Poem for Easter

For You,

I turned water into wine, purified in the veins

of My own body. I climbed mountains, healed

crowds of hunger, warmed a leper’s skin. For

you I chastised leaders, halted stones, wrote on

the ground each word contained in Love.

I overturned unfair prices and low wages, tabled

discussions about who’s first or last, and enjoyed

the most unlikely company.

Before My execution, I tamed a donkey, became

your beast of burden, then bled from every pore.

Once for all, I buried death, and, when I arose,

some saw Me. Some heard Me as I broke through

the veil, cloaking time and eternity, and, yes,

for you, I’d do it all again.

Amen.

Mary Harwell Sayler from book A Gathering of Poems

Why I murdered Jesus

[Spoiler Alert! We know we've all sinned, but this prose poem makes it personal.]

Even in the Garden of Eden, God wanted everything perfect. How could I fit in? I thought of fruit as food, not fare for knowing good and evil or other things over my head! Why entice me with beautiful berries wrapped in seamless silken skin – fragrance summoning me – and no seeds to navigate around, no hard core in the middle?

I admit I disobeyed. I ignored Your clear instructions, Lord. And then You murdered me!

You sent my now-limited life from the Garden in shame – spiritually dead, nothing the same, everything changed forever.

How hard I toil for fruit that spoils in a life filled with imperfection! I feel worthless. I question myself at every turn, fearing Your rejection.

Where do I go? How do I live with myself? How do I live without You?

Trying to be good and obey every dot and iota of the law didn’t do it! Neither did self-hatred nor mutilating remorse. I wanted to make things right, Lord, but I couldn’t, and You wouldn’t let me!

You sent Yourself –

Your Son –

The Perfect One –

Who perfectly suited

Your plan of redemption,

the Fruit of Yourself –

Your Pure Love – given

to exempt me from my own sin.

I’m sorry, Lord! I’m sorry, but

I could not stand

to look on such Whole and Holy Love

and live

as I’d been living.

What could I do but kill Him?

by Mary Harwell Sayler, ©2017

[EPILOGUE/PRAYER: Lord, help us to confess anything that keeps us from You. Help us to truly accept Your forgiveness. Praise You, Lord, for overcoming death, forgiving all who turn to You, and bringing us new life and a fresh start each day in Jesus' Name.]

…

Jesus Christ is Risen indeed!

Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Christ our Lord
is risen
in each of us each day,
and neither gravity
nor a cruel grave
can keep us down.

by Mary Harwell Sayler, © 2017, from her book of prayers, poems, and contemporary psalms, PRAISE! published by Cladach Publishing
…

Singing a Psalm on Easter week

Thank You, God!

Give thanks to the LORD
and call on God’s Name.
Tell about God’s work
for all people!

Sing to the LORD!
Sing praises to our God.
Tell of God’s wonderful works.

Let your glory be in the Holy Name.
Let your heart in the LORD rejoice.

Seek the LORD and find strength.
Let the LORD look at you
as you look at the LORD.

Oh, remember!
Remember all God has done.
Remember the wonders God created.
Remember and recall what
the Word of God says.

Oh, children of God,
you are chosen!
The LORD our God chooses you!

The LORD our God wants
what’s right for you
and all the world,
for God – our God remembers
the promises made to you
and to the people of God yet to come.

© 2013, Mary Harwell Sayler, prayer-a-phrased from today’s Bible reading in Psalm 105:1-8

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