustrated in the accompaniment.
III. Jesus falls for the first time. The march continues. Labored sounding two-note groups describe Jesus’ weariness. The theme for Suffering is heard high in the treble. Finally Jesus’ strength fails and He falls under the weight of the cross. In the last few bars, the theme of Redemption is heard for the first time, pianissimo.
IV. Jesus meets His mother. A flute solo with string tone accompaniment depicts the Mater Dolorosa. The rather chromatic harmonies of the accompaniment might suggest her emotional turmoil. The same music will be heard again in Station XIII as she receives her son’s lifeless body. The theme of Agony is heard because Mary’s suffering is great.
V. Simon the Cyrene helps Jesus to carry the cross. Dupré evokes here a completely different atmosphere-we are in the countryside. The piece opens with pastoral sounding music played on flute stops. Simon, on his way into the city from the countryside, lends reluctant assistance bearing the cross, and does not find it easy at first. He is first depicted clumsily helping Jesus carry the cross and trying to get into step as the procession moves. A series of canons between the outside parts depict Simon’s attempts to assist. Finally the Cross theme is heard united over a range of two octaves, above and below the accompaniment. Finally he has synchronized his steps with those of Jesus. The Cross theme is inverted, and near the end there is a brief appearance of the Redemption motif.
VI. Jesus and Veronica. Veronica comes out of the crowd to wipe Jesus’ brow with a cloth, evoking the melodic theme of Compassion. The theme of the Cross is heard in the bass as Jesus pauses for a moment. As the movement ends the Redemption motif is heard again, beautifully harmonized.
VII. Jesus falls a second time. This station begins in the same slow, march-like rhythm heard at the beginning of the third station, but the accompaniment soon becomes more agitated. This is a more grotesque event than the first fall, and the horror of the scene is matched with ever more grinding dissonance.
VIII. Jesus comforts the women of Jerusalem. There are some women present who feel pity for Jesus, and the theme of Pity is a beautiful cantilena which pervades the entire movement, and will be heard again in Station XIV. The theme for Consolation is heard in the tenor register played on a reed stop, representing Jesus’ voice.
IX. Jesus falls a third time. The crowd, now exasperated by the slow pace of the procession, fervently clamors for blood, and shouts insults. The principal theme here is Persecution- three repeated notes followed by an ascending diminished triad. A busy chromatic accompaniment recalls a frenzied crowd. The third and final fall is sudden and devastating, but now the place of execution, Calvary has finally been reached, and a brief period of calm follows before the final indignities are inflicted.
X. Jesus is stripped of His clothes. The executioners strip Jesus of His clothes, and throw dice for His seamless coat. Dupré accompanies this scene with a rhythmic, sinister sounding piece played staccato on string stops. After a pause there follows the music of the Incarnation as if to remind the listener that for this purpose Jesus had come into the world. Jesus awaits His end, a pitiable figure indeed.
XI. Jesus is nailed on the Cross. Hammering fortissimo chords expressing the violent cruelty of the executioners become the theme of Crucifixion. The theme for Suffering (from Station III) is combined in longer phrases. The repetitive pedal line is an extension of the Cross motif, inverted. XII. Jesus dies upon the Cross. The agony of the slow passing hours is represented with a still sounding introduction containing a theme similar to that of Redemption. The dying Jesus speaks His seven last words. A sudden and violent crescendo by the organ represents the earthquake, and the rending of the veil of the temple. Jesus has been put to death. An uneasy stillness follows the final tremors.
XIII. Jesus’ body is taken from the cross and laid in Mary’s bosom. A fluid and unsettled sounding arabesque on flute stops evoking the whirling of ropes accompanies the descent from the cross and the slow sliding movements by which the body is brought down. The theme of the now-accomplished Redemption is present. Mary’s music from Station IV is heard again at the end of this meditation as she holds the body of Jesus in her arms.
XIV. The body of Jesus is laid in the tomb. Pity, the theme of the eighth station, is the dominant theme of the cortege preceding Jesus’ entombment. The theme of Suffering also accounts for a large portion of this final scene. The epilogue contains some subtle musical inspiration. A heavenly stillness envelops the scene. The theme of Suffering, is now transformed into the Fruits of the Redemption. Flute melodies played high above illustrate the gates of heaven opening to those who participated in the events of that first Good Friday. As pointed out by Marcel Dupré’s biographer Graham Steed, the last two notes of the flute melody in the final station, G# and B natural are the same two notes, enharmonically changed and inverted that began the first station. The work ends as if to say “As for the way of the wicked, he turneth it upside down.”
Eighteen themes or leit-motifs
employed by Dupré in his work.
Twelve are melodic and six are rhythmic.
Melodic Themes:
The Cross (Stations II, V, VI, XI): Two (sometimes three) ascending or descending leaps of perfect fourths, preceded and followed by a major second, rising or falling as the case may be.
Suffering (Stations III, IX, XIV): A conjunct, descending triplet within the interval of a diminished fifth.
Redemption (Stations III, IV, V, VI, XIII): An ascending group of four stepwise notes. Mary (Stations IV, XII): A descending major triad.
Compassion (Station VI): Two disjunct intervals of the third, the second repeated.
Pity (Stations VIII, XIV): An ascending group of four notes, preceded and followed by a dotted-note figure of repeated notes.
Consolation (Stations VIII, XII): A perfect fifth, ascending, the second note dotted; drop of a fourth, rising to the major third, sounded on a reed stop.
Persecution (Station IX): Three repeated notes followed by an ascending diminished triad. Incarnation (final section of Station X): Minor thirds ascending, 2 by 2 with repetition of each second note, the repetition conveying the idea of suffering accepted.
Crucifixion (Station XI): The Cross motif inverted, and extended to a third downward jump of a perfect fourth. Agony: Similar to Redemption theme, with the second note dotted, and with a fifth note added to the upward progression.
The Fruits of Redemption (Station XIV): Suffering theme altered, the theme rising instead of falling.
Rhythmic Themes:
The Crowd (Station I): Intervals of major and minor thirds and fourths rising chromatically by semitones.
Barrabas (Station I): The rhythm of the name. (pronounced BAR-ra-bas) Stumbling Steps or Jostling (Station II): Iambic short note on the beat followed by a dotted note.
Weariness (Stations III, VII, IX): Descending seconds, with repetition of the second note, suffering accepted.
Flagellation (Station X): Pairs of triplets made up of a descending fourth followed by a rising seventh, the second triplet starting on the last note of the first.
The Ropes (Station XIII): Four groups of triplets in a sliding chromatic outline.
Biographies:
Ken Cowan is one of North America’s finest concert organists. Praised for his dazzling artistry, impeccable technique and imaginative programming by audiences and critics alike, he maintains a rigorous performing schedule which takes him to major concert venues and churches in America, Canada, Europe, and Asia.
Recent feature performances have included appearances at Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa California, Philadelphia’s Verizon Hall, Spivey Hall, and Walt Disney Concert Hall, as well as concerts in Germany and Korea. In addition, Mr. Cowan has been a featured artist in recent years at the national conventions of the American Guild of Organists held in Los Angeles and Minneapolis, has performed at many regional conventions of the AGO, and has been featured at several conventions of the Organ Historical Society and the Royal Canadian College of Organists.
Ken received the Master’s degree and Artist Diploma from the Yale School of Music/Institute of Sacred Music, studying organ with Thomas Murray. Prior to attending Yale, he graduated with a Bachelor of Music degree from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia where he studied with John Weaver. His major teacher during high school years was James Bigham, Organist/Choirmaster at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, in Buffalo, NY, which is not far from his hometown Thorold, Ontario, Canada.
In 2012 Mr. Cowan joined the keyboard faculty of the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University as Associate Professor and head of the organ program. Previous positions have included Associate Professor of Organ at Westminster Choir College of Rider University in Princeton, NJ, where he was awarded the 2008 Rider University Distinguished Teaching Award, and Associate Organist and Artist in Residence at Saint Bartholomew’s Church in New York City
The Rev. Alison L. Boden, Ph.D. has served as Dean of Religious Life and of the Chapel at Princeton University since August 2007. Dean Boden is the author of numerous articles and chapters on religion and social justice in addition to a book, Women’s Rights and Religious Practice (Palgrave 2007). Her course offerings have included such topics as religion and human rights, the rights of women, the history and phenomenology of prayer, and religion and violence. She has served in an advisory capacity to a variety of non-governmental organizations and is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ.
