Not thrones and crowns, but men

[sovay]

spatch was raised in the Pioneer Valley in the United Church of Christ and the Easter observances of his childhood were always sunrise services on top of a mountain; his father the minister would time his telling of the Easter story so that the sun rose just as the stone rolled away.

This year, because it was important, we walked to the top of Prospect Hill and Rob told me the Easter story so that the sun rose just as the stone rolled away.

We saw no one on the way over in the sea-swimming pre-dawn except for a rabbit sitting fearlessly in the middle of the road under the late moon and the sodium streetlight; there were two other couples at the tower at Prospect Hill, but they kept their six-foot distance while Rob told me about the tomb and the woman who came to give her beloved friend proper burial and the gardener who met her there. The sky turned the color of a robin's egg and all the east-facing windows beneath us started to pick up gold. We returned home via Boston Street because we thought we might get a clear shot at the horizon; we were halfway across the McGrath Highway Bridge when the sun came visible in a persimmon-orange blaze and Rob said, "He is risen," and we sang Sydney Carter's "Lord of the Dance." We came home to seagulls gliding dawn-gilded above our street and cats who avowed that hard-boiled eggs are the natural cat's breakfast, just like poached eggs on waffles with crystallized maple sap.

I am pretty sure this is the first Easter service I've attended since college, when for about a semester I went as many Sundays as I could manage to Emmanuel Church to hear the Bach cantatas. I have not yet determined whether I will chase it by falling asleep.

Comments

[cmcmck]

I recall all the high Anglican ritual from childhood and still have a soft spot for the Easter music but in my teens I went the Quaker road which is very different as all days are holy.

[sovay]

I recall all the high Anglican ritual from childhood and still have a soft spot for the Easter music but in my teens I went the Quaker road which is very different as all days are holy.

I'm pretty sure that the Episcopal service at Emmanuel was the first Easter service I had ever attended. I remember the dry brown branches that had been on the altar for weeks were suddenly changed for living greenery on Easter Sunday. That made an impression on me.

[umadoshi]

I remember the dry brown branches that had been on the altar for weeks were suddenly changed for living greenery on Easter Sunday.

Ohhhh, I like that a lot. *^^*

Thank you for this post.

[sovay]

Ohhhh, I like that a lot.

It reminded me of green boughs for the solstice.

Thank you for this post.

You're welcome!

[asakiyume]

Thank you for bringing the poetry of this precious world's color to me (robin's egg, persimmon) this easter morning. Thank you for your landmarks (McGrath Highway Bridge). Thank Spatch for telling the story this way. Thank you for your meal.

[sovay]

Thank you for bringing the poetry of this precious world's color to me (robin's egg, persimmon) this easter morning.

You're welcome. May your morning be full of colors, too.

[sartorias]

What a perfect Easter celebration.

[sovay]

What a perfect Easter celebration.

I am really glad we did it.

[teenybuffalo]

That was what I needed today, as well, so thanks for letting me read it. I got inspired and I'm now learning to play "Lord of the Dance" on guitar.

[sovay]

That was what I needed today, as well, so thanks for letting me read it. I got inspired and I'm now learning to play "Lord of the Dance" on guitar.

You're welcome! That's a great thing to learn to do with a guitar.

[tree_and_leaf]

That is a lovely way to spend Easter morning.

[sovay]

That is a lovely way to spend Easter morning.

It was a lovely morning, too. Full of light everywhere. We passed a crane on a construction site reading "Sunrise."

[nineweaving]

How absolutely lovely! May the joy of it linger.

Nine

[sovay]

How absolutely lovely! May the joy of it linger.

Thank you!

[lauradi7dw]

I had thought about going to run this morning early (before I developed the "run in the rain" concept for people avoidance), but decided that anywhere pretty would be packed, with people doing their own services. Yours sounds perfect.

[sovay]

I had thought about going to run this morning early (before I developed the "run in the rain" concept for people avoidance), but decided that anywhere pretty would be packed, with people doing their own services.

For what it's worth, other than the couples at Prospect Hill, we saw no other humans except in cars or the distance. And we were surprised by the couples at Prospect Hill.

(I have also had my most successfully isolated walks on rainy days, which is bad for photography, but good for not worrying.)

Yours sounds perfect.

I am glad it is what we did with this morning.

[oracne]

That was beautiful. Thank you.

[sovay]

That was beautiful. Thank you.

You are welcome.

[selkie]

I’m glad you got to do that together. It seems pretty indelible as memory-moments go.

[sovay]

I’m glad you got to do that together. It seems pretty indelible as memory-moments go.

Thank you. It was the right thing to do with the morning. And it mattered to spatch.