Holy Week Triptych Two Thousand and Twenty Two. III: Easter Sunday

 

Dedicated to the Parish of St George’s Crosby, in the Diocese of Lincoln.

 

 

The Fifth Citation

 

“They found the stone rolled away from the tomb”[i]

 

The Sixth Citation

 

“This is the famous stone

That turneth all to gold:

For that which God doth touch and own

Cannot for less be told”[ii]

 

 

The Day Star[iii] dawns in Gilead[iv].

Wrought in Seraphic Wings.

Dappled.

Glorious.

Embalmed in their folds.

She kneels.

Silent.

Early.

Never too early.

Before the Stone.

Of the Tomb.

 

She is the Divine Jail Breaker.

From Eternity

She calls:

 

“I have no silver or gold,

But what I have I give you,

In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth

Stand up and walk”[v]

 

She took their hand.

“Walking and leaping” with them

Through the “Beautiful Gate”.

Setting about Her task.

Throwing open prison days.

Setting Captives free.

For jail breaking is Her Divine Prerogative.

Defining the narrative structure of the Book of the Acts of the Apostles,

(almost as an aside)

Establishing the character of the New Testament,

Delineating the life of the Early Church.

As risk takers.

Who knew what prison smells like.

Calling us,

to build the New Jerusalem,

and cry “Glory”.

 

The Third Codex

 

St Andrew,

St David,

St Patrick.

Celtic Pilgrims.

Like the Magi.

Search.

In vain.

St George sleeps.

 

With the Guards.

By the Belly.

By the Cell.

By the Womb.

By the Prison.

By the Tomb.

 

The Third Codicil

 

In pitch perfect harmony Celtic Saints sing:

 

“I will not cease from Mental Fight.

Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand:

Till we have built Jerusalem,

In England’s green and pleasant land”[vi].

 

“Cry, “God, for Harry, England, and Saint George””[vii]

 

In pitch perfect four-part harmony our Ancestors sing:

 

Alleluia!
Christ is Risen!

Risen indeed Alleluia!

 

 

Copyright

© Lottie E. Allen

Passion Sunday

3 April

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand and Twenty-Two

 

 

Footnotes

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[i] Luke, chapter twenty-four, verse two (NRSV)

[ii] “The Elixir”. George Herbert. The Church (1633)

[iii] “To the one who conquers I will give the morning star”. Revelation Chapter two Verse twenty-eight. In the Venerable Bede’s Commentary on the Book of Revelation he transfigures the text recognising that “Christ is the Morning Star”.

[iv] “Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has the health of my poor people not been restored?”. Jeremiah chapter eight verse twenty-two.  The African American Tradition has transfigured the text in the Spiritual “There is a Balm in Gilead”.

[v] Acts, chapter three, verse six.

[vi] Jerusalem. William Blake. (1810).

[vii] “Henry V”. Act III Scene I. William Shakespeare