Part 3 -The Cloth

EASTER

A night ago, two nights in fact

I fell asleep in the shadow of the cross

Dazed and confused

I woke in the wee hours of this morning

As soft young hands were folding me

Laying me gently down on a hewn shelf

The air was misty, surreal.

It was a tomb.

Confounded I went with the One to the tomb?

Three sunrises ago?

Serving once again,

Without knowing -Touching, smelling, seeing- the One

I was there at the end, in death -a shroud.

The end.

Ordinarily I would say so

Yet, I woke up to no ordinary end.

I woke up.

Dead - now alive –What kind of a miracle is this?

Particles in the air twinkled

A light peeked in the tomb from outside

And the One rose as if from sleep,

 In each movement, in the rising

The One grew warmer and brighter. 

The tomb was filled with a warm presence,

Penetrating every fold and fibre

Inundated with such power, energy, life

As the light grew so bright,

It was more than I could take, I turned away

 and the One – vanished in the light.

Again alone with no sense of being alone.

Alone in the tomb

Pulsating Hope

Breathing a fullness of life

Drunk in the awe of a miracle

I stayed in the tomb.

That’s where they found me

The women

Bearing spices and whispering to themselves

The young man spoke –I had forgotten his presence

Him too basking in miracle

He told the women not to be alarmed;

Go tell Peter -

And with that the air within the tomb changed,

The warmth left

The light receded,

Beckoning us to follow

-there was nothing left in the tomb.

The One, no longer there to be encountered,

I was scooped up and with the women scurried away

Taken, to show the disciples.

We fled.

The women in terror

I in amazement

Not that you notice in your Bible

Lost in translation,

 Mark ends the story, “They were afraid for ...”

Dot. Dot. Dot.

I was there in the dot, dot, dot

In a room in Galilee

With the followers

Those who had encountered the One

Mourning, sharing memories, being a community.

Life regulated to ordinary tasks

drying dishes, washing babies, binding wounds, cleaning chaos, wrapping bread, carrying bundles;

yes, ordinary tasks repeated a hundred times in a lifetime...

but there is nothing ordinary about the every day.

We had learned this on the way to the cross

Ordinary is bound with miracle

With the possibility of encountering the One.

The stories, the dot, dot, dots ...

Trickled in.

I was there in the ordinary moments of life

Later on Easter morning, the handkerchief in the gardener’s pocket

The blanket on the beach when the One shared fish over a fire

The folds of cloth stretched out with the words “Peace be with You”

The cloak sharing whispers on the road to Emmaus

Years later, lining the saddle of the donkey going to Damascus

The bed sheets as the scales fell from Paul’s eyes

I was there a million times, for a million miracles

A million encounters with the One

In the ordinary.

The bonnet taken off as a child was baptized

In the apron of a mother’s lap when the story was told

On the table in the breaking of the bread

Coverings sheltering the homeless

Clothing on the naked

Towels drying washed feet

Wherever the words were remembered

“I give you a new commandment, love one another”

It is here in the simplicity of three words,

Love one another

Where the miracle is birthed, incarnate, wrapped in swaddling cloth

Given as gift

It’s an encounter of the One; it is the One

Resurrected!

I am but a simple cloth that was there

That wishes to be there, here

-with God, in God, through God-

Serving as a cloth

Giving my all, my everything

To bring resurrection in each movement,

 in the rising

The One growing warmer and brighter. 

The tomb that is this world filled with a warm presence,

Penetrating every fold and fibre

Inundated with such power, energy, life

As the light grows so bright,

The world

Pulsates Hope

Breathes a fullness of life

Is drunk in the awe of a miracle

I am there in the ordinary tasks of life

Serving you in the every day –serving others through you

The One is encountered

Touched, seen, smelled, heard

Resurrected!

I am but a simple cloth holding a miracle

 in the ordinary just around the corner

expect me, expect the One

Love. Resurrected!