Editor's Note: This post was published on March 29, 2018 and has been updated for Easter 2019
This beautiful poem really blessed me in my quiet time this morning. It is from a YouVersion Lenten Reading Plan provided by Tearfund*
Luke 23:44-46 NIV It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.
Devastating Beauty
On Friday my hope died.
The sky wept itself dark
the ground broke apart
and all creation cried
for the bloodied innocence
hammered into a tree.
There were whispers
of a torn curtain
but they didn’t reach my ears
or mend my mangled heart
or stem the bitter tears
as we took
the body
down.
On Saturday we grieved,
hiding from the troops
whom we’d once believed
would be overthrown
by the carpenter’s boy,
who had preached
and fed and healed
and was now dead.
But then on Sunday –
the devastating beauty
of that Sunday –
when time and space
were blown out of shape
and angels wrapped in electric grace
rolled the impossible away.
He is not here
they proclaimed
for glory had risen
our failings were forgiven
and the rules of time and space
were rewritten
as an empty tomb declared:
Love is alive.
Gideon Heugh, Tearfund
*The following is from the Tearfund website:
Tearfund is a Christian charity called to follow Jesus wherever the need is greatest.
In 2006, we set an ambitious target: we launched a ten-year vision to see 50 million people lifted out of material and spiritual poverty through a worldwide network of 100,000 local churches.
A decade on, the statistics are striking. In ten years, we have touched the lives of more than 45 million people – the equivalent of almost the population of Spain. We reached more than 32 million people through our community development work and more than 13 million through our response to disasters.
Contributing hugely to this success is the fact that we have envisioned and mobilised more than 154,000 local churches, inspiring our Christian family to be catalysts for change.
We have spoken up with many poor communities, and acted on their behalf, and seen more than 300 policies influenced and changed as a result. We pray that our joint advocacy will bring a rich harvest in reducing poverty further over the next decade.
FOR MORE INFORMATION AND HOW YOU CAN HELP VISIT THE TEARFUND WEBSITE https://www.tearfund.org
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