Second Sunday of Easter

Acts 4:32-35; Psalm 118:2-4; 13-15, 22-24; John 5:1-4; John 20:19-31

spirit poured out
one mind
one heart
one feast
to share
we give thanks
for his everlasting
love
no burden
in command
for his command
is love
no longer
hoarders
all is shared
from divine abundance
all are fed
we give
and celebrate
in the spirit
of truth
that testifies
doubter’s no more
the wounds
of Christ
are healed

How do you experience the outpouring of spirit?
How can our world be fed?
How can the wounds of Christ be healed?

Friday in the Octave of Easter

Acts 4: 1-12; Psalm 118: 1-27; John 21: 1-14

again
and again
you come
to us
showing yourself
alive
in our lives
some mercy
some healing
some forgiveness
that speaks
of your Presence
that lives
beyond
your cross
beyond your death
a grace
that announces
aha!
yes!
this is the Christ
with us
God with us
Holy Spirit with us
this is the love
upon which we build
our lives

When and where do you experience his Presence?

Thursday in the Octave of Easter

Acts 3: 11-26; Psalm 8: 2-9; Luke 24: 35-48

“And he said
To them,
thus it is
written
that the Christ
would suffer
and rise
from the dead
on the third day
and that
repentance
for the forgiveness
of sins
would be preached
in his name
to all nations
beginning
from Jerusalem.
you are witnesses
of these things….”

Why are you troubled?

Why do you have questions in your hearts?

Why are you amazed?

Easter Sunday…Rejoice!

Acts 10:34, 37-43; Ps. 118;1-2, 16-17, 22-23; Col 3:1-4; Cor 5:6-8; John 20: 1-9

she seeks
the tomb
of her sorrow
only to find
stone rolled away
shroud fallen
she cries
“where have they
put my lord”
the empty tomb
answers all
for what God
has given
cannot be put
to death
Son of Man
doer of good
healer
frees the oppression
and rises
in flesh and spirit
above

compassionate judge
of the truth
in our hearts
we stretch
and reach
into the above
into mind of God
leaven
we receive
the bread of life
then Christ
his life appears
and we are with Him
in Glory

This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it!

How does the Risen Christ live in your life?

Holy Saturday

this day
of emptiness
confusion
and longing
his agony
turned
our own
no longer
to hear his voice
feel his touch
follow his step
where has love gone?

he was our Life
our hope
our light
our answer
and now
we are lost
who are we now?

my heart on fire
with grief
who will
console me
there are no words
for this
my sorrow

to see him
broken
bleeding
we cry
my God
why have you
forsaken me

this day
this Life
without Him
we cannot bear
day of poverty
when
we are nothing
we have nothing
filled
with the emptiness
for we have seen
all Love
and now
he is gone

wrapped in his tomb
embraced in darkness
we have died with him
no light
no thought
of life

Have you felt forsaken by God?

Good Friday

WHY THIS CROSS?

why this cross
this ornament of human suffering
in comfort and complacency
it can seem quite out of place
yet let one moment of tragedy
need or desperation come and
this cross is no longer a foreign land
but a shelter and home
a passage of power
and transformation–
is it magic–some talisman-
so it would seem
as it is forged in gold
carved in wood and fashioned in beads
strung on necks and molded on rings
held up to recoiling vampires —

yet kneeling
silently
before the cross
I hear
the whispers
and struggle
of the world
as it wrestles with its horror
its daily news
of evil and death
cruelty and selfishness
politics and greed
ideological slaughter
and mass destruction
our grieving and loss
our starvation and calamities–
earths quake and worlds fall
within the cross

we are free to place our burden there
and leave as though it were some receptacle
some garbage pit or scapegoat

yet not for long
for His whispers
and movement and life
are too compelling

He calls
over and over
to visit
this strange
place of death
that leads to Life

entering the suffering
the solitude
the darkness
of his outstretched tomb
we answer his call
to pray
to trust
to stay
until wisdom
whispers
the promise
of new life

how
long is
our
suffering-

it is
a moment
of grace—

then there is
no time
at all
no need-
we are completed
resurrected
in His compassionate love