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.
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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.