Resurrection

Surrexit Christus Alleluia!

~ dpark2903

Most glorious Lord of Lyfe! that, on this day,
Didst make Thy triumph over death and sin;
And, having harrowd hell, didst bring away
Captivity thence captive, us to win:
This joyous day, deare Lord, with joy begin;
And grant that we, for whom thou diddest dye,
Being with Thy deare blood clene washt from sin,
May live for ever in felicity!

Edmund Spencer 1552-1599

And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week they went to the tomb when the sun had risen. And the were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the door of the tomb?”. And looking up they saw that the stone was rolled back – it was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe; and they were amazed. and he said to them, “Do not be amazed; you seek Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified. he has risen, he is not here; see the place where they laid him.

Mark XVI 1-6

St Bartholomew, Kirkwhelpington, April 2021
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Easter

~ dpark2903

Loveliest of trees, the cherry now
Is hung with bloom along the bough,
And stands about the woodland ride
Wearing white for Eastertide.

Now of my threescore years and ten,
Twenty will not come again,
And take from seventy springs and score,
It only leaves me fifty more.

 
And since to look at things in bloom
Fifty springs are little room,
About the woodlands I will go
To see the cherry hung with snow.[1]

A time of hope, new growth, all the optimism of spring and new life, Easter comes upon us as a milestone. The first day of spring is usually seen as 21st March, the spring equinox when day and night occupy the same length but this often passes us by to be eclipsed by the feast of Easter. Interestingly a feast whose date varies year by year settled on the first Sunday after first full moon after the equinox, a time when heaven and earth collide perhaps.

Easter, a celebration based on the account of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the feast has echoes back to the Jewish feast of the Passover, again a time of joy and redemption. For those who do not choose to celebrate it in this way it a time for new life, the symbolism of the egg, often fashioned from chocolate but in former times, real eggs taken and decorated with beautiful bright patterns.

Flowers play a part, we have seen the snowdrop and crocus come and go, daffodils are now in bloom, soon to be a distant memory, but the flower more commonly associated with Easter is the lily. A flower, apparently as white as driven snow, delicately perfumed and of elegant stature the lily is the flower which links death and life. Its upright vibrant stature so full of life, calm serenity beckoning in endless rest, the beauteous lily is the true embodiment of Easter.

‎Lily

 

 

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. [2]

Surrexit Christus Alleluia!!

Happy Easter!!

[1] AE Housman (1859-1936) – A Shropshire Lad ii

[2] Matthew VI 28-29 (KJB)Easter