Sunrise on Kauai (Wikimedia Commons)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u2019s that time again. \u00a0Time to post another of my favorite Easter poems, the late John Updike\u2019s \u201cSeven Stanzas at Easter\u201d:<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Make no mistake: if he rose at all<\/span><\/strong>
\nIt was as His body;<\/span><\/strong>
\nIf the cell\u2019s dissolution did not reverse, the molecule reknit,<\/span><\/strong>
\nThe amino acids rekindle,<\/span><\/strong>
\nThe Church will fall.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\nIt was not as the flowers,<\/span><\/strong>
\nEach soft spring recurrent;<\/span><\/strong>
\nIt was not as His Spirit in the mouths and fuddled eyes of the<\/span><\/strong>
\nEleven apostles;<\/span><\/strong>
\nIt was as His flesh; ours.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\nThe same hinged thumbs and toes<\/span><\/strong>
\nThe same valved heart<\/span><\/strong>
\nThat\u2014pierced\u2014died, withered, paused, and then regathered<\/span><\/strong>
\nOut of enduring Might<\/span><\/strong>
\nNew strength to enclose.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\nLet us not mock God with metaphor,<\/span><\/strong>
\nAnalogy, sidestepping, transcendence,<\/span><\/strong>
\nMaking of the event a parable, a sign painted in the faded<\/span><\/strong>
\nCredulity of earlier ages:<\/span><\/strong>
\nLet us walk through the door.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\nThe stone is rolled back, not papier-mache,<\/span><\/strong>
\nNot a stone in a story,<\/span><\/strong>
\nBut the vast rock of materiality that in the slow grinding of<\/span><\/strong>
\nTime will eclipse for each of us<\/span><\/strong>
\nThe wide light of day.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\nAnd if we have an angel at the tomb,<\/span><\/strong>
\nMake it a real angel,<\/span><\/strong>
\nWeighty with Max Planck\u2019s quanta, vivid with hair, opaque in<\/span><\/strong>
\nThe dawn light, robed in real linen<\/span><\/strong>
\nSpun on a definite loom.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\nLet us not seek to make it less monstrous,<\/span><\/strong>
\nFor our own convenience, our own sense of beauty,<\/span><\/strong>
\nLest, awakened in one unthinkable hour, we are embarrassed<\/span><\/strong>
\nBy the miracle,<\/span><\/strong>
\nAnd crushed by remonstrance.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Posted from Bountiful, Utah<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 It\u2019s that time again. \u00a0Time to post another of my favorite Easter poems, the late John Updike\u2019s \u201cSeven Stanzas at Easter\u201d: \u00a0 Make no mistake: if he rose at all It was as His body; If the cell\u2019s dissolution did not reverse, the molecule reknit, The amino acids rekindle, The Church will fall. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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![\"Kauai](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2017\/04\/800px-Sunrise_Kauai.jpg\")
<\/a>