Stations of the Cross III: a member of the council
When day came, the assembly of the elders of the people, both chief priests and scribes, gathered together, and they brought him to their council. They said, ‘If you are the Messiah, tell us.’ He replied, ‘If I tell you, you will not believe; and if I question you, you will not answer. But from now on the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God.’ All of them asked, ‘Are you, then, the Son of God?’ He said to them, ‘You say that I am.’ Then they said, ‘What further testimony do we need? We have heard it ourselves from his own lips!’
Luke 22: 66-71 (NRSV)
3. a member of the council
it is a strange and heavy thing
to be entrusted with the sacred.
to hold tradition and revelation
history and creativity
for this beautiful and strange group
we call
"Your people".
the only thing i have wanted
my whole life
is to see You plainly
but You are mysterious
weaving and dancing through crowds
and i keep thinking i glimpse You
from the corner of my eye
and i whirl around and--
You are nowhere to be found
You blink in and out of people's eyes
like a flash
and i do not know
if what i saw was real
if You would ever reveal Yourself through them
(if You might ever reveal Yourself through me...
...forgive my arrogance.)
they never teach us
how to scan a face looking for You
the living God
the mark of Your truth
and i did not know
i could not tell
if You were in that face.
i did not know
how could i know?
and it was too important not to be sure
but please
all i want
more than anything
is to see You.
--
Everliving God, You reveal Yourself as a great pillar of fire and as a still small voice. Forgive our limited ideas of who You are and what You do. Help us to see the spark of Your Spirit working through the world, particularly through the people who we least expect, that we may more fully embrace the true body of Christ. Amen.
--
Slats (they/them/theirs) is a queer/trans/nonbinary Presbyterian (PCUSA). They hold a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Drama and a Master of Divinity and they deeply love liturgy and hymnody. They write, preach, teach and often work as a director and sound designer for live theater. They are currently in the ordination process, and spend much of their time working toward claiming queer/trans space in Christianity.
Slats' website is https://www.slatsite.com and their book, Queering Lent, can be found at http://a.co/4nAGn29.
