Easter Sunday!!!

Happy Easter, friends! I don't think any poem can begin to do justice to the power of the resurrection. But I wanted to share this one that I wrote recently. HE IS RISEN INDEED!

Alive

He calls me by my name. I didn't know

His face at first. I assumed He was a

simple laborer, attempting to grow

hyssop and cumin from minuscule gray

seeds, in a place where, ironically, death

rules. But this is no gardener. This is

the One who I've devoted every breath

to follow, yet now He stands transformed. Alive.

And I, too, feel a living joy wash through

my veins. Although I cannot describe

the emotion, I know that something new

begins today. Ivory blooms glisten

in the fields. And at His command, I dance

over the hills, singing to all who will listen.

---

John 20:1-18 (The Message)

1-2 Early in the morning on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone was moved away from the entrance. She ran at once to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, gasping for breath. “They took the Master from the tomb. We don’t know where they’ve put him.”

3-10 Peter and the other disciple left immediately for the tomb. They ran, neck and neck. The other disciple got to the tomb first, outrunning Peter. Stooping to look in, he saw the pieces of linen cloth lying there, but he didn’t go in. Simon Peter arrived after him, entered the tomb, observed the linen cloths lying there, and the kerchief used to cover his head not lying with the linen cloths but separate, neatly folded by itself. Then the other disciple, the one who had gotten there first, went into the tomb, took one look at the evidence, and believed. No one yet knew from the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead. The disciples then went back home.

11-13 But Mary stood outside the tomb weeping. As she wept, she knelt to look into the tomb and saw two angels sitting there, dressed in white, one at the head, the other at the foot of where Jesus’ body had been laid. They said to her, “Woman, why do you weep?”

13-14 “They took my Master,” she said, “and I don’t know where they put him.” After she said this, she turned away and saw Jesus standing there. But she didn’t recognize him.

15 Jesus spoke to her, “Woman, why do you weep? Who are you looking for?”

She, thinking that he was the gardener, said, “Sir, if you took him, tell me where you put him so I can care for him.”

16 Jesus said, “Mary.”

Turning to face him, she said in Hebrew, “Rabboni!” meaning “Teacher!”

17 Jesus said, “Don’t cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I ascend to my Father and your Father, my God and your God.’”

18 Mary Magdalene went, telling the news to the disciples: “I saw the Master!” And she told them everything he said to her.

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(Also...I want to apologize for any potential Biblical inaccuracies in this poem. My hope behind it was to write a reflection on the Easter story, and try my best to convey a glimpse of the indescribable joy that must have been felt on that day. Even though, as I mentioned before, I recognize the limitations of my own writing, I pray that Holy Spirit will use this to encourage you!)