The Word in the Wings
The Word in the Wings > What Is This Road We Walk?
What Is This Road We Walk?
By: Audrey Hammitt
Over the course of a given week, we can experience a wide range of emotions, challenges, joys, and questions. Our Friday may look entirely different than our Monday, even in terms of the problems we are working through or our energy levels. With this in mind, one of the most multifaceted and significant weeks in history is Holy Week—the week from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday. This Easter season, Glorify Dance Theatre will share selections from our Holy Week ballet, called Walk This Road. I am excited to dance this ballet again this year, and we are grateful for the opportunity to share with you here on Word in the Wings some of the background and themes within it, starting with the inspiration for the title.
The road alluded to in the title is the route Jesus walked with his cross to the hill where He hung on the cross. This route in Jerusalem was named “The Way of Sorrow”/ “The Sorrowful Way,” or Via Dolorosa in Latin. See images of the present-day Via Dolorosa (https://israelmyglory.org/article/via-dolorosa/)
There are currently 14 stations along the way for people to reflect on Jesus’ suffering and sacrifice, beginning where he was condemned by Pontius Pilate (Read John’s account in John 18:22-19:22) all the way to where it is believed he was laid in the tomb (Read Matthew’s account in Matthew 27:57-66) (https://www.touristisrael.com/via-dolorosa/28670/).
Our Director, Melody, was first inspired to create the ballet of Walk This Road while choreographing to the song, “Via Dolorosa” sung by Lea Salonga. The chorus rings out this truth:
“Down the Via Dolorosa called the way of suffering
Like a lamb came the Messiah, Christ the King
But He chose to walk that road out of
His love for you and me
Down the Via Dolorosa, all the way to Calvary” (emphasis added)
While the song of “Via Dolorosa” shares Jesus’ journey to His crucifixion in the style of a retrospective story, such as with the use of the word, “that,” to point to the road He walked, I believe GDT’s ballet is an avenue for stepping into the story itself, whether as a dancer or audience member. With the title’s use of the word, “this,” to describe the road, it is as if the road is under our feet, rather than something to ponder at a distance.
"I contemplate the immense pain and compassion jesus poured out for us on the cross."
The entire ballet of Walk This Road is an invitation to put yourselves in the shoes (likely sandals) of the characters within the Easter story, from the disciples, to the expectant crowds, to the women proclaiming Jesus’ resurrection. As I dance the solo to “Via Dolorosa,” representing Good Friday in the ballet’s thematic timeline, I contemplate the immense pain and compassion Jesus poured out for us on the cross. I believe the duration and technical challenges of this piece artistically embody a tiny fraction of the physical and emotional turmoil Jesus walked through on the Via Dolorosa 2,000 years ago. While my own suffering, loss, and heartbreak could never compare to Jesus’, this piece is an embodiment of sharing in Christ’s sufferings. As 1 Peter 4:12-13 puts it, “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that is taking place among you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you are sharing Christ’s sufferings, so that you may also be glad and shout for joy when his glory is revealed” (NRSVUE).
Meditating on the various days and events of Holy Week can inspire our day-to-day lives. Because our Hope is alive and Jesus made the way to have life with Him forever, we are walking through life with purpose and direction. Whether we experience rejection, betrayal, disappointment, or grief, we can find comfort in the arms of our Savior, who has experienced and overcome each of those broken pieces on this earth. Although this road following Jesus is not easy, it is absolutely worth walking. So, I invite you to enter into this Holy Week with your whole self–all your emotions, perceptions, losses, joys, and hopes. Hold onto our Rock of Salvation who will never let you go.
"This road is marked by god's embodied presence"
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:1-2)
This road leads through celebration and the fulfillment of prophecy and promises, yet it winds away from our limited expectations. This road is marked by God’s embodied presence, though Jesus walked where no one else was worthy to go, so that we all could follow Him. This road carries us through searing loss and the pain of desertion. This road seems to reach its end at the foot of a blood-stained cross. The echoes of footsteps and weeping ricochet off of the cold, hard, silent stone. But soon, a new stone is moved aside to pave a living highway. This road is a route of rejoicing without end. This way is narrow, yet sturdier than any wide road. This road continues on and on until its Foundation returns.
