A Laugh Freed For Ever and Ever
A Lamb on the Throne
It’s Easter week and I have presided over two funerals in the past week so hope is on my mind. In the sombreness of these days my eyes are looking up, fitting in this liturgical season of expectation.
Death not termination.
Transformation not stagnation.
Abundance not destitution.
Perhaps it’s like opening one’s eyes to the unexpected ecstasy of viewing a mighty Douglas-fir soaring to the heavens?
The Irish poet Patrick Kavanagh perceives the exhilarating gift of Jesus’s resurrection as “a laugh freed for ever and ever.” Hardy and Ford similarly encourage us to rejoice and add our voices to this hilarious praise:
In a faith which has the ‘foolishness of the cross’, a ‘lamb on the throne’, and the ‘justification of the ungodly’ there must be an appreciation of upside-downness, and many ways of joining in the laughter of the resurrection. (Hardy and Ford, Jubilate).
In the midst of our melancholia can we embrace a horizon of hope? Can we follow Jesus through the death barrier and fall into Abba’s loving arms of soulful acceptance? Can we take the bold step of conjuring a smile and embracing the caress of happiness in our now?
Blessed Easter all, the more I read the Psalms the more Abba love and providence demonstrated. Sadness, praise and blessedness shown with hope for a Abba' presence in our circumstances that burst in our soul ti blessed the Lord at all times for surely His goodness, mercies and righteousness is with us.
I like: Horizon of hope! Nice!