ON THE OCCASION OF THE CHURCHES BEING CLOSED AT EASTER BECAUSE OF PESTILENCE

Special
Written By Mary Grahame Hunter

(OR, THE FIRST TIME I COULD NOT FIND A JOHN DONNE POEM THAT DESCRIBED MY SPECIFIC LITURGICAL SITUATION)

He-is-not-here-sign.jpg

The church is shut today. We cannot mark
Our Paschal joy in old, familiar ways—
No kindling of new fire in the dark,
No choral anthem bright to greet the day.
We feel more now the Litany’s plea, “GOOD LORD
DELIVER US” than we have felt in these
Last hundred years. Surrounded by death’s sword
Today we keep the feast of our release,
For Hell stands not unharrowed; still the tomb
Lies empty, though the morning light is dim.
The sun will serve for the new fire, my room
Will be a chantry, and these words my hymn:
Good cheer, my heart! Rejoice my soul, I say!
It is yet true that Christ is ris’n today.

Mary Grahame Hunter

Mary Grahame Hunter is a laywoman and choir member at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul in Detroit. She was an English major, a fact that has never surprised anyone who has met her, and has also been a church camper, a church camp counselor, and a sacristy rat. She is now a youth services librarian. Church passions include Anglican chant and laid-back Anglo-Catholicism. Non-church passions include theatre (both musical and early modern), public transit advocacy, and telling people they should come to Detroit. She/her.

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