Editor’s Note: This is a poem written by a small-town pastor during the recent Easter season. It has resonance and relevance for what all of us do every day of the year.
I fell down this afternoon
Setting up the church’s roadside sign
Black five-inch cap letters on a white marquee
My Easter sermon in three words
HE IS RISEN!
With exclamation mark so passersby can see that I mean it
I stepped back into a hole
More of a low spot in the grass
A sunken depression left by a past digger
Who needed a shovelful of dirt
To level the ground in some more important place
I was surprised that I did not bounce back to my feet
Embarrassed by my stumble and
Ready to show how sure-footed I’ve always been
But I’m older now
And things once easy have become hard
So I stayed down for a minute — and then one became two
Kneeling before my sermon text on the side of the road
I felt the wet grass soak through my jeans
My knees making indentations into the dark earth
And the weight of past failures and battles lost
Began to question the exclamation earlier secured:
“You brought new wine to old skins;
Words of grace to law-burdened folk,
But they preferred to be thirsty.
STAY DOWN!”
“You gave a piece of yourself to a friend;
A gift of life for freedom and hope.
But that didn’t turn out the way you thought it should.
STAY DOWN!”
“You welcomed a son into your home;
Resolved to love the pain clear out of him,
But prison doors brought an end to that dream.
STAY DOWN!”
“You’ve spent ten years trying to make a difference
In this beautiful, broken town,
But not much has changed and you’re so tired now.
STAY DOWN!”
And I did stay down, my knees in the mud
But with mustard seed faith I looked up
To the sign and said:
“Father, in heaven, may your kingdom come;
Father, most holy, let your will be done.
Father, my Father, help me to know
That deeds done in love
Always will grow.”
And then,
I GOT UP!
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Bob Emberley
Bob serves as the teaching elder at Community Bible Church in Northfield, MA where he has lived with his wife Wendy since 2009. They have five adult children and four grandchildren. Bob enjoys running and “reading” (audio books while running!). He has completed a number of half-marathons and organized a weekly summer 5K road race in his town which will enter its 9th season this summer.