“The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.

He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,

to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners.”

(Isaiah 61:1)

Moments after the very beginning, we locked ourselves away. We were not fooled or tricked, no one pushed us in and slammed the door behind us, nor were we forced. By our own accord we entered the cell, locked the bars and threw the keys far beyond our own reach. In search of what we thought was freedom, we entered captivity.

Today we perpetuate this very trend. In a succession of locked doors and missing keys, we put ourselves away, distancing ourselves from help and wholeness. Another day, another lock. And as the oxygen depletes so does our desire to live. Hope and life slip away together as we realize that under our own strength there is no possibility of escape.

Enter Jesus with a ring of keys that would make a janitor jealous.

Branching out in our place, our captivity becomes his, and his freedom becomes ours.

“The cross says ‘the pain stops here.’  The way of the cross is a way of absorbing pain, not passing it on.” (Parker Palmer)

Note to Curator: This is a two part Holy Week installation. On Good Friday the jars are filled with the tree (one branch cut and placed inside the jars). On Resurrection Sunday, the jars are empty.

Also, grape jelly and bread are used as the elements.

(The complete liturgy for this experience is available for free by emailing joe@thestory.ca)

“The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.” (Matthew 13:24-26)

Weeds that are nearly indistinguishable from the wheat is the conundrum that Jesus unpacks.

The danger: Uprooting the good by mistaking it for evil.

The problem: The practice of not pulling out weeds until harvest time is no way to run a farm.

The paradox: If the good seeds represent God’s kingdom and his loyal subjects, and if the weeds symbolize evil and agents of evil what does it mean that Jesus uses as his example two plants that are nearly identical at first sight?

Note to the Curator: Acquire a (preferably) dried out tree stump. With wood carving/cutting/chipping tools, hollow out bowls to house the communion elements.

“Dreams, by definition, are supposed to be unique and imaginative. Yet the bulk of the population is dreaming the same dream. It’s a dream of wealth, power, fame, plenty of sex and exciting recreational opportunities. What does it mean when a whole culture dreams the same dreams?” (Kalle Lasen)

In Matthew 5:38-41, Jesus inspires his listeners to face into the empire (anti-kingdom) that they find themselves in and to dream up new ways to overcome evil with good.

Turn

By turning the cheek, the ‘inferior’ is saying: “I’m a human being just like you. I refuse to be humiliated any longer. I am your equal. I am a child of God. I won’t take it anymore.” The system then loses its power to make people submit. And when large numbers begin behaving this way (Jesus was addressing a crowd), you have a social revolution on your hands.

Strip

Jesus is not advising people to add to their disadvantage by renouncing justice altogether, he is telling impoverished debtors who have nothing left but the clothes on their backs, to use the system against itself. In addition, this unmasking is not is not simply punitive, since it offers the creditor a chance to see (perhaps for the first time in his life) what his practices cause, and to repent.

Walk

Here the oppressed can recover the initiative and assert their human dignity in a situation that cannot for the time being be changed. Carrying the pack longer than allowed creates a host of problems for the empire.

Die

In one final, swooping strike, Jesus uses the cross (a tool used to intimidate and dominate) against itself. In his exemplary death, he turns the system of the empire on its head and ushers in the ultimate reversal of power.

“…not only is the kingdom of God the overarching theme of Jesus’ prophetic declaration of judgment against Roman rulers and their clients in Jerusalem, but that judgmental face of the kingdom had a constructive counterpart of deliverance, empowerment, and renewal for the people.” (Richard Horsley)

“What Jesus was to Israel, the church must now be for the world. Everything we discover about what Jesus did and said within the Judaism of his day must be thought through in terms of what it would look like for the church to do and be this for the world. If we are to shape our world, and perhaps even to implement the redemption of our world, this is how it is to be done.”

(NT Wright)

Note to Curator: You’ll need to fashion a bleeding crown out of barbed wire, makeshift wire baskets and ice dyed red. The white cloth below will become a ‘bloody mess’ as the service plays out. To enhance the experience, invite participants to press their thumbs against a red ink pad, then onto the white cloth, thus symbolizing a giving up of their identity and a taking up of Christ’s as they partake in the elements.

Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.” (John 6:35)

We are what we eat. See “Inside America’s Refrigerators”.[http://www.divinecaroline.com/22342/86400-eat–america-s-refrigerators#1]

What we fill our fridges with we end up eating and end up becoming.

The same rings true with faith: What we bring (our approach, pre-dispositions and opinions) is what we inevitably end up eating and becoming (including belief and how we process our spiritual journey which ultimately influences our actions).

If there ever was a time to binge on the Bread of Life, it’s now.

It’s all you can eat, and the tab’s has already been looked after.

“Christians feed on Scripture. Holy Scripture nurtures the holy community as food nurtures the human body. Christians don’t simply learn or study or use Scripture, we assimilate it, take it into our lives in such a way that it gets metabolized into acts of love, cups of cold water, missions into all the world, healing and evangelism and justice in Jesus’ name, hands raised in adoration to the father, feet washed in the company of the son.” (Eugene Peterson)

Note to the Curator: You could probably get creative with this one if you had access to an operational stove.

“Where joy is absent, so is the Kingdom.” (Klyne Snodgrass)

Based on Jesus’ Party Parables, this Eucharistic experience captures the sweet, sweet taste of salvation.

We are reminded of a humanity once misplaced, but then found. A people with no merit other than being lost. A strained tension between our true and false selves.

We are taken aback by a God ostentatiously determined to find and hell bent on restoring. A God who cemented forgiveness before a word could or can be muttered.

There is good reason to throw a party, so grab a handful if need be. Lick your fingers. Savour the taste.

Note to the Curator: Supplies needed include cups, wine, and a succulent cake.

Seed and soil conspire as God’s Kingdom slips below the surface of planet earth.

A work already in progress, humanity is invited to participate in the redemption of all things. In defiance of our instant society and in rhythm with the seasons, the Kingdom takes root in us and through us.

The sower can do nothing other than trust the seed. And for the record, patience, confidence and submission make for good soil.

Allow the weight of your folly to be carried by the tree.

Uproot the cup.

Join the renewal.

The result will be unstoppable.

“…But then comes one of the most startling statements in all of Scripture, Jesus says, the earth (and all of it mind you, good bad or indifferent) bears fruit of itself, automatically. Just put the kingdom into the world, he says in effect, put it into any kind of world — not only into a world of hotshot responders or spiritual pros, but into a world of sinners, deadbeats, and assorted other poor excuses for humanity (which interestingly enough, is the only world available anyway) — and it will come up a perfect kingdom all by itself.” (Robert Capon)

He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.” (Mark 4:26-29)

Note to the Curator: Supplies needed include a potted dead tree (or tree in hibernation), clothes pegs, cue cards, wine and bread.

“Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.

It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.” (Luke 23:32-46)

Broken for our union, Jesus lays flat on an execution table made up of two  planks of wood. Once secured to the table by both metal and sin, the table is propped up vertically.

The intention was to put Jesus on brutal display as a nationalist revolutionary. The only revolution he was after, however, was a revolution of the human heart.

“The Gospel is bad news before it is good news. It is the news that man is a sinner, that he is evil in the imagination of his heart. That is the tragedy. But it is also the news that he is loved anyway, cherished, forgiven, bleeding to be sure, but also bled for.” (Fredrick Buechner)

Jesus brings himself to the Execution Table.

In the company of common thieves he bleeds His last.

In His death, He invites us to join Him.

“The way of the [Christian] is not the way of upward mobility in which our world has invested so much but the way of downward mobility ending at the cross.  This might sound morbid and masochistic, but for those who have heard the voice of the first love and said yes to it, the downward-moving way of Jesus is the way to the joy and the peace of God, a joy and peace that is not of this world.” (Henri Nouwen)

Note to the Curator: The bread is nailed directly to the table.

“After this, Jesus appeared again to the disciples, this time at the Tiberias Sea. This is how it happened: Simon Peter, Thomas, Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the brothers Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. Simon Peter announced, “I’m going fishing…” (John 21:1-3)

After just meeting the resurrected Christ and having him walk through walls, the disciples go back to their old routines. One would think that their big follow up would be some sort of fantastic mission or escapade, instead, they slink back into their old rhythms.

The fish represent violent rhythms – rhythms that distract and ultimately damage. Living at such tempos lead us to forget who we are, Whose we are, and what we’re about.

“There is a pervasive form of contemporary violence… activism and overwork. The rush and pressure of modern life are a form, perhaps the most common form, of its innate violence. To allow oneself to be carried away by a multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender to too many demands, to commit oneself to too many projects, to want to help everyone in everything, is to succumb to its violence.” (Thomas Merton)

Note to Curator: The communion elements are hung behind the bags of fish. The fish are cut down to expose the bread and wine, which are later cut down and served.

No fish were harmed during this installation.

BACKSTAGE

C.S. Lewis once said that what the church needs is not better arguments, but better metaphors.

Tabled.ca is a collection of creative communion installations created with the hope of capturing the imagination and exploring the beauty and gravity of the Eucharist. Birthed within community, this group will be added to as creativity and purpose allows.

Special thanks to Armstrong, Colquhoun and Shantz for their handiwork and patience.

May we be accused of being gluttons and drunkards, and friends of tax-collectors and sinners.

MORE

Tabled.ca is part of a growing family of creative projects. Other relatives include:

*theStory: a tabled church in Sarnia, Ontario

*one size fits all?: a documentary film on new and evolving forms of church in canada

*thinkerlabs.ca: an open-source creative resource

*joemanafo on twitter

AGAIN

All installations can be reproduced free of charge as outlined in the creative commons agreement.

If you’d like book a creative communion installation or experience for your church or gallery, contact joe manafo at joe@thestory.ca

FRIENDS

Kore: engaging with culture, exploring new ideas, creatively equipping the church

Churchy Design: images, links, creative sparks

Religious Imagery: traces and bizarre uses of christian symbolism in art, media &  pop culture

“The wickedness of the church can be one thing and one thing only: Turning the Good News of Jesus into the bad news of religion. Christianity is not a religion; it is the announcement , in the death and resurrection of Jesus, of the end of religion – of the end of any and all requirements for the salvation of the world. And therefore when the church preaches anything but faith alone in Jesus it is an unfaithful church and deserves only to be put with the rest of world’s hypocrites who think they can be saved by passing tests. It is a church that has stopped being funny and happy in the freedom of faith and has gone dead in its own earnestness.” (Robert Capon)

Christianity is not a religion, but an announcement. Built into its ethos is a sense of responsibility and movement.

At its core, it is eschatological in nature with an awareness of living between the times. A realization that the kingdom has come right in the midst of the old age but has not yet reached its consummation.

It’s about being faithful, not merely believing certain ideas.

It can’t be contained.

It’s a ‘to go’ affair. (Matthew 24:45-51)

Note to Curator: This one’s easy – Lunch bags, juice boxes, crackers. Invite the participants to take a bag with them and partake in the Eucharist at home, work, school…or wherever.