Pulsatilla vulgaris Tulipa Primula v. Easter Sunday Easter Garden Reflections From Darkness to Light Sing in the Garden Enter the Garden Thine be the Glory Edmond Budry Richard Birch Hoyle Jesus said: I am the light of the world: Your light drives out the dark. I am the way, the truth and the life. Your way has brought true hope. Thine be the glory, risen, conqu'ring Son: I am the resurrection and the life. You broke the power of death. endless is the vict'ry thou o’er death hast won; I am the bread of life. You feed and fill the hungry. angels in bright raiment rolled the stone away, I am the true vine. Your life becomes our life. kept the folded grave-clothes where thy body lay. I am the good shepherd. You guide and lead us on. Let us recollect the presence of the Risen Christ with us now. Refrain: Pause & Reflect. Thine be the glory, risen, conqu'ring Son; endless is the vict'ry thou o’er death hast won. Read in the Garden John 20: 1-9 (NIVUK) Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had 2 Lo! Jesus meets us, risen from the tomb; been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and lovingly he greets us, scatters fear and gloom; said, ‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!’ let the church with gladness, hymns of triumph sing, for her Lord now liveth, death hath lost its sting. So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and [Refrain] reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the cloth that 3 No more we doubt thee, glorious Prince of life; had been wrapped round Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. Finally the other life is naught without thee: aid us in our strife; disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. (They still did not understand from make us more than conqu'rors, thro' thy deathless love: Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) Then the disciples went back to where they were staying. bring us safe thro' Jordan to thy home above. [Refrain] Pause in the Garden The beautiful Pasque Flower (Pulsatilla Vulgaris) blooms around Easter time, hence its name. The one shown in this photograph has deep, dark purple flowers replicating the darkness enfolded in the tomb which the disciples had left that first Good Friday. What they did not expect to find, after travelling to the tomb undercover of darkness, was the revelation of this new story. The bright anthers of the Pasque Flower hidden deep within the bell-shaped petals is heavily laden with bright yellow pollen. As the wind blows the anthers begin to drop their specks of pollen over the petals, and as bees visit, the pollen spreads further and further. Another illustrative metaphor for the spreading of the Good News of the Resurrection. The specks of pollen gathered in this story, the stone rolled away, the linen cloth left lying from Jesus’ body, resulted in the words, ‘He saw and believed.’ what specks of pollen from this story and your own experience of the Risen Christ will you be taking to others? This is beautifully expressed in RS Thomas’s poem ‘Somewhere’, ‘the point of travelling is not to arrive but to return home laden with pollen you shall work up into honey the mind feeds on.’ So where in the world has God placed you to taste the sweetness of the nectar of his Easter story on which you will feed your body, mind and spirit? Where is He asking you to take the pollen of this Good News? Pause & Reflect When deep calls to deep Deeper into the Garden John 20: 11-18 Prayer Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the Living Lord, come to us in your risen power and tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the make us glad with your presence. head and the other at the foot. Risen Lord, as Mary Magdalen met you by the They asked her, ‘Woman, why are you crying?’ garden tomb on the morning of your ‘They have taken my Lord away,’ she said, ‘and I don’t know where they have put resurrection, so may we meet you today and him.’ At this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realise every day. that it was Jesus. Speak to us as you spoke to her. Reveal yourself He asked her, ‘Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?’ to us as our living Master. Thinking he was the gardener, she said, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me Renew our home, Kindle our joy, and inspire us where you have put him, and I will get him.’ to share the good news with others. Amen. Jesus said to her, ‘Mary.’ Iona Worship Book She turned towards him and cried out in Aramaic, ‘Rabboni!’ (which means ‘Teacher’). Prayer Jesus said, ‘Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go Mary Magdalen Christ, you are before us. instead to my brothers and tell them, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.”’ This is what gives us courage to Men called you light so as to load you down, Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: ‘I have seen the Lord!’ And she go on. And burden you with their own weight of sin, told them that he had said these things to her. Pause & Reflect It is you who directs. A woman forced to cover and contain It is you who beckons. Those seven devils sent by Everyman. So we dedicate ourselves. Pause in the Garden But one man set you free and took your part And we bless you now. This multi-petallled, mulit-coloured tulip is unfolding as it basks in the rays of the sun. One man knew and loved you to the core Amen. As each new layer unfolds the colour variation surprises. In this form it has become a The broken alabaster of your heart safe place for insects to dwell for a time! But as the day passes, the opening up, the Revealed to Him alone a hidden door, Iona Worship Book revelation, continues until the heart of the tulip is revealed. Into a garden where the fountain sealed, So it is in this Resurrection story. The empty tomb, so unexpected that Mary weeps Could flow at last for him in healing tears, even as the angels speak to her, begins the unfolding of the true nature of this story. Till, in another garden, he revealed Turning she sees the Lord but does not recognise him. With a compassion deep from The perfect Love that cast out all your fears, within Jesus calls her name, ‘Mary.’ Deep speaks to deep. Our names are deeply And quickened you with loves own sway and personal, we do not give them to people we don’t trust. Here, in the calling of a name swing, Jesus shows the deepness of the relationship. In the verbalisation Mary and Jesus As light and lovely as the news you bring. meet heart to heart and all is revealed. Sonnet by Malcom Guite John 20: 9-29 Open hearted On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Refreshment in the Garden Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you!’ After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw The third image of our triptych is one of the many varieties of the Lord. the Primula. Set at the heart of the flower is a deep opening in Again Jesus said, ‘Peace be with you! As the Father has sent the centre of which is the pistil. It is the worker bees who will me, I am sending you.’ And with that he breathed on them ensure the continuation of this flower with their help in and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, pollenating. Each bee, as it feeds on the nectar at the heart of their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are the flower, touches the top of the pistil with its head and then not forgiven.’ transports this to other plants. Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other Prayer What an amazing allegory of the life, death and resurrection of disciples told him, ‘We have seen the Lord!’ O Christ, you cross speaks both to us and to our Lord! Here in the locked Upper Room, isolated from But he said to them, ‘Unless I see the nail marks in his hands our world.