STATIONS OF THE COSMIC CHRIST

Christ: Western Christianity has been practicing for centuries the devotion of the “Stations of the Cross,” which can be found in just about any Roman Catholic or Anglican Church in existence. The Stations of the Cross present a spiritual practice that invites one into the last hours of Jesus’ life, beginning with his trial before Pontius Pilate and ending with his crucifixion and burial.

It is a powerful practice to enter into and thereby relive the final twenty hours of Jesus’ life on Earth. There have also been contemporary adaptations of this practice: for example, among the suffering peasants of Latin America struggling for their rights; or applied to the demise of the Earth who today is struggling for her survival.

But the practice of the Stations of the Cross by no means represents a full or accurate remembrance of the richness of the Christ story and the…experience and teachings of Jesus, of the release of Christ energy that he accomplished, and even of the richer meaning of the crucifixion. It fails therefore to address the very question of why he was put to death.

Other pivotal events in the life of Jesus and the response and happenings of his earliest followers…deserve our attention and devotion and practice as well or more than just the walk of carrying his cross. These are moments of breakthrough of the Cosmic Christ….”  (from The Stations of the Cosmic Christ, pp. 18-19).

Ecology is Functional Cosmology

A Cosmic Christ is an Eco-Christ for as Thomas Berry teaches, “ecology is functional cosmology.”  Albert Einstein says that the next era of humanity must be marked by a “cosmic religion” grounded in conscience.  The practice of the Stations of the Cosmic Christ allows us to move into that new era.  They are also ecumenical since the Buddha Nature teaching in Buddhism the “image of God” in all beings in Judaism the “primordial man” in Hinduism and the “sparks of the soul” in Sufism all point to that same archetype of the divine in all things.

Stations 1 and 2:

“In The Beginning Was The Word…Fireball…Flaring Forth…Big Bang…Void…”

“I Am The Light Of The World.”

Stations 3 and 4:

Nativity

Baptism

Stations 5 and 6:

“I Am The Living Bread (The Bread Of Life).”

The Transfiguration

Stations 7 and 8:

“I Am The Vine.”

“Do It To The Least And You Do It To Me.” (Mt. 25)

Stations 9 and 10:

“I Am The Good Shepherd.”

“I Am The Door, The Gate, The Way.”

Stations 11 and 12:

“I Am The Way, The Truth, And The Life.”

The Crucifixion

Stations 13 and 14:

The Resurrection

“I Am The Resurrection And The Life.”

Stations 15 and 16:

Ascension

Pentecost