Walking the Way of the Cross with Aberdeen

When I told our Bible study I was going to the holy land, I was asked to bring back dirt from the Holy Land, dirt that we could spread on the streets of Aberdeen.

For two days in Jerusalem, we walked the way of the cross. We began on the Mount of Olives and walked down to the Kidron Valley. The next morning, we walked the Via Dolorosa, the way of the cross, ending at the ancient Church of the Holy Sepulcher and the site of the Resurrection.

I walked these two days specifically keeping Aberdeen, keeping the harbor in my heart-- and collecting the dirt that they asked for. Walking this way of the cross and holding the suffering and despair of my people.

We began at the top of the Mount of Olives and at a church that happened to be just across from a Palestinian home that had been bulldozed by the state. This, unfortunately, is frequent.

A demolished Palestinian home

The day was sunny and beautiful and I imagined Jesus and his disciples walking up the Jerusalem on a similar day—singing as was the custom, but also aware of coming execution. The Mount of Olives was truly covered in ancient olive trees and as we walked, I prayed for the Harbor. I imagined how often we feel that we are dying, that we are losing hope. I thought about how, as a pastor, I am called to hold the despair of our people.

One of the ancient olive trees in the Garden of Gethsemane

 

When we stopped in the church and garden of Gethsemane, I sat for a long time in prayer.  I was feeling the weight of all that was on my heart, the weight of too much sorrow, just as Jesus did. And, suddenly, I thought: “Jesus refused to simply endure. Refused, even in the garden, even in his agonizing decision to stay and die, to give up hope. He still walked toward liberation, toward the freedom of his people, toward resurrection. Even as he faced death.”

 

Looking at Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives

 

And, so, as we remembered Jesus who set his face toward Jerusalem, I began to feel and to hold hope as well, hope for the future of the harbor, hope for the future of our young people, hope for our liberation, our freedom, our resurrection.

First century stone steps leading up the hill into the old city

 

On the hill leading up to Jerusalem, archaeologists have uncovered ancient steps leading up to where they believe the high priest’s house would have been located. A church has been built there, called Peter Galicante, and under the church is the ancient foundation of the house and where Jesus was likely held and imprisoned overnight before his trial. I spent an hour at least in that place in prayer. I was overwhelmed by the thought of Jesus’ suffering, as a person who had stood up to empire and to religious authorities and I could not forget the prisons I had visited. The many I knew who have been scarred by their experiences in prisons. The suffering of people under empire. The suffering of people I know in Aberdeen, on the harbor, living under empire as well, living without access to basic needs, living always with the threat of jail. I wept for my people there in that ancient prison and I prayed for courage there too, courage to stand with those I love.

Sitting outside where some believe Jesus was held overnight before his trial



I lit a candle for all those I know in jail

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After a quiet night in the old city, we woke up to another beautiful day. Beginning in the Church of St Anne, we began walking the 14 Stations of the Cross. Weaving in and out of markets and up the steps of the old city, on the same stones Jesus would have walked, we followed Jesus’ journey from the prisons of empire to the site of his execution.

Jesus meets his mother. I thought of all the mothers I know who have lost their children. I thought again of Mike Brown’s mother and her cry; “They aint never gonna care.” Jesus falls. I thought of all the people I know with severe injuries on the street without access to healthcare. Simon carries the cross. I thought of all the men and women who take care of each other in Aberdeen, who step in when there is no hope and show love and kindness—people who have nothing who check in on their neighbors, people who watch out for each other. Jesus is crucified. I thought of all the people who die, who are crucified on an altar of greed, who are forgotten and alone.

Finally, we reached the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, believed to be built over the site of Golgotha and the tomb. Hundreds of pilgrims from all over the world swarmed the place and long lines formed to kneel at the foot of the cross. Every language was spoken and five different church traditions cared for the church. I knelt and then I lit a candle, there at the foot of the cross, for Aberdeen, for the harbor and its people. There, in an ancient land, in the company of millions of pilgrims from hundreds of years, I brought our prayers, our hopes, our longing to the foot of the cross.

A candle lit for the harbor at the foot of the cross

Sometime in these coming months, we will spread that dirt on Aberdeen, as we hold our despair and as we hold our hope and our longing for liberation.