Resurrection–A Mystery to Many
Imagine yourself heading to Jesus’ tomb the day after [Jewish] Sabbath, very early in the morning. The birds might be singing or all may be quiet. You’re bearing spices to leave at the tomb. A special friend like none other—who healed sick people and even brought the dead back to life. One who taught with authority, sharing stories that made you think about life in a new way. And now he’s dead and you’re doing the last thing you can to honour him.
Imagine coming close to the tomb that had been sealed and seeing the large stone that once blocked the entrance. It’s been rolled away. And suddenly the things you brought don’t seem adequate. The gift intended is not what’s being asked now. Suddenly that cross has a new meaning and you’re not sure what’s expected now.
Empty Tomb
In the gray dawn
I say goodbye to one
whose hands brought life from death
whose words confounded kings and priests
The cave is shadowed and dark
a boulder rests unneeded, but not unheeded
rising light exposes
folded cloth in an empty cave
confounding
compounding yesterday’s drama
footsteps
i turn
in a voice as soft as morning
He calls my name
© Carolyn R. Wilker, 2007 Esprit
Jesus is risen! He is risen indeed.
Notre Dame Fire and Holy Week
Whatever happened to cause the fire may be accidental, and that it happened in Holy Week, is unusual indeed. I saw a posting on Facebook today with a link regarding the cross still being present in the midst of that black hole of burnt-out rubble and think that in itself is a miracle. I think we needed to see that miracle.
That the cross still matters and all that goes with it.
I’ve never been to Paris, have never seen that spire except in photos, and so many more photos this week as people recall a previous visit there (photo credit). That the building still stands after some 850 years is remarkable, and that people were still working on keeping the building strong is also worthy. It is after all, a building. And sometimes those edifices cannot be restored, though it looks as if this one will be.
The edifice represents a significant piece of history. To people of faith, it points upwards as a position of guidance, a place to worship, and a touch point in their lives when life gets messy, as in the wars, our human condition, when we’re not sure where to turn, and I hope also in times of celebration.
I may never see the structure in real life, but I’ll most likely hear of restoration efforts once the embers cool. My hope is that more people will come to know what this season is about, and what the cross means as a symbol of Christianity.
If there’s anything else to celebrate in the midst of this circumstance is that the fire, at some point, was contained and didn’t spread to the structures or the homes and buildings around it. And many will laud the firefighters for their work at containing the blaze as best they could and that artifacts and artwork within the building were saved. It would have been a challenge to consider entering that building to rescue those pieces, nevertheless, they are saved.
In the end, what is important is that human lives were not lost in that fire, though some likely risked their lives by going in. And that the promise of restoration will happen in that historic place, a historic symbol of France’s long history.
Moving toward Holy Week
Last evening my husband and I attended the final soup supper at our church for this season of Lent. It was well attended and the numbers have grown throughout the season. We’ve had good conversations, eaten delicious soups and desserts, and gotten to know more people at our new church.
Following supper, we went into the sanctuary for the service. We’ve made good use of Holden Evening Prayer, written in 1985-86 by Marty Haugen during a musical residency at Holden Village. After six weeks of the service we’re finally mastering the round part, and that’s it until next year. Hoping we use it again. I appreciate the prayerful music within it and Pastor Richard’s voice carries it well. [Though the video has some echo, the music is soothing and melodic.]
Thus the six weeks of Lent brings us to Palm Sunday this weekend, a celebration of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem and the beginning of Holy Week, as the church calls it. I think of it more as more a hellish week for Jesus, given the betrayal and pain he endured.
This poem is one I wrote years ago, pondering the sacrifice foreshadowed on Palm Sunday. The poem was first published in Esprit (Spring 2006), a women’s magazine of the Evangelical Lutheran Women I used to write for until its closure..
Sacrifice
My borrowed beast
climbs the rocky path
treading cautiously over robes
that carpet dusty earth
shaded
by a canopy of palms
his body trembles amid shouts of
Hosanna
such a young colt
he does not hurry –
as if he knows what is to come
outside the city gates
the crowd thins and hosannas fade
inside
a poor man empties his pocket
to buy a dove
my beast of burden can rest now
my time is coming
© 2006 Esprit Spring Edition, Carolyn Wilker
Changeable Weather
It’s that time of year when the weather is a little fickle, when it’s not completely spring and winter still wants to hang in. We woke Sunday morning to a thick coat of snow on picnic table and lawn, and the car covered with a coating of white.
When we thought we might be done with winter, snow and snow shovel, it made another appearance to keep us guessing. It did look pretty and it was very cold. And very much a surprise.
However, we are in April now and there were flower stems shooting through the ground and buds on trees before this snowfall, so surely we’ll feel the warmth coming again soon.
In a few days, perhaps, we’ll smell spring in the air. We’ve seen the robins and know they’re back. I’m ready for spring. Maybe you are too.
Poetry from a childhood place
I was thinking on awakening this morning of stories in my first published book—stories of home and among them the poetry that spoke of those places.
We had an attic—which many older houses do—a space at the top of the house where things to go to sit awhile or be stored. For some items, not the best place but out of the way of a busy family and all its related belongings and conundrums.
My sisters and I went up there to play the old phonograph, dress up in old clothes, sort through old school papers that became yellowed and brittle in time in that warm place. Where we could look out to the road and over the fields at our farm. This was a place we retreated to now and then for short periods of time.
The poem came much later as an adult looking back and no longer living there. And now our home belongs to someone else. But in memory, it’s still ours.
Attic Playhouse
Under the roof is a playhouse
with its familiar odour of heat and yesterday
leather skates lean against each other
like fallen dominoes
March through December
outgrown Sunday shoes wait for the next pair of feet
castoff clothes crammed in a crumbling cardboard box
yellowed notebooks -lined with ancient scribbles
crank the gramophone
inside its heat blistered black box
it warbles a tune
in symphony with buzzing flies
hypnotized by the light of one window
and too dazed to find another exit
© Carolyn Wilker
published in Once Upon a Sandbox, 2011
Coming: Piece by Piece
Today my publisher and I made the last few scans of the pdf for my book, Piece by Piece. We’d done the careful combing through more than a week ago and further refined some pieces of the text and layout.
It’s been another learning experience about the way a file of content goes and also working with the printer to make sure everything is sitting well and ready to go to print.
It’s best to take that extra few time to look over the manuscript and make sure everything is as it should be. Fortunately I have a good publisher at Angel Hope Publishing who knows the program and how it should work. Glynis also has an amazing daughter, Amanda, who helps her with the graphic design part of the process.
I’m delighted to show off the cover and will make an announcement when the books are available for purchase. Here’s the back cover copy:
Piece by Piece is a narrative on life with family, friends and the world around us with all its twists and turns, sorrows and joys. Sometimes resembling pieces of a quilt that make up a harmonious whole.
I’m taking pre-orders, so speak for your copy. Contact me through my website:
https://www.carolynwilker.ca/books/
Winter in our part of the world
In southwestern Ontario we’ve had snow and cold, then mildness and rain. After that it turned cold again and all that rain that melted the snow froze on sidewalks and driveways as well as the road, so that everywhere we went there was ice to contend with. There still is ice.
We have winter tires on our mid-sized car so it handles the roads pretty well as long as we go slow. In the extreme cold a week ago, though, our car refused to start. I turned the key and it went “rrr” and refused to turn over. It did the same thing for my husband.
My husband said it was likely a dead battery and that it needed to be replaced. Handy husband had an extra battery in the workshop that he used to try to get the car started while I called the local shop to ask if we could get an appointment.
The car started with a bit of a boost and we let the car warm up to increase the charge enough to get to the shop. Thus that afternoon we did not get to where we had planned to go, but we did get a brand new battery in the car and now it starts again like a charm.
All photos on this blog are © of C. R. Wilker, unless otherwise noted. Please ask permission if you wish to use a photo.
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