I wrote this Easter poem on Holy Saturday … spilling over into Easter morning — sort of my own Easter Vigil. It voices my own restless discomfort at all the “misdirected ‘Alleluias’” about to be unleashed on a planet that needs each of us to be fully alive and right now at least as much as it needs Jesus to be back from the dead.

This ‘Alleluia’ in the Air

I’ve heard the tale of an empty tomb, and a child born of a virgin’s womb;
of water made to finest wine, and bread enough for all to dine.
The story goes he rose again, unique among the dead of men;
walked on water—calmed the storm, many-a miracle did perform.

But this ‘Alleluia’ in the air—is misdirected at the man over there;
‘cause the resurrection He wants to see, is daring life for you and me.

“He is not here,” said the man in white, by the folded linen in the morning light;
He’d moved through crowds, in an early scene, untouched by those who meant him mean;
Told parables that gave folks pause, and even challenged holy laws;
On the cross he bled and gave up breath—though now we say he conquered death.

But this ‘Alleluia’ in the air—is misdirected at the man over there;
‘cause the resurrection He wants to see, is daring life for you and me.

He passed through walls, or so they say, the evening of that Easter Day;
showed wounded hands and pierce-ed side, as if to prove he’d really died:
martyred for the grace he preached, the outcast ones he dared to reach.
The welcome that he tendered wide—
on Friday last, that welcome died.

But this ‘Alleluia’ in the air—is misdirected at the man over there;
‘cause the resurrection He wants to see, is daring life for you and me.

I worry that unwittingly when we say his body lives again
We miss that he lived once and well, and now his life is ours to dwell.
Whatever Easter claims is true; it means to claim for me and you;
the stone that needs be rolled away, is that which stops our lives today.

And this ‘Alleluia’ in the air—is misdirected at the man over there;
‘cause the resurrection He wants to see, is daring life for you and me.
Yes, the resurrection He wants to see, is daring life for you and me.

drw 04.20.2014

Postscript: Am I “questioning” the resurrection of Jesus? No, not really. I am BEGGING for the resurrection of you and me NOW. … But what I am saying is that the resurrection of Jesus is not — and maybe never was — the point. OUR resurrection, as our own lives are hemmed in by forces that seek to distract, intimidate, or harm us, is what matters.