Storm

Description

Story on the back:

The Canadian Badlands Passion Play, Drumheller, Alberta CANADA

“And darkness came over the whole land…” (Luke 23:44)
The July 6, 2008 performance began on a hot, sunny Sunday afternoon. During the second Act, about the time Judas entered the Lord’s supper scene, a cold wind blew through the amphitheatre. I remember looking at choir members around me with a shiver. Later in the scene, a huge sand and dust twister entered stage right from behind the Jerusalem wall and spun across centre stage. As Jesus prayed in the garden, and was arrested and tried before Pilate and Herod, heavy, strange-looking clouds rolled over us, and occasional gusts of wind continued to blow up dust. There was an edgy excitement in the air.
By the time Christ was crucified, the sky had grown dark, the thunder was rumbling, and the dust particles in the air created an ethereal, ominous ambiance. I can’t describe what it was like to be singing “Crucifixus” and “Hear the Voice of Mary Weeping” while the heavens stirred up the earth to join us in remembering and mourning Christ’s pain and death.
As the Roman soldiers carried Jesus to the tomb, the wind again stirred up dust from the earth as they put His body inside, and they rolled the stone to seal Him in. At the edge of a dark and volatile sky, there was a hint of light over the burial site, and I took a few photos during a break in the choir music. The next day, Harold Handley, who played the disciple Peter, saw the picture on my computer and asked to have a print made. With no editing at all, people said the print looked like a painting. This image was truly a gift from God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness” (2 Corinthians 4:6).

For information on the play see www.canadianpassionplay.com