“EASTER REFLECTIONS”

 Easter, the oldest annual festival of the church, celebrates the deliverance from sin and the promise of eternal life, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Initially, it was celebrated as a “Christianized Passover”, that held the death and resurrection together as a new Exodus, in parallel to when the Israelites were liberated from slavery in Egypt.¹

According to The Venerable Bede,  the name Easter derives from the name of an Anglo-Saxon spring goddess, “Eostre”, whose festival was celebrated  at a similar time  of the year.^2.

 Poets have, understandably, been inspired by Easter and its importance as a Christian feast; from John Donne, George Herbert, Christina Rosetti, John Keble, T S Elliot, Helen Steiner Rice, John Betjeman, and many others continuing into the modern era.

 A couple of lines from John Betjeman’s Churchyards poem³, I think, simply and surely give expression to the greatness of Easter.

Mid-Lent is passed and Easter’s near

The greatest day of all the year

When Jesus, who indeed had died

Rose with his body glorified.

I am reminded too of the of a beautiful poem by Helen Steiner Rice, aptly named” Easter Reflections”.  

 Helen Steiner Rice, an American writer of religious and inspirational poetry, was born Ohio in 1900. Her father died in the Pandemic influenza outbreak of 1918.

She began working for a public utility, rising to the position of advertising manager. She was a passionate campaigner for women's rights.  In 1929, she married Franklin Rice, a banker, who lost his job and investments  the same year in the wake of the Wall Street crash. Following an unremitting bout of depression, he committed suicide in 1932.

She became a successful businesswoman and lecturer but found her most satisfying outlet in writing for the Gibson Greetings Card Company. This later extended to the publication of several volumes of poetry. 

Her strong religious faith and the ability to express deep emotion gave her poems timeless appeal.  Apparently, her faith had not been lessened by the devastation and hardships of losing her father and husband in such tragic circumstances.

 The poem included here embraces the resurrection and is relevant to our ongoing journey, as we try to bring the love of God to everyone, a central ethos of Christianity.

It muses on the majesty of Easter and what it may offer. It merges the beauty of Spring with the grace of God. It is simple but profound, being written in a language that is accessible to all.

This truly draws us to the  beauty and magnificence of Easter, liberated by the love of God.

EASTER REFLECTIONS

With OUR EYES we see

The beauty of Easter

as the earth awakens once more...

With OUR EARS we hear

The birds sing sweetly

to tell us Spring again is here...

With OUR HANDS we pick

the golden daffodils

and the fragrant hyacinths...

But only with OUR HEARTS

can we feel the MIRACLE of GOD'S LOVE

which redeems all men...

And only with OUR SOUL

can we make our 'pilgrimage to God'

and inherit His Easter Gift of ETERNAL LIFE.

At this time, we certainly need a true sense of love throughout our society to help liberate us and carry us through this COVID Pandemic and into the light beyond. But this nudges us to think about the whole of creation and nature, and perhaps the environmental challenges that we also face.

 Happy Easter!

References and Sources

1. The Oxford Companion to Christian Thought, Ed. Hastings, Mason and Pyper, OUP Oxford 2000

2. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, 3^rd Edition, Ed Cross  & Livingstone, OUP, Oxford, 1997

3. From  “Poems in the Porch”  by John Betjeman cited in “ For All Occasions” Compiled by Peter Barkworth, Methuen, London, 1999.

4. Wikipedia entry for Helen Steiner Rice.

Submitted by Roger Verrall – March 27^th, 2021