On letting Easter in

On letting Easter in – Macrina Wiederkehr

When dawn stands still with wonder

when birds jubilate in the trees

when buds hurry into blossoms

and grass starts wearing green

I always know that Easter wants to come again.

.

But deeper yet and richer still

When Jesus, imprisoned in me,

asks me to roll away the stone

that locks him in

then Easter wants to come again.

.

So, let it come

It’s one dawn past rising time

and Resurrection is the wildest news

that’s ever touched

this crazy, mixed-up world.

It says, yes!

when everything else says, no!

It says, up!

when everything else says, down!

It says, live!

when everything else says, die!

.

Easter’s standing at your door again,

so don’t you see that stone has got to go?

that stone of fear

of selfishness and pride

of greed and blindness

and all the other stones we use

to keep Jesus in the tomb.

.

So here’s to rolling stones away

to give our Lord the chance He needs

to rise and touch

a troubled, lonely world.

Some call it Resurrection.

It’s wild with wonder,

It’s beautiful and real

Intent on throwing life around

it touches and it heals!

.

Yes, Easter, you can come

An angel of life I’ll be.

I’ll roll the stone away

and set you free.

Easter Weekend: Holding Hope along with Anger

Just days after writing my two ‘angry’ blogs (SIDS, restorative justice and big tobacco: why I’m feeling angry; and George Osborne’s budget: more reasons to be angry), Europe was racked by another terrorist attack, this time in Brussels. Violence continues to shake our streets. Meanwhile, in the Middle East, innocent women, children and men continue to flee from their homes in terror, and risk their lives in desperate bids for freedom. And, closer to home, it seems to me, as I walk through the streets of Coventry, that the number of homeless young men is once again increasing.

The inequalities, the injustice, the violence, hatred and greed seem to continue unabated.

And yet, in this same week, we saw David Cameron’s government do a U-turn on cutting disability benefits; a WHO report highlighted that the proportion of British 15 year olds who reported having their first cigarette at age 13 fell from 24% to 17% from 2009-2010 to 2013-2014; and the House of Lords voted to amend the immigration bill in order to require the government to allow 3,000 unaccompanied child refugees into our country.

In spite of the darkness, there is always reason to hope.

There is always hope

 

Good Friday

Yesterday, I sat in silence and tears for our Good Friday service; angry still at the injustice of our world.

Like many other good men and women, Jesus was assassinated because he dared to confront the unjust powers of his day. He walked the road of non-violent confrontation, and it cost him his life. Others, too have been imprisoned, tortured, and killed for speaking out for justice and peace: one only has to think of people such as Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi, Oscar Romero, or Aung San Suu Kyi.

 

When I wake tomorrow, 2,000 years after Jesus gave his life, the injustice will still be there. So, too, will the terror, hatred, greed, violence, and the untold suffering of millions around our world.

So I will still be angry.

But I will also carry with me a ray of hope.

mountains sunrise cropped

Easter Day

If (and I accept that for many this is a huge ‘if’) Jesus truly did rise from the dead as the gospels tell us, then there really is hope. The resurrection of Jesus boldly proclaims that violence, suffering, injustice and greed do not have the last word. That ultimately death itself is defeated and has no power.

So I will hold onto my anger, believing that this world should be different. And I will hold onto hope, believing that this world will one day be different. And I will celebrate the gift of love that is stronger than death.