mariano rivera: 2011 lent collage 6: forsaken

as you probably know by now, i've been collaging my way through lent, using my hobbie as a way to practice spiritual discipline. each week i have taken the text from worship on the coming sunday, and written it out by hand, struggled with it, played with it, and percolated it in my brain and heart. i've wrestled with words, been overwhelmed with emotion, and cried more than once. it has been a very good experience for me to express my interaction with and response to these ancient texts with something other than words. i hope you've been enjoying it as well.

this week we were dealing with the crucifixion. not my favorite portion of scripture, to be sure, but one that i think merits our careful attention, as well as our broken hearts. as i read it through many times and prayed over it, i was struck by how mark's version uses the words "hurled" and "heaped" in reference to the insults and mockery being sent Jesus' way by onlookers. i had this image of of Jesus just being covered by heaps of hatred, vicious and venomous piles of sin. and then, for my whole life, i have never been able to be unmoved by the passionate, lonely and mysterious cry of Jesus, "why have you forsaken me?" it is a call that echoes across the centuries and haunts me. and so in my collage i tried to capture some of what felt like heaping piles of mockery and insult and the isolation that Christ felt. it was an interesting topic to address because it seems like every artist has already dealt with the topic, and all of them have handled much more adeptly than i ever could. so it was a humbling experience, not to mention very spiritually moving.

i am praying that all of you, my dear readers, have a very rich holy week.