RISEN
For Easter Day
If you are looking
for a blessing,
do not linger
here.
Here
is only
emptiness,
a hollow,
a husk
where a blessing
used to be.
This blessing
was not content
in its confinement.
It could not abide
its isolation,
the unrelenting silence,
the pressing stench
of death.
So if it is
a blessing
you seek,
open your own
mouth.
Fill your lungs
with the air
this new
morning brings
and then
release it
with a cry.
Hear how the blessing
breaks forth
in your own voice,
how your own lips
form every word
you never dreamed
to say.
See how the blessing
circles back again,
wanting you to
repeat it,
but louder,
how it draws you,
pulls you,
sends you
to proclaim
its only word:
Risen.
Risen.
Risen.
More than ever, I am mindful of how John’s Gospel tells us Mary Magdalene went to the tomb while it was still dark and found it already empty. I am relying on that beautiful detail: that even when all seems to be in shadow, the work of Easter has already begun. On this very different resurrection day, this blessing is for you.
Jan Richardson
from Circle of Grace: A Book of Blessings for the Seasons
Image: “While It Was Still Dark”
© janrichardsonimages.com
Carrie's Bench 