the way of the cross

As I have been reflecting upon my time in Georgia, it has been next to impossible to lay claim to words that describe, explain and explore what happened there. I am not a good writer and I am sad that I cannot convey the experience well with words. Here is an attempt to do what feels like the impossible. I am not able to do justice to what it is like to stand before power in the light of God's abundant grace. Much love to those who journeyed with me.
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We approach the barbed wire fences, as the names of the dead ring out under gray skies. Tears sting my eyes as I struggle for forward momentum. Sobbing. I bury my eyes in the comfort of another’s shoulder. Clutching arms, our feet find their way, for we follow the way of the cross.

Here - before the gates, before the School of the Americas, before the home of our nation’s complicity in gruesome atrocities, before a system of death and destruction carried out in our names - we follow the way of the cross.

We claim the power of naming - naming of the dead: babies, children, brothers, sisters, fathers and mothers, grandmothers and grandfathers - each one with a story, a name, a story. All are named, though only God names some, for their bodies could not be identified. They are all here. Presenté. White crosses raised in victory over death. Lives lost and grieved. We pay respect. We follow the way of the cross.

We denounce torture. We decry murder. We turn our backs on rape. Not in our names. We follow the way of the cross.

The police took our crosses from us. It was said they could be weapons. We were forced to leave them behind. They can take our crosses away from us, but they cannot take us from the cross. We refuse to be defeated by their attempts at demoralization. We have no weapons; we have come in peace. We follow the way of the cross.

I feel small at the feet of the gate, but stand strong before this power and humble before God. May our tears water the earth and bring forth fruits of love, justice, forgiveness and reconciliation.

Christ is here.
We follow the way of the cross.