and now

Monday in Easter Week

Shout with joy to the Lord, all you lands;
lift up your voice, rejoice, and sing.
Psalm 98:5

and now here we are
with Alleluias and hymns of praise
and other signs of joy and celebration

and it doesn’t matter how we come to this day
trembling, fearful, confident, relieved, exuberant
joyful, doubtful, brave, uncertain

the tomb remains empty
empty of hate
empty of contempt
empty of broken hope

Jesus is among the living
Jesus, the bearer of extraordinary love
Jesus is here
Alleluia!




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Lamentation

Holy Saturday

Let my prayer enter into your presence;
incline your ear to my lamentation.
Psalm 88:2

a morning for lament

the burdened wait of mourning

a prayer made of weeping

flung from a grief-laden heart

and received

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Barren

Good Friday

Be not far from me for trouble is near,
and there is none to help.
Psalm 22:11

now

stripped away

now

bare stillness

now

I hold

keep watch

for mercy

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Sounding

Maundy Thursday

My days pass away like a shadow,
and I wither like the grass.
But you, O Lord, endure for ever,
and your Name from age to age.
Psalm 102:11-12

I sit in silence and hear
the echo of ancient poetry
sounding still across centuries
carried on waves of sorrow
and solace
determination and certainty
relentless

this voice will not be stopped
it began before me
will sing to generations
yet unimagined
and now calls to me
even me
who can only be a whisper
of the love that created me

the chant carries me into this now
witness of tenacious hope
like a lenten rose
pushing forth through the snow

Troubled

Wednesday in Holy Week

Day and night the watchmen make their rounds upon her walls,
but trouble is in the midst of her
Psalm 55:7

steps out of sync
I walk in, through the everyday
struggling also to keep to the sacred path

outward offers distraction
inward promises trouble

troubled thoughts, troubled waters, troubled soul
tribulations and trials
to come

yet
when the angel troubles the waters
healing is on its way
the savior standing by

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Collapse

Tuesday in Holy Week

The Lord has heard my supplication;
the Lord accepts my prayer.
Psalm 6:9

I fling unformed words of appeal
I grasp at wisps of gratitude
my way strewn with unruly prayers


I am so small and my God so vast
and even so, she gathers up each entreaty
each tear, each nascent hope
each attempt at love
so nothing is lost
even as all unravels
and the way darkens





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Unnavigable

Monday in Holy Week

The sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
Psalm 51:18

Now the way twists
elusively familiar and utterly alien
rock-strewn, convoluted,
unimaginable

There is no hope now
but to face into this time

I do not navigate this way
so much as give into it
one foot in front of the other






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