For God So Loved The World

This was recorded live at a Good Friday service and there are some child noises in the background.

Read by Cathy Bateman.

audio
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Wood splintered

agony shrieked

blood released

pulsing out,

hammering of metal

bones jerked

sinews, muscles

twisted and stretched.

Long hours ……

minute…. by…. minute

second…. by ….second

breath…. by…. breath,

every heave of the rib cage

a struggle.

Heat

thirst,

“ I am thirsty”

Bitter vinegar !

Crowds shouting

soldiers quarrelling.

Drifting in… and out…. of consciousness.

Voices below….hazy.

Women weeping.

A distant city,

A hurting world,

A fallen humanity.

“Father forgive them.”
Darkness,

So much darkness.

Heaviness inside

all around.

Staring into the abyss

a never ending tunnel of despair.

Evil, echoing

filling thoughts with nightmare images :

wars, disease, holocaust

anger, bitterness, pride,

lust, gluttony,

selfishness,

indifference.

“Where are you God ?

Have you left me ?”

Suffering concentrated on him,

Jesus.

Lungs heave last

sighing breath out.

“It is finished,

Receive my spirit”

Colour and life

drain away,

threa-dy heart- beat stops.

Head bows

stillness

corpse.

For God so loved the world

that he gave his only son.

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 © Alison Stedman 2016

from Raised From Dust, published by Onwards and Upwards