During worship on Friday, the pastor mentioned a term that I had never heard: lenticular printing. Many may be familiar with this kind of print, where as you move, the picture seems to change. The picture included here holds an example, displaying just one picture from three different viewpoints.
The pastor talked about the cross as a lenticular image. The more I think about the idea, the more I like it, especially in view of the weekend just passed, which included Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter.
When I was at a silent retreat at February, the only image of the cross, the dominate image, was that of the crucifixion. In the worship space and the chapel, you faced the cross with the crucified Jesus. Behind us in the worship space and down both sides of one of the residence hallways, and in at least three different places and mediums outside on the retreat grounds, were the 14 stations of the cross, images that begin with Pilate condemning Jesus to die and end with Jesus being placed in the tomb. Experiencing the story of the crucifixion can be emotional. It's a story of betrayal, denial, and abandonment by friends, being judged and condemned to die by those in power, a slow and excruciating death, filled with feelings of guilt, horror, and grief. It's a powerful and complex story and usually, people can find their own experience somewhere in the story.
Sometimes people get stuck on this part of the story. They forget the stories of his ministry and sometimes even forget his victory over the grave. But there are also those who skip from Good Friday to Easter, and sometimes even skip Good Friday, preferring the feel good story of the resurrection and the disciples' stories of meeting the risen Christ. As with all opposites, there is an in-between. From young to old, is a lot of growing. From black to white, there are many shades of grey. From top to bottom, there is a whole space in between. From north to south, there is a whole lot of east and west. And from Good Friday to Easter, there is Holy Saturday, a time when the disciples hid from the authorities, when Jesus' loved ones, including his mother, grieved his death, when people ceased their comings and goings to honour the Sabbath, a time when Jesus' body lay dead in a tomb.
It's the time where most of us live our lives. Most of us don't live in the highs and lows, the valleys and the mountain peaks. We live in between. Thank God. I would not want to live my life in a constant state of tragedy or non-stop celebrations. Most of us do our living here, in the space between, in transition, or, what I like to call, the journey. From birth to death, whether we are on this earth for a few minutes, a few years, or decades, it's the space in between where we experience this journey of life. The image of the lenticular cross reminds me that that there is hope during times of suffering, that there is joy in times of triumph and redemption, and that there is love through it all. May it be so. Amen.
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