CROSSING TO OUR RESURRECTION:
A COMMUNITY MEMORIAL AT KALIHI
(RE)ENACTING THE STATIONS OF THE CROSS
Kalihi, Honolulu, HI, March 27, 2010
A NAKEM YOUTH CEREMONY
FOR COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
By A Solver Agcaoili, written for Nakem Youth
ENTRANCE HYMN
(All members of the community will sing the hymn; they are expected to sing in all the parts with the ALL role as well as the community with the responsorial part marked ALL)
ALL:
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Oh!
Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Introduction: Jeffrey (JA)
Kakabsat--siblings in Christ the Messiah, who came among us, lived in this life in the flesh, become part of our story and history.
Christ, the child of the Namarsua, the Creator, is the child of the God that does not end, the Creator that will continue to sustain us, in suffering, in death, in the coming to life again of our bodies and spirits.
ALL:
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Oh!
Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
JA:
Christ said, when two or three are gathered in Christ’s name, there is Christ among us, there is Christ in our midst. Let us honor Christ’s presence among us by this ceremony of breaking of the bread and the sharing of the water of life.
The bread and the water are symbolic of the life we share in our faith, the life lived in earnest because it is based on hope and justice and light.
ALL: (Raise the pandesal/bread and water; lay your hands over them)
Namarsua, the God of our life, confident in your promise of your presence among us, your presence in our midst, bless this bread and water so that they become the source of our nourishment of mind and body, spirit and soul.
CM 1: We offer this bread to those who produced it.
CM 2: We offer this water to the universe.
CM 3: We offer this bread to the hungry and disposed.
CM 4: We offer this to the health of the world and nature.
JA: We ask all this in your name
ALL:
Amen
(All will get a piece of the bread and drink of the cup from the same bottled source; everyone will eat and drink at the same time.)
JA: Let this bread and water nourish our body and spirit.
ALL: Let God bless this water and bread. Amen.
Community Member (CM, with a series of numbers for community participation)
JA: The first station of the cross: Jesus is the midst of suffering in the Garden of Gethsemani
CM 1: Lord, even as you go through suffering in the Garden of Gethsemani and even as we go through the same suffering, we ask you to remember us.
CM 2: We are anguished by the continuing divide, Oh God, between those who have the resources to get by in life and those who do not have enough like us.
CM 3: Even as we suffer, even as we witness all these economic injustices, even as the poor like us and even as the poor among us continue to hope for a better life, dear God, Namarsua iti langit ken daga, Namarsua iti biag, make haste to help us.
CM 4: Come, make haste to help us, heal our community, heal our Kalihi, heal our people, and heal our lives, even as you yourself, Christ the Messiah, suffer in our name.
JA: This we ask of you, our suffering Christ.
All: Amen.
JA: The second station of the cross: Jesus is betrayed by Judas and arrested.
All:
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Oh!
Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
CM 1: Everyday, there is betrayal in our midst. We betray ourselves, we betray our God, and we betray our Namarsua, the creator of life, by our decision not to act to correct the injustices around us. With the furlough, we betray our youth. God of justice, come give clarity to our education.
CM 2: Even as you were betrayed, Oh Christ, even as you were arrested, we see all these betrayals in our midst.
CM 3: We pray that you remember us even as you hear condemnation. We pray that even as you were condemned, release us from condemnation of the social inequities in our in communities—our being condemned to hold multiple jobs just to get, to endure the condemnation of selling our labor for the minimum wage that is not even sufficient to make our life decent.
CM 4: We pray that you have us all in mind, your sisters and brothers, even as you were bussed with the kiss that signaled your betrayal. We pray that the 30 pieces of silver is not going to be what our worth will be but our worth will be an eternal life with you.
JA: This we all pray
All: Amen
JA: The third station of the cross: Jesus is condemned to death.
ALL:
Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?
Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?
Oh!
Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?
CM 1: We pray to you, Oh Christ, we pray that we will be spared of the wages of sin and death, even as we become aware of the many forms of death and sin in our communities.
CM 2: With our life, we are also condemned to death. Because of the unevenness of our access to the resources of our communities, because of disparities in incomes, because of the disparities in our access to the goods of our social life, we are also condemned to death. We pray that those who do not look like us, that those who do not love like us, that those who do not think like us will see hope in you.
CM 3: We are condemned as well, true. But we will not accept this condemnation because we know, our Namarsua, the creator of life, the harbinger of our hope, the promiser of our redemption, that you have been condemned to death because of us.
CM 4: Because of your passion, because of your willingness to go through it all, because of your promise of a new life for us and our condemned communities, we will rise with new hopes again and again, Oh God of life.
JA: This we all ask our brother the Christ to intercede for us so that our hopes will continue to be alive
All: Amen
JA: The fourth station of the cross: Jesus is denied by Peter.
ALL:
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Oh!
Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
CM 1: Christ, our brother in faith, we pray for strength
CM 1: Dear Christ, even as Peter denied Christ out of fear and because of fear, because of the threat of persecution, because of the lack of moral courage, with you abiding love, lead us to the light.
CM 2: Lead us to where we should go and keep us with your guidance we are show our solidarity with our people and with other people, as we show our solidarity with the people of Guahan—the Guamenians—with the Chamorro people, with those communities that are affected by the build-up of military bases in Hawaii and the Pacific.
CM 3: Give us the strength, Oh Christ, so that we will not lost sight of the need to be just and fair with others, even as we need to fight for justice and fairness everywhere, in communities undergoing repression.
CM 4: We pray for the moral courage not to betray the very causes that make us alive and authentic human beings, the courage to be true to our calling as children of God and your sisters and brothers in faith.
JA: All this we ask of you in the name of the Spirit that nurtures courage
ALL: AMEN
JA: The fifth station of the cross: Jesus is judged by Pilate.
ALL:
Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?
Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?
Oh!
Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?
CM 1: Acting: Hear, hear you people, this is your Christ!
CM 2: Free Barabbas, not him!
All: We are not going to be Pontious Pilate!
CM 3: Hang him!
ALL: Free Barabbas!
ALL: Hang the Christ!
CM: Hang the bogus, the impostor!
CM 4: Dear Christ, we ask for the forgiveness of our trespasses!
ALL: We ask that we will not forget the sufferings of the native Hawaiian people—the Kanaka Maoli—and the injustice done against them even as they continue to struggle for their sovereignty and freedom.
CM 5: We ask that the struggle of the native Hawaiian people—the Kanaka Maoli—their struggle to make sense of their history, to make sense of their community that has welcomed us in generosity of spirit, will enlighten all other people in the same path to freedom.
JA: We ask all these in the spirit of truth and acceptance, of solidarity and community, of peace based on justice and fairness and non-violence.
ALL: Amen
JA: The sixth station of the cross: Jesus is scourged and crowned with thorns
ALL:
Were you there when they pierced him in the side?
Were you there when they pierced him in the side?
Oh!
Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they pierced him in the side?
CM 1: Everyday is the crowning of thorns on us as well.
CM 2: This economic meltdown, Oh Christ, is causing a lot of anxieties among.
CM 3: This recession, not of our own doing, is taking hold of our daily lives. It is making our burdens heavier, our days more heady.
CM 4: Remove these from us, Oh Christ; take them away from our shoulders.
JA: Let this crowning of heads with suffering, let this carrying of troubles and burdens be an occasion for your grace, Oh Christ, our kabsat in the faith.
ALL: Amen
JA: The seventh station of the cross: Jesus takes up his cross
ALL:
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Oh!
Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
CM 1: We offer this station of the cross to all our social activists present in this gathering. It is through their light that we see better, that we see the road ahead. It is through their walking with us that we feel uplifted.
CM 2: Oh Christ, let this activism be the virtue of our life as people of the Creator. Let this activism be the energy that will make us see more fully in the round our true vocation to the nurturing of each other and our communities.
JA: Let your light shine upon us, Oh Christ.
CM 3: Let us take up our cross as well so we will learn to walk bravely the road to you.
CM 4: Let your light shine upon us so that in our activism, your guidance will continue to be upon us, the light of your justice will keep us, the light of your truth will steady us, and the light of your grace will strengthen our resolve to do more for others and our communities.
ALL: Amen.
JA: The eight station of the cross: Jesus is helped by Simon to carry His cross
ALL:
Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?
Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?
Oh!
Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?
CM 1: Help us carry your cross, Oh Christ. With your grace and blessing, may we come to a fuller understanding of the mystery of your suffering even as we try to understand the mystery of suffering in our midst.
CM 2: We have come to know the violence in our families and we have not done enough to carry the cross of the victims.
CM 3: We have to know the violence of the social media of which we have become consumers and we delight in them, never seeing our role in the perpetuation of this same cycle of violence.
CM 4: We have not helped carry the cross of the poor. We have allowed the sick alone and deserted. We have not offered our shoulders to the lonely in the hospices and in retirements. We have not addressed the burden of homelessness, the lack of jobs, the lack of alternatives to this misery and poverty that we have to know so well.
JA: Dear Christ, our Namarsua, the creator of that which is us and that which will be, help us see our role as your children who must care for each other, who must show concern for each other, who must keep each. Teach us the way to you so that we will see that we are each other’s keeper, and so that we will maintain our resolve to make our communities safer.
All these we ask of you
ALL: Amen.
JA: The ninth station of the cross: Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem
ALL:
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Oh!
Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
CM 1: Christ, our brother, we dedicate this station of the cross as memorial to all women who succumbed to death because of violence. With this memorial, we pray that women will come to understand that the bigger issues of justice and peace are out there even as we acknowledge that the individual violence that we are remain to be a problem as well.
CM 2: Let this station of the cross be our way of recognizing the unwavering faith of all our women, their faith in the Namarsua that nourishes life, the faith in the God that does justice, that faith in the God, all knowing and all fullness, that redeems us from all these ignorance, callousness, apathy, indifference.
CM 3: Even as the women meet you, Oh Christ, show us the way to meet you as well.
CM 4: Show us the way, Oh Christ, to transcend the mundane, even as we are not going to forsake our duty to renew the world. Lead us to a full meeting with you, like the women of Jerusalem, like the women in our communities who have not stopped believing in the power of our love.
JA: All these we pray
ALL: Amen.
JA: The tenth station of the cross: Jesus is crucified
ALL:
Were you there when they pierced him in the side?
Were you there when they pierced him in the side?
Oh!
Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they pierced him in the side?
CM 1: We offer this memory of this station to all those who have gone before us, those who have died believing that God will reward them with a new life.
CM 2: We offer those who die a thousand deaths so others will have a good life, so that others will have the chance to live, so that others will live in God’s grace.
CM 3: We pray for those among us whose parents, relatives, or family members have departed. We pray for Kat, whose mom passed away without seeing Kat, our dear sister, graduate from college.
CM 4: We pray that Kat will find the courage to keep going in life even as your crucifixion reminds us of the peak of suffering.
JA: (WE ASK KAT TO SAY A LITTLE PRAYER FOR HER MOTHER.)
We ask this of you
ALL: Amen.
JA: The eleventh station of the cross: Jesus promises His kingdom to the repentant thief
Were you there when they laid him in the tomb?
Were you there when they laid him in the tomb?
Oh!
Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they laid him in the tomb?
CM 1: Dear Christ, we know of your promise of eternal.
CM 2: Make us see, Oh Christ, that this promise of eternal to the thief is promised the same way to us.
CM 3: We believe in the sanctity of your Word. By your Word, let us come to life, to grace, to voice, to solidarity with others, to a communion with you.
CM 4: Help us, Oh Christ, so that by our deeds, we will become a promise to all others, so that we will become agents of your grace.
JA: We ask this of you
ALL: Amen.
JA: The twelfth station of the cross: Jesus entrusts Mary and John to each other
ALL:
Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?
Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?
Oh!
Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?
CM 1: By Christ entrusting his mother to John, let us have the courage to entrust our faith with each other.
CM 2: Let us have the grace to accept that our sisters and brothers are entrusted to us.
CM 3: It in the same light that those who are sick and poor, those who are homeless, those who have nowhere to turn to, those young people who need counsel—let them come to us, in the way you have allowed those who need your counsel to come to you.
CM 4: Make us the vessel of the Spirit so that those whom you entrusted to our care will be cared for by us.
JA: All these in your name
ALL: Amen.
JA: The thirteenth stations of the: Jesus dies on the cross
ALL:
Were you there when they pierced him in the side?
Were you there when they pierced him in the side?
Oh!
Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they pierced him in the side?
CM 1: Even as you died on the cross for our sins, we offer this station to all our young people who need not go through crucifixion and death, who need not go through suffering, who need not suffer more than what they can handle. Let them come to voice, Oh Christ, and let them learn to pave the way to you for us all even as we learn to listen to what they say to us.
CM 2: Our young are our hope. Let them be redeemed by the promise of your death. If they have to go through life, let them carry their cross with grace, with the wisdom of your truth, with the light of your love.
CM 3: Let our young people know that life is the tear on your eyes and the smile on your lips, the smirking on your face, and the laughter of your joy.
CM 4: Let them see that you, our Christ, who has uttered the truth of salvation, is the same Christ that uttered the truth of the heaven that we have to build on earth.
JA: This we all pray
ALL: Amen.
JA: the fourteenth station of the cross: Jesus is laid to the tomb
ALL:
Were you there when they laid him in the tomb?
Were you there when they laid him in the tomb?
Oh!
Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they laid him in the tomb?
CM 1: We now come to a memorial of your death. We lay you on the tomb and cover your grave with a stone.
CM 1: But we will always remember that we are the community of faith that inherited your good news, the sacred word you revealed to us.
CM 2: By your death, Oh Christ, shall you rise again to reveal to us the fullness of your truth,
CM 3: The light of your glory even as we remember the wars in other lands,
CM 4: The death that happens in our places,
CM 1: The tragedies and natural calamities that visit us,
CM 2: The heavy weight of war industry and militarization and tyranny and hunger in other lands
CM 3: The cross of everyday that we bear to eke out a life,
CM 4: The promise of redemption that we hope as ours in the end.
CONCLUDING PRAYER
JA: You have heard our supplication, Oh Christ, hear the prayer of your people, makes haste to clear our heart and mind in anticipation of your glory.
CM 1: By your death so shall you come back to us again,
CM 2: Rising in glory, rising in glorified body,
CM 3: Rising with the eternal spirit of the Creator,
CM 4: Rising with the full vision of heaven that awaits us, the heaven whose seed we nurture in this life.
JA: We memorialize your death, but we await your resurrection.
CM 1: We remember our suffering, and by your grace, we go through the same death that you go through,
CM 2: But by your promise of redemption, we know we have been saved from us these tragedies.
CM 4: Even as we memorialize the entombing of the tomb of Christ, we remember always that there is that hope for the coming to life of our sibling, our kabsat, in the faith,
CM 1: The child of our Creator who came among us to live like us, in flesh and blood, to live like us in our history and culture and language,
CM 2: The way Christ lived in the history of our faith, in the culture of the Jews, in the language of the Jews.
CM 3: We pray that through this memorializing of our programs for diversity, for cultural pluralism and for the celebration of our various heritages, the Christ of history will be remembered more and more.
CM 4: We pray that with our coming to our language, we come more and more to our voices as various peoples of God, we come to voice, this voice that we are because it is the voice from the Word that is sanctified, made holy with our participation in history and our own cultures and languages.
JA: Dear Christ, our sibling, our kabsat, the Son of God who is God of languages, of history and culture, listen to our prayers, and listen to our supplications. We have come here as a community to celebrate your death, a celebration that leads into that hope that is the very reason of our faith: your coming to life again.
ALL:
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Oh!
Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
JA:
By the washing of the feet of our sisters and brothers, may we understand fully what we have come to do today: that by your death, we are to minister to each other, that we are to serve each other, that we are to dispense, from our own hearts and souls, care and concern for each other.
FEET WASHING RITUAL
JA: By the washing of your feet, remember that you have been cleaned and that you have been anointed to minister to others.
CM: Amen.
CLOSING SONG
ALL:
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Oh!
Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
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