ARISE
week 4 | april 12 - april 19
ARISE
Though Christ was dead, he rose. And because of that historic rising, we will arise too. In the unwanted routines brought upon us in quarantine life, we may find “rising” an especially difficult task. And yet, our Lord has shown us how his rising initiates and beckons and energizes all things to new life. In this week’s installment we see the rugged recently-dead face of Lazarus brought to life, we contemplate the wonder of a rising sun, we read the journey of one rising from the mist to journey toward true home, we see morning light on the face of an essential, and brave, grocer, we hear music for the morning, and so much more. Peace be with you, for Christ has risen.
Grocers Arise
Joel Bascom & Jack Bascom
photography
This is the Day that the Lord Has Made —Psalm 118:24
Nancy Day (guitar)
Nina Borque (dulcimer)
Arise O God
Casey Ochs
Poem/Prayer based on Psalm 82
Oh Lord from within your council, proclaim your decree
To a world in pain and anguish, yearning to be free
Your own creation labors, for the long awaited birth
Arise Oh God of Jacob, bring judgement to the earth
For the widow in her grief, heartbreak and distress
For the orphan in her fear, a childhood transgressed
The victim of oppression, who questions her won worth
Arise O God of Jacob, bring judgment to the earth
And to the fleeing refugee, whose home has been uprooted
Whose livelihoods completely gone, a home mugged and looted
His desperate cry goes unperceived, unvalued and unheard
Arise Oh God of Jacob, bring judgement to the earth
What of soldiers in the war, who’ve tasted fear and death,
Lives forever changed, witness man’s concluding breath?
Our savagery and hatred, reveal us at our worst
Arise O God of Jacob, bring judgment to the earth
For those unjustly held, under lock and key
Who no longer count the days, a future unforeseen
Fair play has not served them, all justice gone perverse
Arise Oh God of Jacob, bring judgement to the earth
In some unlit passageway, lies the addict with his gun
Dangling from his arm, hiding from the sun
All hope is tragic, when false medicine subverts
Arise Oh God of Jacob, bring judgment to the earth
And to the poor and desperate, whose wages are withheld
Who labor in the sweatshops, factories and fields
Whose days are spent in toil, ground down by the curse
Arise Oh God of Jacob, bring judgment to the earth
Oh Lord from your council, proclaim your decree
To a world in pain and anguish, yearning to be free
Your own creation labors, for the long awaited birth
Are Oh God of Jacob, bring judgment to the earth
Sunrise
Liam Wiskus
crayon
Good Friday & Easter Morning
Clara & Leif Jacobs
wood & nails
Celebrating the Beautiful, Empty Tomb
Seth & Jodie Hedman
eggs, wax & dye
This was done with hallowed eggs, wax, and dye's in the Czech tradition called "kraslice." Top left, top right, and center were done by Seth, the others by Jodie.
Rising from the Mist
Margie Haack
Life's a voyage that's homeward bound.
—Herman Melville, novelist & sailor (1819-1891)
A few years ago a delightfully quirky movie with a great sound track called Garden State was released. Zach Braff, who wrote and directed it, also starred as Andrew Largeman. Andrew, known as Large to his friends, has journeyed home to New Jersey for his mother’s funeral; he’s come loaded with the baggage of a family history he can’t decipher. At one point Large turns to Sam (Natalie Portman), the charming enigmatic girl he’s falling for, and asks the central question of the film. He asks if there was a moment when she realized the place where she grew up was no longer home.
Without waiting for a reply he concludes, "You get homesick for a place that never really existed, and then you create your own idea of home. Maybe family is a group of people who miss the same imaginary place."
I was astonished to see, passing before my eyes in surround-sound and huge cinematic frames, a question that had taken me so long to face. When I finally began admitting that journeys back home didn’t reveal it as a place where both parents welcomed me, a place to stand shoulder to shoulder and soul-naked yet loved, nearly wrecked me.
Until my 30s I steadfastly refused to acknowledge this trouble. Even then, I couldn’t sort it out alone, and have others to thank for chipping away my pretense: my mother, my husband, and even my eight-year-old daughter, who once delivered such an insightful observation at first it annoyed me, then I became tearful. We were in the car on the eight-hour drive back to Rochester when she leaned over the back seat and asked, “How come Grandpa doesn’t like us?”
Toad Hall
Arise
John & David Ochs
Dessert Sunrise
Jamie Kaihoi
photography series
Minnesota Easter Morning 2020
Daniel & Isabelle Bixby
Lazarus
Jennifer Jacobs
colored pencil
Good Morning!
Rebecca Willette
photography
Easter Flowers
Isabelle Bixby
photography
The Gift
Phil Bickel
I awoke Easter morning hearing: “Get up! I have a gift for you!” For a few weeks I had been reading 1 Corinthians 12-14. Therefore, I guessed the Lord meant He was going to grant me one of the gifts of the Spirit mentioned there. I knelt and prayed with my palms open, waiting for the gift. When nothing seemed to arrive, I asked God for a verse of guidance. Jeremiah 7:14 surfaced in my mind. So, I looked it up:
Last Day of School Leap
Lorri Eiswald