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To get a copy of and permission to use "The Cry of the Whole Congregation," please
contact:
Walter Wangerin, Jr.
PO Box 1218
Valparaiso, IN 46384
Note: There is a modest fee for use.
The Cry of the Whole Congregation
By Walter Wangerin, Jr.
(Editor: The complete text of the work is printed in the first
section. In a removable center section is printed an adaptation
for use
as a Palm/Passion Sunday
Service involving the congregation. Blank space has been left in the
service folder format for the addition of hymns, choral music,
etc. The service
folder may be reproduced in sufficient quantity for the worshiping
congregation.)
The following drama takes place on the Sunday of the Passion.
Its purpose is to allow each worshiper suddenly to discover (pitifully,
intensely,
truly to
discover) his own rootedness in the drama which is Christ's, so that
the
Passion Story may no longer be mere story for observance, analysis, learning
or history;
so that it embrace the worshiper, name him, and become his own story
indeed: the shape of his being.
Therefore, all senses are enlisted: sight, sound, the rhythm
of both, music and motion, and the feel of the worshiper's
voice
in his throat
and his
emotion in
his breast. This drama has no audience. All are actors. None objective.
All subjective, or else the objects of the driving love of God.
-
The Narrator, responsible both for narrative
material and for the words of Jesus.
-
The Judas figure, who also
represents the unrepentant
criminal.
-
The Peter figure, who also represents
that criminal who repents and receives the promise
of the Lord; thus, forgiveness
follows sin.
-
The Pilate figure, who also
reads the Pharisee's lines during the entrance into
Jerusalem and
later represents
Joseph of Arimathea,
by
which device,
again, forgiveness is signaled.
The congregation as a whole shifts its identity so that it suffers
the common conversion of the Christian, which is often an extended,
dramatic
process:
that is, it begins with the ignorant praise of the multitude who knew
not what sort
of Messiah this Jesus was; next, it is the disciples, loving but failing
the Lord; next, it plays the neutral role of the watchers, the questioners
who
disturb Peter by their curiosity; next, it descends to the sinful shrieks
of manipulated
people crying, "Crucify." This is the congregation's deepest
level. Next it arises to play out an internal conflict: men and women
divide in their
speaking, and some lament the deed, praying forgiveness, while others
clearly participate in the deed. In "Crucify" they sinned;
in this passage, though they continue in sin, yet they are conscious
of it, too; and that
is the more painful state, to be sure, but it is also the better, being
the beginning
of confession. Next, with the repentant criminal, the congregation
recognizes the kingdom, power, glory of the Lord; and finally it is
the women, blessedly
separated from the event, yet witnesses unto it. Witnesses!
In the congregation's shifting role, the Lord's Prayer plays a constant
harmony to the Lord's passion, again and again thrusting the people (by
their connotative
memory of these significant words) into a worshipful attitude, making
real not only to the mouth and the mind but also tot he soul what is
taking
place today.
There is a dancer. She is female. She alone takes the chancel, in which
no furniture is but the rail and the altar. Nor does she enter the rail
and
approach the altar
until that moment when Jesus is crucified, and then her feet are rooted
and motion appears in her upper body only. At death her head and body
sag. At
burial she
crumples altogether. Before then she may use the passage of music, particularly
when the congregation sings, for sweeping steps and speed. But she will
also vary her presentation so that sometimes it closes in on mime; for
example,
during the words of the Last Supper, "This is my body," she will
seem to draw away from her very abdomen the invisible gift which then she
proffers; and at
the right moments she will turn her head through sad degrees to look at
Judas, to gaze upon the Peter figure.
The congregation, as it busies itself in reading and singing, shall catch
fleeting images of this dancer, and so shall she effect a metamorphical
communication.
Since they shall not see her whole and lineal, they will find themselves
unconsciously filling in the blanks; and what they give to her by imagination
shall be diverse
among them and mighty indeed.
Please note that she does not play Christ. Rather, she represents, as
best as possible, the moods, the changes he must have passed through.
She represents
both his suffering and his love.
There is a drummer. He teaches the congregation in its rhythm, beginning
very slowly and softly, but increasing speed and impact as the drama
unfolds, nipping
the people's heels like a sheepdog, driving them, making them restless
and thumping thunder to their cries of "Crucify! Crucify!" In
the last passages of the cross, just before Jesus dies, his beat becomes
the death
march, funereal
and impossibly sad. At death he falls silent altogether, and that silence
shall be heard. It shall be deep space and a dangerous thing. I promise
you: at that
moment not a member of the congregation shall move, for death will be very
present against their hearts.
There is a soloist, a male and tenor, if possible. He may be accompanied
on a piano for the first three verses of his piece. But the last verse
must be sung
a cappella, for it must be very lonely. For the first three verses, as
for the passages which the congregation sings, the drummer and the dancer
fall in rhythm.
There is a children's choir. They, together, with all other principals,
process during the first hymn and take positions ready to sing; their
still presence
there will draw the attention of the congregation and its anticipation.
But when their piece is finished, they will take their seats. They should
be versed in
reading the congregational role, for they will lend dear credulity to
the sound; moreover, the children ought never to be forgotten! They know
better
than we
how to hear a story and how to discover the value of it. The theology
shall escape them; but the drama shall catch them up. And isn't that
the better
thing anyway?
Isn't theology simply the drama's interpretation?
Finally, this drama, as written, is essentially Lucan. But the author
has sometimes been free with the text.
Oh, and this is not considered extracurricular. This is worship indeed.
****
excerpt from Worship for the Way of the Cross
1. The Entry into Jerusalem
(Four readers' stands are visible before the chancel and empty.
All is emptiness. A gentle flurry on the drum draws the congregation's
attention,
out of which
rhythm a slow two-note fanfare of the organ rises and lowers again.
Before it is silenced, while yet it holds last notes long, long,
the narrator
begins to
read from the back of the church. His voice is clear and declarative.)
NARRATOR: When Jesus drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount
that is called Olivet, he sent ahead two of his disciples, saying, "Go into the
village opposite. There you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever yet
sat; untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, "Why are
you untying it?' you shall say, 'The Lord has need of it.'"
(During the next portion of the narrator's reading, let the Peter and
the Judas figures walk forward to their stands.)
NARRATOR: So those who were sent went away and found it as he had told
them.
PEOPLE: AND AS THEY WERE UNTYING THE COLT, ITS OWNERS SAID TO THEM, "WHY
ARE YOU UNTYING THE COLT?"
PETER: And they said, "The Lord has need of it." And they
brought it to Jesus, and throwing their garments on the colt, they
set Jesus upon
it.
****
Copyright © 1984
Walter Wangerin, Jr. Used by permission. Adapted from Ragman and
Other Cries of Faith. Edited and distributed
by the Office
of
Church Relations
of Valparaiso University
.To get a copy of and permission to use "The Cry of the Whole
Congregation," please
contact:
Walter Wangerin, Jr.
c/o Kathy Sutherland
PO Box 1218
Valparaiso, IN 46384
Note: There is a modest fee for use.
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