The Way of the Cross 2010

On Good Friday evening (April 2 )2010 a procession will take to the streets of Salisbury. But it’s not an ordinary procession. It will feel at the beginning like  a fair or a carnival with bands playing, and people gathering – some in costume – in noisy and eager anticipation. They have come to witness and take part in the most dramatic and moving story ever told – the story of Jesus’ pilgrimage to his execution. It’s a story many of us know well;  it’s  a story of events that happened two thousand years ago; but it’s a story that has never lost its power and which always feels relevant whenever it is told again. Even those who have no formal Christian allegiance will want to take part in this re-enactment, because it is the story of our humanity, the story of our world today and how we face up to its problems and pains and grasp its possibilities.

The cast that will gather will be some hundred strong, there will be a choir drawn from local singers that will be about the same number and several bands will provide the music that becomes an integral part of telling the story. Fortunately there are no lines to be learnt as the story will be narrated by two story tellers at each of the eleven stopping points along the route, when Bishop Stephen Conway will help us to reflect on the events as they unfold and their significance for us today. The rehearsals will take place during Lent usually in the evenings and no previous acting experience is required as we hope to draw our cast from all sectors of our community, men and women, young and old. At the moment I am trying to get round all the schools and churches in Salisbury describing the event, drumming up support and recruiting cast and choir members.

Every body has  a part to play and indeed this is such a massive project that no one church or organisation can do it on its own. From the week of Christian Unity at the end of January onwards we will be meeting every Monday evening from 7pm to 9pm in the hall of Salisbury Methodist Church which will act as the nerve centre for the Way of the Cross. There over  a cup of tea we will discover what needs to be done and how we can help – what costumes have to be made, what props, what staging. We’ll need an army not just to act as Roman soldiers, but to deliver leaflets to every house in Salisbury, to make and transport staging, to marshall the crowds, to help with the rigging and de-rigging of lights and sound equipment. We will need the support of everyone in the churches in Salisbury and beyond the churches. We will be relying on the help of the police and the army and the local council and city centre management and the emergency services. For this procession is a great community vent that brings the whole community together whatever the weather conditions on the night.

The whole event on Good Friday will take about two and  a half hours to perform and will start in the High Street at 7pm and finish in the Cathedral around 9.30. We will find ourselves drawn together by the action as the darkness gathers. It’s an event that is still talked about by local people who remember the three times before that the Way of the Cross has been enacted in Salisbury (the last time in 2000). It’s an event you can support by helping to act or sing, or by making things for the production. We try to do this passion drama on a shoe string and we don’t make any charge for people to come to see it, so we need to raise  a lot of money in advance. There are three events coming up that you might care to support

A Christmas Cabaret by Simon McEnery (who is writing the music for WOC) and Liz Sweetnam in the Cathedral School 7pm on December 18

Auction of Promises on February 13 evening also in the Cathedral School

Sponsored Walk organised by the Cathedral Strollers on March 6

But we are also hoping that every church in Salisbury and lots of individuals and groups will come forward with ideas and projects to raise money for the Way of the Cross. I hope you will be able to support us in any way you can – not least with your prayers.

Jeremy Davies

Director of The Way of the Cross