Last year I did this series of the stations of the cross and they really changed me through the journey. Not in big ways but little ones. It is, if you don't know, in traditional Catholic churches, a fourteen step journey though the Passion of the Christ. The Passion encompasses the events that lead to the crucifixion of Christ. This is station one. "Condemned" and followed by the next 13. The tradition is an exercise in reliving the events and experiencing different types of repentance and reconciliation with God. I used the modern day paraphrase "The Message" instead of traditional King James or New King James. I also only took fragments of the verses in order to narrow down on where my heart landed in the experience. It is not a true set of stations but it is true to me, my prayers and hopes and what stirred me when I moved through them at the time.
What did I learn? I learned that this large series took more time, thought, care and attention to detail than I had ever planned. It also came at a time of a large transition in life and the beginning of publicly showing my art. I experienced the pairing of research and invested time never really showing exactly what you learned visually and how it is both exciting to see the pieces and sad that people will never know what you learned. Some will walk by without even really reading the whole thing...some were moved to tears when they saw them.
Here is the Liturgy:
http://www.diocesepb.org/prayers/stations/station01.htm
