Earth Wounds: Ecological Stations of the Cross
Introduction
Since 2016 Salal + Cedar has hosted an Ecological Stations of the Cross during Holy Week: An annual connection of the Christian faith story, specifically the crucifixion, with the suffering of creation. We meet out of doors, usually in a location that is troubled by environmental harms.
Different individuals and communities prepare and host stations of 5-10 minutes each that draw parallels between the last days and hours before Easter and elements in our climate and extinction crises. The only constant elements are out of doors and some connection to scripture.
Offerings have included litanies, song, body prayers, physical/sacramental acts, direct action, and often have a liturgical element of call and response.
Liturgical Background
Stations of the Cross are a Good Friday tradition of prayer and contemplation on a series of images depicting the events from the time that Jesus is arrested to his burial. We hope to keep this contemplative tone.
Traditionally the passion narrative from John (18:1-19:42) is read in its entirety at different times during this week. It moves from the betrayal and arrest in the garden to Jesus’ burial. If participants intend to use scripture from John in their station we ask them to consider Sarah Parks’ PSA for Christians at Easter
When a text in the New Testament says “The Jews” (οί ‘ιουδαιοι) it does not flat out mean “the Jewish people”. It means, in context, things like “temple authorities,” “rich elites,” “a different group from me that I am mad at,” “a group that is trying to urge pagans to full Torah Observance,” “a group of Jews from a different place than my group (e.g. urban/rural),” or even “a group I am retroactively throwing under the bus because I’m scared of Rome crushing my group next.”
And to substitute an appropriate paraphrase.
The traditional stations are:
(1) Jesus is condemned to death
(2) Jesus carries the cross
(3) Jesus falls the first time
(5) Simon of Cyrene is made to bear the cross,
(6) Veronica wipes Jesus’ face,
(7) he falls the second time,
(8) the women of Jerusalem weep over Jesus,
(9) he falls the third time,
(10) he is stripped of his garments,
(11) he is nailed to the cross,
(12) he dies on the cross,
(13) he is taken down from the cross,
(14) he is placed in the tomb
The traditional “Seven Last Words” are:
“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
To the “good thief” “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
To Mary, his mother: “Woman, behold your son”… and to John: “Behold your mother.”
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
“I thirst.”
“It is finished.”
“Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.”
Ecological Background
We ask folks preparing stations to consider local concerns like:
Site C Dam
Burnaby Mountain and Kinder Morgan Expansion
Loss of species
Endangered salmon
Access to clean water, Selling of BC water, Water on First Nations
Our participation in environmental destruction
Local/Global Connections
Climate Change
Displacement of Indigenous People
Targeting of Indigenous Environmentalists and Land Defenders
Canadian Corporations involvement
Themes include: repentance, culpability, betrayal, complicity, empire, suffering, compassion, power/powerlessness, death, lament, longing despair, hope and hopelessness, outrage
Stations can include: silence, poetry, movement, song, action, scripture (from the passion narratives or elsewhere). They could be shaped around a concrete event like arrest, trial, death, burial, but they don’t have to be.
We begin with a territorial acknowledgement and round of introductions (names, pronouns, access needs) and follow a roughly chronological order from courts to tomb but each year has different offerings. A typical service has 5-8 stations and ends with a fairly solemn and silent dispersal.
Below are some sample stations from different years.
Jesus is Arrested
By Laurel Dykstra
What happened when Jesus was arrested is unclear—it happened after a huge march, there was that property destruction action at the temple, the politics were volatile and polarized, lots of factions, tensions and competing strategies. They had been praying, and a crowd arrived, there were weapons, accusations, betrayal and an altercation. Maybe more than one police force was involved.
You can tell that in some versions of the story that the people are just repeating word for word what they heard from someone else.
The authorities singled out the perceived leader. Some people’s courage failed.
There was abuse, mockery, assaults in custody.
And a loved one died. Was killed. Was executed—not as we sometimes think for non-violence but for non-violent resistance.
The Gospel tells us that Rome had no real authority, no jurisdiction but it still had the power to harm. To isolate, to imprison, to hurt and to kill.
This week, with actions and arrests opposing Trans Mountain Pipleline tells us the same about empire today.
Touch the ground. This sacred ground. This unceded ground.
On this ground Coast Salish people have been caretakers for millennia. Bear, eagle, orca, salmon, coyote, deer before them. On this ground this month nearly 200 have been arrested. Some singled out and targeted violently for their ongoing resistance and the colour of their skin. Some with photo ops and praise for the polite and professional demeanor of police.
After Pat’s funeral some of us waited outside the courthouse for the release of Uni arrested on this ground.
Today a Secwepemc land defender SunTree, whose territory is crossed by this pipeline is still in custody after a violent arrest on Thursday.
Too often, too many of us who pray the arrest of Jesus do so far away from the violence of police and courts.
What happened when Jesus was arrested is unclear—there was a march, an action at the temple, the politics were volatile and polarized, factions, tensions competing strategies. They had been praying, and a crowd arrived, there were weapons, accusations, betrayal and an altercation. Maybe more than one police force was involved.
You can tell that in some versions of the story that the people are just repeating word for word what they heard from someone else.
The authorities singled out the perceived leader. Some people’s courage failed.
In custody abuse, mockery, assaults.
And a loved one died. Was killed. Was executed.
The Gospel tells us that Rome had no real authority, no jurisdiction but it still had the power to harm. To isolate, to imprison, to hurt and to kill.
This week tells us the same about empire today.
Touch the ground. This sacred ground. This unceded ground. And touch the love that keeps us resisting.
Amen
Jesus is Crowned with Thorns
By Laurel Dykstra
Henry David Thoreau from journal Sept 27 1857: “Blackberry vines here and there in sunny places look like streaks of blood on the grass.”
27 Then the soldiers of the Roman governor took Jesus into the governor’s headquarters, and they gathered the whole cohort around him. 28They stripped him and put a royal coloured robe on him, 29and after twisting some thorns into a crown, they put it on his head. They put a reed in his right hand and knelt before him and mocked him, saying, ‘Hail, King of the Jews! Hail King of this occupied territory that refuses to conform to empire’s demands. See how those who claim their people’s sovereignty are humiliated and abused.’ 30They spat on him, and took the reed and struck him on the head. 31After mocking him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him. -Matthew 27
Thorns appear more than 50 times in the bible as creeping threats to cultivated fields, as fences to keep out the wild, as a curse on cities that refuse to do justice.
Himalayan blackberry is a species introduced to this continent by Europeans. it easily invades disturbed sites, pastures, roadsides, streambanks, and forest edges. They can grow up to 5 m tall, with canes up to 12 m long that root wherever they touch the ground. This plant crowds out low-growing vegetation and can create thickets so dense it limits the movement of large animals. Thickets can produce 7,000-13,000 seeds per square meter. Himalayan blackberry also spreads by roots and stem fragments, as well as by birds and animals that eat the berries and disperse them.
Nicholas Cruz Seattle University student calls these plants co-colonizers and reminds us that settler colonialism has altered even the soil of this land.
Indigenous scientist Jessica Hernandez calls invasive species a metaphor for coloniziation -growth unchecked in a new environment.
She says: Removing invasive species without good intent or connecting with them causes scars.
Many white people have lost their ancestral roots, they have lost their relationships with these plants
We acknowledge them as displaced relatives
The cuts the Himalayan blackberry leave teach my non-Indigenous students about the pain colonization has left on Indigenous peoples and communities.
I invite you to engage with this plant-relation in an act of restoration. To attempt to uproot or twist a crown. And as you do to think about sovereignty, empire, colonization, assaults on prisoners, shame, and scars
Jesus Carries the Cross
Salmon Station (Rob Dramer, Lillian Ireland and Jenn Ireland)
Lillian, Jenn and Rob led the group of about 30 down the trail to the first station to the gentle drum beat reminding us of the living heartbeat of Mother Earth.
There we gathered near a salmon creek by a small wooden foot bridge. Acknowledgements and a short prayer were offered.
I suggested a parallel between Jesus’ struggle on His journey to His crucifixion, our struggle for ecological and social justice, and Salmon’s struggle up stream to death and new birth.
After a moment of quiet reflection, we lead people in the song “We Stand On Guard for Thee”:
We stand for the salmon, we stand for the eagle,
We stand for the cedar, we stand for the people,
Salmon, eagle, cedar, people, we stand on guard for thee.
We stand for the children, we stand for the Elders,
We stand for Creation, we stand for each Nation,
Children, Elders, Creation, each Nation, we stand on guard for thee.
We stand with our sisters, we stand with our brothers,
We stand for our families, we stand for each other,
Sisters, brothers, families, each other, we stand on guard for thee.
We stand for the salmon, we stand for the eagle,
We stand for the cedar, we stand for the people,
Salmon, eagle, All Our Relations, we stand on guard for thee.
We praise You Creator for these! We praise You Creator for these!
We then gave each person a small piece of copper wire which they could use to shape into a fish or other symbol of their choice. People could keep them or share them or leave them along the way in a special place or whatever they chose.
Simon of Cyrene is made to bear the cross
First reading of Luke 23:26
When they led [Jesus] away, they seized a man, Simon from Cyrene [a port city in North Africa], who was coming in [to the city] from the country, and placed on him the cross to carry behind Jesus.
Background of text
Jerusalem was seething with pilgrims for Passover observance. When the Temple existed, the holiday was one of three major festivals that required pilgrimages to Jerusalem to bring sacrifices. Simon from Cyrene, a port city in North Africa (now Libya), could have been regarded as a potential troublemaker. The Jewish population in Cyrene, located in a North African province (now Libya), was often restive and revolted similarly to the Judean population in 70AD. He likely was dark skinned and could have been perceived as a foreigner. In any case, Simon not a young man – he had sons who were disciples in Rome – was forcibly required to carry Christ’s cross by Roman soldiers.
Second reading of Luke 23:26
When they led [Jesus] away, they seized a man, Simon from Cyrene [a port city in North Africa], who was coming in [to the city] from the country, and placed on him the cross to carry behind Jesus.
Moment of silence
Ecological Reflection
Vancouver was heavily forested prior to the 1860s but logging, land clearing, and burning has almost entirely destroyed the original native forest.
Vancouver’s people are diverse in culture and ethnicity. Research suggests that people feel more at ease and less stressed if the landscapes reflect settings where they feel at home [5]. The design and structure of the urban forest in many parts of Vancouver reflects the city’s recent history of forest clearing and replanting in European landscape traditions.
For the Musqueam (xʷməθkʷiy̓əm), Squamish (Sḵwx̱wú7mesh), and Tsleil-Waututh (səlilwətaʔɬ) people whose unceded territory includes Vancouver, connection to land is inherent to culture. One example of the cultural importance of Vancouver’s forests comes from the xʷməθkʷ ̓əy̓əm people for whom the single most important plant species is traditionally western red cedar because of its many uses. The xʷməθkʷ ̓əy̓əm are skilled carvers and periodically harvested large, old cedars to carve canoes. Today, there are no big cedar available for harvest in xʷməθkʷ ̓əy̓əm territory. Aside from remnants in Stanley Park, cared for by Indigenous knowledge keepers in collaboration with Parks Board, Vancouver’s urban forest is composed of trees that are less than 120 years old.
City of Vancouver Urban Forest Strategy 2018 Update report https://vancouver.ca/files/cov/urban-forest-strategy.pdf
Lament
We are without words to express this profound loss for Musqueam (xʷməθkʷiy̓əm) stewards of this land from time immemorial. As settlers we accept responsibility for this wrongdoing.
OPTION 1 [Following text can be written on 4×6 card & read by 7 voices]
Some say the earth is the Lord’s, but it is destined to become private property.
Some say the earth is “our mother”, and yet we take from the earth without offering thanksgiving.
The earth is sacred and the land is our life, but we continue to exploit and destroy…
Can we maintain covenant treaty relationships for “as long as the sun shines, the grass grows, and the rivers flow”?
Stan McKay (Cree. Ordained United Church minister and former Moderator)
When earth is property, where is covenant?
Seven Voices for Lament
Voice 1: Some say the earth is the Lord’s, but it is destined to become private property. Voice 2: Some say the earth is “our mother”, and yet we take from the earth without offering thanksgiving.
Voice 3: The earth is sacred and the land is our life, but we continue to exploit and destroy…
Voice 4: Can we maintain covenant treaty relationships for “as long as the sun shines, the grass grows, and the rivers flow”?
Voice 5: Create in me a clean heart, O God. Unsettle my soul and renew a right spirit within me.
Voice 6: Unquiet me to shout this story’s whispers
Voice 7: so that I won’t settle for less than your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.]
OPTION 2 Four voices
Create in me a clean heart, O God.
Unsettle my soul and renew a right spirit within me.
Unquiet me to shout this story’s whispers
so that I won’t settle for less than your kingdom come
on earth as it is in heaven.
Rebecca Seiling Unsettled (Continued)
from Buffalo Shout, Salmon Cry. ed. Steve Heinrichs. Herald Press. 2013
Embodied reflection
You might choose to take sticks and raffia provided to weave a God’s eye at home or take a piece of yellow cedar bark gathered from * to remember this destruction of the forest.
Supplies to bring: twigs, raffia natural and cedar bark
Jesus is laid in the tomb
Stones
Led by Deacon Elizabeth Mathers
And he rolled a great stone to the door of the tomb and went away.
Matthew 27:60b
Of the four elements – earth, air, fire and water – the earth is the one that is the most stable, the one that endures.
• flames flare and flicker and die down
• air is in constant motion, in and out of our bodies, in the wind in the trees, in currents around the globe
• water takes many forms – ice, steam, liquid; the world ocean, a snowflake. You can never step into the same river twice.
• but rocks – the bones of our mother, the earth – endure and will endure when the younger children of earth are long gone
You have a stone with you. Please take it out and hold it. Feel its heft, its shape, its texture. Think of where it came from, where you picked it up – a beach, a creek, a construction site, a backyard, a quarry, a roadside; a healthy place, a threatened place, a degraded place. Think of your stone’s long story – its endurance. And think about how it may speak to you of endurance for yourself and for the community of environmental care we are part of, locally and globally.
And I invite you to reflect on how when Jesus spent forty days in the wilderness, among its stones, he found strength to endure forty days’ fasting and the demands of his life’s work.
I invite you to share a few words about your reflections.
We are going to place our stones together to make a cairn.
A cairn is a trail marker. It tells travellers that others have passed the same way.
In placing our stones, we recognise that we stand in a long tradition of care for the earth that spans all ages, all cultures, all faiths; we acknowledge all who have gone before us. And we commit an act of hope – I would say, an act of radical hope: that we will not be the last to walk this way, that there will be future generations who will follow in our steps.
We lift our eyes to the mountains: from where will our help come?
Our help comes from God, the Creator of Heaven and Earth.