Heartfelt Dolls
  • Home
    • About me
    • I Am A Dollmaker: crafter's statement
    • Beware when you honor an artist
    • Heartfelt Dolls: Fool's Errand or Heroine's Journey
    • Doll making as a spiritual journey
    • Igniting creativity with Heartfelt dolls
    • Heartfelt doll-making: a healing experience
    • Heartfelt Dolls: the memory keepers
    • Heartfelt Dolls on life and death
    • Heartfelt Dolls: aesthetic meditation
    • Heartfelt Dolls: using textile crafts in contemporary art
    • Heartfelt Dolls: seeking a definition
    • Heartfelt Dolls: A Political Voice?
    • Heartfelt Dolls: Face On/Face Off
    • Heartfelt Dolls jammin' with JAMTV
    • Heartfelt Dolls @The Open Studios Project Blog
    • Heartfelt Dolls @ ArtsMad Rotorua
    • Heartfelt Isolation
    • Exhibitions old and new
    • Heartfelt Inspiration: a blog of that which inspires me
    • Testimonials
    • Contact
    • News
    • Links
  • Dolls
    • Heartfelt Dolls: companions for the journey
    • The Quotidian Doll: an introduction >
      • The Quotidian Doll Blog: introducing a Heartfelt-doll-a-day
    • Diaspora: the 101 dolls project
    • Heartfelt Dolls willing to leave home (for sale) >
      • Matariki
      • Through A Glass Darkly
      • Stitch Yourself a Boyfriend
      • Pink Walkers
      • Steampunk Dolls
      • Selfies
      • The Heroine's Journey
      • An English Country Garden
      • Hobo Chic
      • The Fisherman
      • I Shall Wear Purple
      • Enraged Woman Riding a Black and White Dog Writing Wrongs
      • Salute to the Sun
      • Old Woman in a Shoe
      • Soul Sisters
      • The Smiles Project
      • BFF
      • Blue Belles
      • Shades of Gray
      • Angels with attitude
      • Angels of gold
      • Angels
      • 'Ladies a plate'
      • Cosy up with a bit of skirt
      • Ice Palace
      • Troupe de verde
      • Animal Antics
      • Male dolls
      • Carnivale: stiltwalking dolls
      • Calendar Girls
      • Dammit dolls
      • Oh Cliche
      • Heartfelt Graffiti
      • Double Trouble
      • Lilliputians
      • Kiwi Icons
      • Faeries
    • Heartfelt Fundraisers >
      • Volunteer Fire Fighters
      • Memory keepers
      • Shades of Gray >
        • Shades of Gray Duets
        • Shades of Gray Men
      • Calendar Girls
      • Pink Walkers
      • Bandanna Chic
      • Selfies
    • Heartfelt Companions: sharing my journey with you >
      • One-of-a-kind heartfelt dolls >
        • Julie Has Flown North For The Summer
        • Hot Flash!
        • Whoops!
        • Medusa
        • The Bag Lady
        • Purple people eater
        • Social Climber
        • Place
        • Fertility Fairy
        • Smile
        • Blue Baths Belle
        • An Artist's Book
        • Pink Lady
        • Beloved
      • Heartfelt dolls in a series >
        • The Rainbow Connection
        • What's in a cup?
        • The Apple
        • Hi-Cut Internet Dolls
        • Godde Dolls
        • Shrines
        • The Rites of Autumn
        • Bibliophile
        • Seeing the world through different eyes
        • Akuba: encouraging change
        • It takes a village
        • Umbrella and Umbrage
        • A cautionary tale ...
    • Heartfelt Process, Heartfelt Transformation >
      • Matron Saints
      • Creative Guardians
      • The Nest
      • Freeing the caged heart: the poets and the dollmaker
      • The Unemployment Blues
      • The Bare Necessities
      • The Heroine's Journey
      • The Alchemy of Change
      • Sticks and stones
      • Stitch yourself a boyfriend
      • Inner Child
      • Salute to the Sun
      • Bindings
      • Euphrosyne: reclaiming joy >
        • Freeing the caged heart: poetry to lift your spirits
        • The Smiles Project
        • Dancing Feet
        • Irrepressible
        • Greening: a lenten journey
        • Wild Women Like to Dance
        • I Am Woman
        • Harakeke flowers
        • Circle of friends, vessel of hope
        • Dance
        • Spirit seekers, spirit guides
      • The Great Divide: one woman's experience of divorce >
        • Numb
        • Bound
        • Burlap and lace
        • Naked
        • Reclaim
        • Bitch
        • The Devil on my back
        • Burdened
        • God alone is enough
        • Simple heart
        • Broken dreams
        • Will the real me please stand up?
        • The Classifieds
        • Sing-a-song
        • Dark nights >
          • You are dying ...
          • Beast of burden
          • Wounded healer, broken heart
          • A moment of conversion
          • Unbuilding
          • Peace
          • Transform me
          • A clean heart
          • Unwrapped
          • Doormat
          • The weight of expectation
          • Promise
          • A new me
          • The fabric of my life
          • Struggle
          • Hanging
        • Dance me To The End of Love
      • Black Dog: one woman's experience with depression >
        • The Anti-depressants
        • Some days
        • What I wish you knew about depression
    • Heartfeltfelt Emotion >
      • Gold Angels: coping with tragedy
      • Emotions: a challenge
      • Lamentation
      • Heartfelt Anger >
        • Anger Management with Dammit Dolls
        • Dammit!
    • Heartfelt Celebration! >
      • I Shall Wear Purple!
      • Birthday dolls
      • Birthday cards
      • Julie's 21st
      • Celebrate my femininity!
      • Troupe de verde
    • Heartfelt Graffiti
    • Heartfelt Care >
      • Ageing >
        • I Shall Wear Purple
        • The Seven Ages Of Woman
      • For the children
      • Living with dementia
      • Say 'NO' to family violence >
        • You don't have to take it like I did
        • Are you the one?
      • Heartfelt Conservation >
        • Seduced By The Wild
        • Feathers Over Hamurana
        • Birds
      • Living with cancer
      • Breast Cancer Awareness >
        • Hello Dollies: an article
        • Pink Walkers
        • Primal scream
        • Flat Out
        • Paradox
        • Just Checkin'
        • I Love you, Mum
        • Mammogram Slam
        • Friends for the journey
        • Hair Today
        • Domestic Goddess
        • Deconstruct Reconstruct
        • Sewphie the stitcher
        • Nana and Gran
        • Procrastinating Polly
        • Colour blind
        • BRAve New World
        • Unzipped
        • Lord, to whom shall we go?
        • Knitting Nellie
        • The nay-sayers
        • Vessels of hope
        • Dancing Woman Labyrinth
        • Breast Labyrinth
    • Time Capsule series
  • Heartfelt Creativity
    • Heartfelt Fun
    • Heartfelt Comfort >
      • Girl Reclining on a Sofa
      • Cotton-soft boas
      • Wild Women Like to Hang About
    • Heartfelt Stitch >
      • Mother's Little Helper
      • Needlewomen
      • Old Woman in a Shoe
      • Delight in a cup
      • Heartfelt Companion
    • Heartfelt Wrapping >
      • Colour Blind
      • Spirit dolls
      • Bound
      • Aspects of Self
      • Wrapping as an art form
      • Wild Women Like To Dance
    • Heartfelt vestis >
      • What a wonderful world!
      • A thanksgiving vest
      • Dalmatics
      • In Praise
    • Labyrinth >
      • Shell labyrinth
      • Breast Labyrinth
      • Labyrinth scroll
      • Stitched labyrinth
      • Dancing Woman Labyrinth
      • Hopi labyrinth
      • Bead labyrinth
      • Journey
    • ANZAC: a tribute >
      • ANZAC Quilt
      • Rawene Boys
      • ANZAC jacket
  • Heartfelt prayer
    • Heartfelt crocheted rosaries
    • Heartfelt Retreat >
      • An Advent Retreat in Daily Life
      • Our daily medicine: a 28 day reflection on living and dying
      • Hidden in Plain View: a retreat in daily life
      • 24 hours: a retreat reflecting on the passion of Jesus
      • Stations of the light
    • Heartfelt waiting: reflections on the season of Advent >
      • Matron Saints of Un-named Women
      • Advent is a vessel
      • Advent is a pilgrimage
      • Advent remembers we are all related.
      • Advent is creative
      • Advent is a ritualised experience
      • Advent is expectant
      • Advent names God
      • Advent is a door
      • Advent: a sacred space
    • Stations of the Cross >
      • Christchurch Stations of the Cross
      • 24 Hours
      • Stations with haiku
      • John Badcock "Stations of the Cross"
    • Heartfelt Season: reflecting on the season of Lent >
      • A Lenten Walk
      • Lenten Prayer Flags
    • Heartfelt Hallelujah: reflections on the season of Easter >
      • Voices on the Via Lucis
    • Prayers from the Ark >
      • The Mouse
      • The Spider
      • The Dog
      • The Elephant
      • The Lizard
      • The Lamb
      • The Peacock
      • The Giraffe
      • The Toad
      • The Parrot
      • The Mother Hen
      • The Goldfish
      • The Cat
      • The Lion
    • Heartfelt Belief
    • Heartfelt Reflection >
      • These Parables Blow Me Apart!
      • A Single Thread
      • Every moment is gift
      • Harvest Wheat
      • Stepping out in faith
      • Harvest Heart
      • Dream catcher
      • The Sewing Basket
    • Sacred Story >
      • The Road to Emmaus
      • The Loaves and the Fishes
    • Listening To Winter
    • Genesis
    • Heartfelt Writing >
      • Joy on a String
      • Changing Landscapes
      • Rites of Passage
      • Sowing and Reaping
      • Hidden In Plain View
      • An Emmaus Journey
      • God and Dog
      • Dear Julie
      • An Intentional Walk
      • The Widow's Might
      • Does God Exist?
      • The Sewing Basket
      • Advent: A Sacred Space
      • A Secular Liturgy
      • Your Call
      • Dance me To The End Of Love
  • "100 day" projects
  • Prayer flag project
    • Blessings on the wind: a year of blessings >
      • April blessings
      • March blessings
      • February blessings
      • January blessings
      • December blessings
      • November blessings
      • October blessings
      • September blessings
      • August blessings
      • July blessings
      • June blessings
      • May Blessings
      • April Blessings
      • March Blessings
    • Prayer flag blog
  • Gratitude Flowers

THE CHRISTCHURCH STATIONS OF THE CROSS

I prepared this reflection a few days after the devastating earthquake which struck
Christchurch, New Zealand, on February 22nd, 2011.
I was overwhelmed by the images on media and the anguish of people throughout the world. 
I had no words.
I could not pray.

INTRODUCTION


 "
I was profoundly affected by the  story of a boy in a concentration camp during World War II.
He was hung by the neck, but being so malnourished,
his neck was not broken.
He hung there, writhing in pain.

A prisoner asked, “Where is God  now?”
Something inside me replied, “He is there, hanging from a rope
.” "
(
Elie Wiesel)

I believe that in New Zealand’s greatest natural disaster, on Tuesday February, 2011,
God was made real in each person who suffered, died or survived the earthquake.

 The compassion of God was revealed in each person who helped another;
who prayed for another;
who wept with another.

So when we ask God, “Were you there?”
God will say, “I was.”

                                                    PRELUDE

Picture
Ground me in your grace

Eternal  one,
Silence
     from whom my words come;
Questioner
    from whom my questions  arise;
Lover
     of  whom all my loves are hints;
Disturber
                              in whom alone I find rest;                             
                                    Mystery                                      
     in whose depths I find healing
                  and myself;                     
              enfold me now in your presence;      
      restore me to your peace;
     renew me through your power;
                                    
     and ground me in your grace.

Ted Loder " Guerillas of Grace"

                STATION 1             JESUS PRAYS IN THE GARDEN

Picture
 Where are you now, God?
 
I sat and on the step with you and listened as you asked, “Why?”
I held you.
I sat on the step with you and listened as you asked, “Why not?” 
I strengthened you.


Agony in the garden

O God of shadows and of light,
we reach out to you
in our deepest need.
Do not let us be overwhelmed
by doubt or fear,
but come and walk beside us
in every valley of darkness,
our loving Father
and constant comfort.

Gemma Simmonds


Prayer
For those who question what has happened; 
why it has happened; 
and what will happen next:
God in your mercy
Hear our prayer

            STATION 2             JESUS IS BETRAYED AND ARRESTED

Picture
Where are you now, God?
I stood with you when your world changed forever.
I embraced you as your safe and secure world disappeared.
I listened as you wondered what would happen next.

Strength to Endure

Enduring Love,
now is the time
for me to stand strong,
to remain vigilant,
to stay with the pain,
to continue to be present.

Giver of Strength,
firm up the wobbly legs
of my faltering faith,
reinforce my trust in you.
Intensify my ability to not give up.
With your grace  I can remain faithful.

No matter how powerless 
or hopeless I might feel,
I can be a compassionate presence
as I stand beneath the cross.
 Joyce Rupp

 Prayer
 For those who feel cheated of life, of safety, of security, of a future
 God in your mercy
 Hear our prayer

                    STATION 3            JESUS IS CONDEMNED

Picture
Where are you now, God?
 I
ran with you along a crumbling street.
 
I encouraged you as you escaped from the window.
 
I talked with you on your mobile phone.
 
I held your hand as you waited.

 22

 God, I feel abandoned even by you.
 I cry in the dark,

 My pain seems endless.
I recall the trust placed in you
by people through the ages.
You have brought them comfort in the most difficult times.
Fear and pain make me feel that I am nothing.

Others seem to mock me;
they don’t see my despair.
Yet I know that you too have mothered me.

 In my mother’s womb and at her
 breast you have watched over me.
This loving closeness I need to feel,
 now!

Patricia Stevenson rsj


Prayer 
For those who are condemned to pain or injury or death by natural disaster
God in your mercy
Hear our prayer

                STATION 4            JESUS IS DENIED BY PETER

Picture
Where are you now, God?
 I am in your fear.
I am in your terror.
I am in your desire to flee.


The Pain of Peter

 I felt what he felt,
 The failing,
 The pain,
 Failing a friend
 Denying his love,
 Again and again and again.
 I cried
 When I saw Peter cry ...
 And our crying was good.

Norman Habel


 Prayer
 For those who are afraid.
For those who feel they failed
God in your mercy
 Hear our prayer

                STATION 5            JESUS IS JUDGED BY PILATE

Picture
Where are you now, God?
I was beside you when the earthquake sentenced  you to fear and grief.
I stood with you as you confronted injustice face to face.
I trembled with you as the sentence was  pronounced.

Jesus stands surrounded yet alone.
Who will pray for him?
Who will pray for us?
Who will stand up for him?
Who will stand up for us?
Who but us.
And our God.

 Diana L. Hayes


 Prayer

 For all those who experienced the earthquake
 God in your mercy
 Hear our prayer

STATION 6           JESUS IS SCOURGED AND CROWNED WITH THORNS

Picture
Where are you now, God?
 
I was the doctor who summoned the courage to amputate your legs in order to free you.
 
I am the anaesthetist who used all his knowledge to dull your pain.
 
I am the victim, full of fear and pain, full of trust and hope.


 
Set to the Music of Spheres

 Pain is a partner I did not request;
 This is a dance I did not ask to join;
 whirled in a waltz when I would stop and rest.
 Jolted and jerked, I ache in bone and loin.
 Pain strives to hold me close in his embrace;
 If I resist and try to pull away
 His grasp grows tighter; closer comes his face;
 hotter his breath. If he is here to stay
 Then must I learn to dance this painful dance,
 Move to its rhythm, keeping my lagging feet
 In time with his. Thus have I a chance
 To work with pain, and so my pain defeat.
 Pain is my partner. If I dance with pain
Then may this wedlock be not loss but gain.

 Madeleine L’Engle
 
Prayer

For all those injured physically,
psychologically, emotionally, financially by the earthquake
God in your mercy
Hear our prayer

                    STATION 7         JESUS TAKES UP HIS CROSS

Picture
Where are you now, God?
I am the father who must now parent alone.
 
I am the children who grieve for their mother.
 
I am the compassion which unites them.


 Did You Know?

Did you know
where you were going on Tuesday,
in the car, along the corridor and on to the bed?

 Did you know
 the world stopped in hearts and homes in places
far from you
 and that the trees of the forest became still?

 Did you know
 the branches of the kauri dripped with tears,
 the rimu hung its head in grief
 and the kahikatea shook in disbelief?

Did you know
 how you inspired us
 with tales from the farm and pictures in the sand?

 Did you know
 how much your help meant –collecting plants,
 baiting a hook or making magic through a microscope?

 Did you know
 as the Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves
carried you along on a tide of tears,
 that your spirit was lifted to the treetops?

Did you know
that  your memory is raw in our  –
your hands and face still vivid in our minds?

Did you know
we still look back with thanks
for all that you were, to each of us
in different ways?

Did you know 
we miss you?

 Rod MacLeod

 Prayer

 For all those who now carry unexpected burdens.
 God in your mercy
 Hear our prayer



STATION 8     JESUS IS HELPED BY SIMON TO CARRY HIS CROSS

Picture
Where are you now, God?
I am the ten thousand students mobilised to help the Civil Defence.
I  am the firemen carrying a stretcher.
I am the Urban Search and Rescue teams bravely looking where you cannot.
I am the stranger embracing you.
I  am the housebound pensioner praying for you.


Vulnerable

Vulnerable we are, like an infant.
We need each others care
or we will
suffer.

Daniel Ladinski


Prayer

For all those who willingly helped another, friend or stranger
God in your mercy
Hear our prayer.

        STATION 9            JESUS MEETS THE WOMEN OF JERUSALEM

Picture
Where are you now, God?
I wrapped a blanket around your shoulders.
I gave you a cup of tea.
I cried with you.
I held you.


In the godforsaken, obscene quicksand of life,
there is a deafening alleluia
rising from the souls of those who weep,
and of those who weep with those who weep.


If you watch, you will see 
the hand of God
putting the stars back in their skies
one by one.

Ann Weems


Prayer

For all the comforters, all the nurturers, all the enablers
God in your mercy
Hear our prayer

                        STATION 10            JESUS IS CRUCIFIED

Picture
Where are you now, God?
 
I am the soul of the family now changed forever.
 
I am the man without a livelihood.
 I am the soul of the beloved buildings destroyed.

Hope 

You spoke of hope
how we must identify with it –
 be it for an unbelieving world.
 Can you tell me how to live
 that hope in Christchurch?
Can you bring that hope out of 
the pulpit and explain it
 so that those without money, without homes,
without jobs, without power, without purpose can understand?
 Can you tell me what hope there is
 for the old folks too frightened to walk to the shops,
 for men and women whose jobs
 have gone – and with them their dignity.
 I read, long ago, that only a
 suffering Christ makes sense.
 Today the suffering in Christchurch
 is around me and in me
 and a triumphant risen Christ is offensive,
 for Christchurch is an eternal Good Friday
 and even Jesus broke down on the cross.
 We are not ready for hope – not yet-
 and some of us are not sure that we
 will recognise it when it comes.

 Ruth Burgess

 Prayer

 For all that is broken
 God in your mercy
 Hear our prayer

                                            STATION 11  
        JESUS PROMISES THE KINGDOM TO THE REPENTENT THIEF

Picture
Where are you now, God?
 
I was there when disaster showed a different way.
 
I was there when disaster revealed the way of compassion.
 
I was there when disaster revealed the way of courage.
I was revealed.
I am the Way.


 The darkness exists to serve the light.
Joy Cowley

Prayer

 For all those who can see the light
 and for all those who can only see the shadow.
 God in your mercy
 Hear our prayer.

    STATION 12    JESUS ENTRUSTS MARY AND JOHN TO EACH OTHER

Picture
Where are you now, God?
 I am in your arms.
 I am carrying you.


The Warmth of Love
May we take time to look around us at this
beautiful world
 and to see the touch of your hand.
 in friend and neighbour, in plant and
 tree, in sky and sea;
 And may we find the community that will
 refresh us with the warmth of your love
 and then ...
 restored to life may we reach out to others
with that same love.

 Garth Hewitt


Prayer

 For all those who are entrusted with the care of
 the orphaned, the widowed, the grieving, the traumatised
 God in your mercy
 Hear our prayer

                STATION 13        JESUS DIES ON THE CROSS

Picture
Where are you now, God?
 I lie in a temporary morgue.
 I lie under rocks.
 I lie in the ruins of a building.
 See in me the face of God.

He tangi

 Ra te haeata
 Takiri ana
 Ki Tauwhara ra;
 Pae tauarai ki a koe
 E amo e aroha nei au
 Waiho ea mata,
 Kia mihi au –
 Kia roa te mihinga
Ka tuku tenei
 Ki te tai pouri
 Ki taku makau mate.

 Te Uira

 A  lament

 The first light of dawn
 Has touched the high ridge
 Of Tauwhara which blocks you
 From my love;
 Remain there, on the edge
 Of my sight, let me weep
 Long for you, grieve
 Until I go down
 To the dark shore
 Where you wait,
 My love.

 
Te Uira, translated by Richard Taylor

Prayer 

  For all those who have died in the earthquake.
 For all those who love them and will miss them.
 God in your mercy
 Hear our prayer

                STATION 14            JESUS IS LAID IN THE TOMB

Picture
Where are you now, God?
 
I am lying there, in the dark.
 
I am lying there in the silence.
 Your tears anoint me.
 
Your prayers rise up as incense and set me free.
 
I am ready to walk into the light.

 Crossing XVII

Pick up this life of mine from the dust.
 Keep it under your eyes,
 in the palm of your right hand.
Hold it up to the light,
 hide it under the shadow of death;
 Keep it in the casket of the night with your stars,
 and then in the morning
 let it find itself among flowers that blossom in worship.

Rabindranth Tagore

 Prayer 

For all those who are waiting
 For all those who are longing for the light
 God in your mercy
 Hear our prayer

                                                POSTLUDE

Picture

 Starting Over – Fighting Back

And so we must begin to live again,
We of damaged bodies
And assaulted minds.
Starting from scratch with the rubble of our lives
And picking up the dust
Of dreams once dreamt.

And we stand there, naked in our vulnerability,
Proud of starting over, fighting  back,
But full of weak humility
At the awesomeness of the task.

We, without a future,
Safe, defined, delivered
Now salute you God.
Knowing that nothing is safe,
Secure, inviolable here.
Except you,
And even that eludes our minds at times.
And we hate you
As we love you,
And our anger is as strong
As our pain,
Our grief is deep as oceans,
And our need as great as mountains.

So, as we take our first steps forward into the
abyss of the future,
We would pray for
Courage to go places for the first time
And just be there.
Courage to become what we have
Not  been before
And accept it,
 And bravery to look deep
Within our souls to find new ways.

We did not want it easy God,
But we did not contemplate
That it would be quite this hard,
This long, this lonely.
So, if we are to be turned inside out,
And upside down,
With even our pockets shaken,
Just to check what’s rattling
And left behind,
We pray that you will keep faith with  us,
And we with you,
Holding hands as we weep,
Giving strength to continue,
And showing beacons
Along the way
To becoming new.

We are not fighting you God,
Even if it feels like it,
But we need your help and  company,
As we struggle on.
Fighting back
And starting over.

Anna McKenzie 


Prayer

And, now, may each of you
Go from this place with God  at your right hand,
Go from this place with the  Christ of courage,
Go with Spirit, enough for the rest of your life.




POSTSCRIPT ...
The Christchurch Stations of the Cross were first published in the Marist Messenger in April, 2011.
Later that year,
The Christchurch Stations of the Cross were awarded
'Best Devotional Article Applying Faith to Life'
by the Australasian Catholic Press Association.
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.