April 6, 2004
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Please forgive, again, the lack of updates. For all of you college xanganites, you can all appreciate the fact that this time of the year, of all times, is the most hectic of all.
Lately I’ve been up to school and church, as usual. Church, however, was lately AWESOME. This time of year, next to Christmas is my favorite. There are so many neat things going on and this year I was given the great honor of being Jesus Christ in a Still-Life Stations of the Cross. The Stations of the Cross are a series of usually wall-hangings that depict around 15 key points in the Passion of Jesus Christ including the Last Supper, The Agony in the Garden, Jesus Falls for the First Time, etc. In Still-Life Stations, I and a group of students dressed up in costume and re-enacted the stations upon the altar before the congregation. We didn’t speak or move, we just stood still while a narrator recited a prayerful mediation for each station and singers performed their art. It was incredible to say the least. I’ve been doing morning workouts for an hour every morning during the work week since January in preparation for this; trimming my formerly chubby self into a trim, well-cut body I’m actually pretty darned proud of. Also, I knew that the task of playing the part of Christ would be physically taxing in and of itself.
There was a large wooden cross I had to carry during all but 3-5 of the stations. It wasn’t terribly heavy at first, but as the stations went on and I was to bend lower and lower to appear tired, holding the large cross upon my back striking an exhausted-looking mid-stride pose was just agonizing. Also, in the crucifixion scene, I had to balance upon one foot with my only support being from a nail between my fingers on my outstretched arms. It was intense, each and every station. Not only was it hard to freeze for five or six minutes at a time with all that weight, but the emotional energy just drains the life out of you. Would I do it again? Oh yes. In fact, I’m going to try and do it next year as well if I can.
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Comments (21)
I wish I could see it!
sounds like a very cool and emotional way to portray the message of the crucifixion.
Just to clarify, the quote I used might sum up more the belief of Lutheran’s, not all Christians, but that’s exactly what Trachte said, so I quoted him that way. I felt The Passion was powerful, but to some extents way too drawn out. I know the crucifixion was violent well before they put him on the cross and needed to be portrayed that way for those who didn’t know, but did Mel Gibson really need fifteen minutes of brutal beating at the hands of the Roman soldiers? To me, five to seven, tops would have given the just ordeal of what he went through and been more powerful. Also, was it needed for thirty minutes on the walk to Golgatha, all of which was very repetitive? Don’t get me wrong, the movie’s powerful and emotional, but couldn’t Mel have done a little better editing and still got his message across?
Don’t get me wrong, I winced, I nearly broke down sobbing, but after it was over, I could just recall these things in the movie he could have corrected to make the movie that much more powerful and still cover it all.
Like you said, this is just my own opinion on the movie. It was powerful and made me look at the portions in church services much differently, but I so wanted to see the good news at the end and was left with a vision of a man walking out of a tomb…
Sorry for the long comment… Have a great week, Jake, and a Happy Easter!
you are so cool, sir Jakey…
Mark
hey jakey! i havent talked to you in while……i havent seen u in ages!! prom will be awesome b/c i will get to see you!! yay!! now im excited i totally forgot about you goin!!! it’ll be fun!! cant wait to see u!!!!
LOVE YA
Michelle
Just wait until this summer. We will have lots of fun (and food) with Auntie Shelia and Uncle Dick. And since you are moving to UNI, I assume you will be around to celebrate the winter holidays as well, schedule permitting.
Are you switching to UNI for sure? I take it from Lady_Mother’s comment above that you are at least still thinking about it. If so, we’d only be like twenty miles apart from one another, as that’s the distance between Waverly/Wartburg and Cedar Falls/UNI. lol. You’d be the only person I know over at UNI, though, at least that I’m for sure of. You’d one up me as there are a few more Tipton grads here at Wartburg.
There’s a quiz for you: Name three of the Tipton grads currently attending Wartburg? lol. Props to you if you can.
And even if you don’t decide to attend school at UNI, we can still communicate/see each other over breaks like we do now… Granted, this summer I’m sort of busy with working up here, at least i’ll be here.
What are your plans this summer, anyway? I might try to schedule a movie day or something with you and Billy when I come down for a week, and I could essentially have visitors stay over/hang out some weekend this summer, so let me know. I’m looking at the first week of August as the week I take my vacation, so I might plan something there. I’ll shoot you an e-mail sometime after finals week here and I get dates solidified in my schedule. Talk at ya later. Have a great day!
No, no, no. That wasn’t meant to be a barb. It was a promise! I plan on doing alot of fun stuff this year that is relatively cheap but get us outside. ie Strawberry Festival in Farmington, Walcott Day in, well, Walcott, city wide garage sales in Keosauqua (ok, that one’s for me). I’m looking forward to this summer!
sup, i really like the layout of your site, anyways, i’m out
YOU are a nut! But a loveable one.
Hey, babe, are you going to update your site anytime soon. I already updated mine.
I wish you were here for her also. She does miss you terribly. I will give her a hug from me and another from you tonight while we have the steak, mashed potatos and corn for dinner. Oh, God, that just made me hungry!
I think you would make a good jesus, too bad you aren’t as powerful!
I didn’t know you were familiar with German.
I don’t think you’ll have to worry about a modeling career for Chris. Beautiful as she is, she’s also very smart and has greater dreams then that.
Well, what to tell about the class… I might post our syllabus online with my next post, but for the most part we discuss the seven books we have to read and watch movies that are sci-fi/fantasy based and what their impact has been on the community. It’s a fun class, but I wasn’t able to think of any Star Wars novels to add to the syllabus before the class started. Now, I think I, Jedi by Michael A. Stackpole or Star Wars: The New Jedi Order: Traitor by Matthew Stover could’ve been ones to read. oh well. I’ll probably post before Sunday about the class in more detail, as there are at least two people interested in knowing more about it, so look forward to that. Have a great week!
Happy (belated) Annaversery to you as well my love! Sorry i was not online last night. I was terribly tired, and had a 3 hour AP exam today. Blah! and i have another one next week!
Good night ya’ll
(did you know that giant flying foxes are a type of bat that live in Indonesia have wingspans of nearly six feet?)
yeah, i’ve heard garbage’s bond song… its sooo good.
have a superduper day.
Well, I hope you like walking tacos and baked potatoes with all the trimmings.
Hey, just writing to let you know I got a free copy of Star Wars: Survivor’s Quest, the newest Timothy Zahn novel, in class today as a bonus for showing up early. Apparently, our professor knows someone who is into science-fiction novels/part of a book club who recieves them monthly and one of the ones she was trying to give away was Survivor’s Quest. I jumped at the chance to own it for myself at no cost… Probably wont read it for a while, but what the hey, it’s still a free Star Wars novel. What more can you ask for from a science-fiction/fantasy class? Looking back, I was the only one to jump for that book. lol. What does that say about me? Any chance we’ll see one more update on your xanga site before you head home? lol… sorry about the worthless, erratic post, but that made my day, and since you weren’t online, i thought I’d post it here… Have a great week!
test
Update damn you! UPDATE!!!!!!!!