Opening

Now is the shining fabric of our day

Torn open, flung apart,

Rent wide by Love.

Never again

The tight, enclosing sky,

The blue bowl,

Or the star-illumined tent.

We are laid open to infinity,

For Easter Love

Has burst His tomb and ours.

Now nothing shelters us

From God’s desire—

Not flesh, not sky,

Not stars, not even sin.

Now Glory waits

So He can enter in.

Now does the dance begin.

—Elizabeth B. Rooney

Happy Resurrection week friends! May you know new life, peace, and hope today, tomorrow, and forever. Easter Sunday kicks off a week in the liturgical calendar known as the Easter Octave and a seven-week festival called Eastertide or The Great Fifty Days.

Read all the way to the bottom to join my photo-a-day challenge for the first week of Eastertide!

LOOK: Thirty-Seventh Hour, Matt Kleberg - Source

LISTEN: Here Comes the Sun, Eastertide 2023 playlist

READ: Psalm 145; Psalm 104; Isaiah 25:1-9; 2 Corinthians 4:16-5:10; John 16:16-33

PRAY: Collect for Easter Saturday, the Book of Common Prayer

We thank you, heavenly Father, that you have delivered us from the dominion of sin and death and brought us into the kingdom of your Son; and we pray that, as by his death he has recalled us to life, so by his love he may raise us to eternal joys; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

DO: Share a photo for the photo-a-day festival!

In previous years, we've celebrated the Great 50 Days between Easter Sunday and Pentecost Sunday (aka, Eastertide) with a series I've dubbed Practice Resurrection (after the Wendell Berry poem). It's one of my favorite series all year, and I'm excited to start again. To get the photo-sharing party started, I’ve created an eight-day social media challenge for the first week of Eastertide. Use the prompts as simply or creatively as you’d like, add the hashtag #practiceresurrection2023 and tag me @tamarahillmurphy on IG or @asacramentallife on FB.

Can’t wait to practice resurrection together this week, friends!

Christ is risen! Christ is risen indeed!

Tamara

You might also enjoy: 50 Ways to Celebrate the Great 50 Days of Eastertide! Choose 1 idea or 50, but whatever you do, do it with gusto! You can read here for a brief description of the liturgical season of Eastertide, and see previous Eastertide posts here.

*Sunday Scripture readings are taken from Year A of the Book of Common Prayer 2019 (Anglican Church of North America). Daily Scripture readings are taken from the 1979 Book of Common Prayer and include both Morning and Evening Psalms (Year 1)

Now Does the Dance Begin: Easter Saturday