7 STANZAS AT EASTER [Sun, 3-31-24]

CHRIST IN WINTER: Reflections on Faith & Life for the Years of Winter--

7 STANZAS AT EASTER [Sun, 3-31-24]

[A Holy Week contention with John Updike]

           

MONDAY [1]

No, there need be no body

            TUESDAY [2]

Escaping the grave

Rising cinematically into the sky

            WEDNESDAY [3]

Before we can know

The resurrection

The daily presence of the Christ

MAUNDY THURSDAY [4]

Some call it Tenebrae

This celebration of bread and wine

Broken and sipped in darkness

I’ll sing, “This little light ‘o mine”

GOOD FRIDAY [5]

Were you there?

Does anyone care?

Is it just a song?

Listen to the answers

Of the 14 questions from the cross

            HOLY SATURDAY [6[

What does a Messiah do on the day between

Crucifixion and resurrection? He goes to hell

To preach there the same good news

Lived out upon the dusty roads of Galilee

That no one perish eternally

Without the chance to choose The Way

            EASTER DAY [7]

Christ is risen! Christ is risen, indeed!

So we greet the morn and one another

Sin, original and not, still with us

What difference where the body lies?

We are souls that have bodies

Not bodies that need another chance

He lives! He lives!

 

John Robert McFarland

You can find Updike’s poem, “7 Stanzas at Easter,” online.

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