We are proud to participate in this unique exhibition across our city, from Ash Wednesday to Easter Monday.
For Christians, the Stations of the Cross represent 14 moments in Jesus’ journey through Jerusalem, from condemnation to crucifixion and burial. Across the chasm of two thousand years, this tortured path resonates with current events for people of many faiths and cultures. In particular, it calls to mind the hazardous journeys of refugees from today’s Middle East.
This exhibition invites people of all backgrounds to experience London as a ‘new Jerusalem.’ It tells the story of the Passion in fresh ways, using existing masterpieces and new commissions by Jewish, Christian, and Muslim artists. Take this Journey through London and let the Stations provoke your passions.
The exhibition is curated by Dr. Aaron Rosen and artist Terry Duffy. It is supported by King’s College London, Cambridge Inter-faith Programme, Coexist House, and Art & Sacred Places.
Here in our Chapel at Methodist Central Hall, Westminster:
Station 3. Jesus falls the first time
We are delighted to be hosting James Balmforth’s Intersection Point, 2015
The minimalist aesthetic of Balmforth sculpture is deceptively simple. On the one hand, the title seems to demystify the crucifix, rendering it a simple product of geometry: the Intersection Point between two lines. And yet, especially here, in the Chapel of Methodist Central Hall, this cross is not just any cross. Turned to an ‘X,’ it evokes the cross shouldered by Jesus in countless works of art, including the carvings of Eric Gill (Station 4).
These pristine white construction beams, crudely singed at the ends, suggest a further meaning. They connote both the stumbling of Christ and the collapse of a building. Combing through the wreckage of Coventry Cathedral after the Blitz, and the World Trade Centre after 9-11, survivors looked desperately for symbols of hope. In the simplest of forms—two intersecting pieces of wood or metal— they found the Cross, and with it a promise of redemption.
To learn more about this and other Stations—including an interactive map, podcasts, and events—download the app Alight, or visit the website: www.coexisthouse.org.uk/stations2016.
On Monday, 22nd February we took part in a ‘Twitter Trail’ with the other 13 venues across London, including St. Paul’s Cathedral, Westminster Cathedral and the National Gallery.
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