Easter Day

Easter Day
Poem by Christina Rossetti

Words cannot utter 
Christ His returning: 
Mankind, keep jubilee, 
Strip off your mourning, 
Crown you with garlands, 
Set your lamps burning. 

Speech is left speechless; 
Set you to singing, 
Fling your hearts open wide. 
Set your bells ringing: 
Christ the Chief Reaper 
Comes, His sheaf bringing. 

Earth wakes her song-birds, 
Puts on her flowers. 
Leads out her lambkins. 
Builds up her bowers: 
This is man’s spousal day, 
Christ’s day and ours.

This poem by the 19th Century English poet, Christina Rossetti, is a rich expression of her devotion as a Christian redeemed by the Resurrection of Jesus. I’m particularly touched by the first stanza: In our celebration of Easter, we choose the primacy of the Hebrew word to express our Easter joy: “Alleluia,” meaning “Praise God!” Yet, in many ways, it is an unutterable word, a word from a different tongue that cannot be repeated enough with its expression almost beyond comprehensible words. Like a cheer at an athletic competition, it expresses the express-less. It is, as the poet continues “Speech … left speechless,” a joyful acclamation of the truth of Easter day: man’s spousal day, an eternal, indissoluble union between Christ and we, his beloved “lambkins.”

Know of my joy as your bishop and my prayers for you and your loved ones in this most holy of all our feasts — Easter Sunday of the Lord’s Resurrection!

Christ is risen. He is truly risen. Alleluia!

In the Risen Lord,
+Bishop Scott Bullock