Thursday, March 28, 2024

"The Place of the Skull"

 A-Poem-a-Day Until Resurrection Day


"Golgotha" - The Place of the Skull



THE PLACE OF THE SKULL[1]

“O death, where is your sting?” 1 Cor 15:55

 

Israel Pilgrimage—1987

 

We gather at the base

of a mountainous rock

into which time has carved

the natural image of a human skull

…hence, its chilling name:

Place of the Skull

 

Above this mound lies Golgotha

where on the most significant day

in the history of the world

Jesus of Nazareth was crucified

between two thieves

 

I stare into the hollow eyes

of this ominous image

and am reminded of Ezekiel

and the dry bones

 

bones that took on flesh

and blood and breath

and came to life

before his very eyes

 

Life.

 

Life is what happens at Golgotha

 

Life that is victorious

over the skull and bones. Victorious

over the ominous face of death

 

Life. Everlasting life—

for all atoned of sin

 

who believe

 

Maude Carolan Pych



[1] There are two locations worthy of serious consideration as the place of Jesus’ crucifixion and burial, the traditional site lies within the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the other is Gordon’s Calvary (Golgotha/The Place of the Skull) and the Garden Tomb. Ref. Grace Communion International



"Behold the Lamb...poetically!"

by Maude Carolan Pych

is available online

at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, CBD, etc.


www.maudecarolanpych.net


Wednesday, March 27, 2024

"Remembering Good Fridays"

 A-Poem-a-Day Until Resurrection Day


Image credit: bible.knowing-Jesus.com

REMEMBERING GOOD FRIDAYS

 

When I was a young girl, back in the 50’s

my grandmother said

there should be no talking on Good Friday

between the hours of one and three

 

no running around, no radio and no TV

all out of respect for our Savior

Who suffered and died

upon the Cross at Calvary

 

so try though I did to be silent and still

I was as fidgety, squirmy and irksome

as any healthy active kid would be

who had not yet grasped

the profound depth of what happened

that terrible good day when Jesus died

 

and in the 70’s when my own children

were young and restless

I would bring them to church

during the very same hours Grandma decreed

to venerate the holy Cross

We’d approach the altar

where the Crucifix was displayed

kneel down and kiss the nail pierced feet of Jesus

or solemnly watch a reenactment of the Passion

by the youth group

 

Now, so many years later

now that I am a grandmother myself

I sit without fidgeting and fumbling

willingly turn off the radio and the TV

and carve out meaningful time to meditate

upon all my precious Lord endured

to save me from my sins

 

Sometimes I sing

“Were You There When They Crucified My Lord?”

Sometimes I weep

and sometimes, like today, I write a poem

 

Always, Jesus’ great sacrifice breaks my heart

and always, looking back

at that astonishing empty tomb

I’m reminded of the Hallelujah Hope

I have in Him—which is eternal

 

Grandma would be so pleased

 

Maude Carolan Pych


Tuesday, March 26, 2024

"Jesus, at Gethsemane"

A-Poem-a-Day Until Resurrection Day


Image credit: dreamstime.com


Here is a poem I wrote during Lent 2024...


JESUS AT GETHSEMANE—

THE OLIVE PRESS

 

I’m thinking about Jesus

and the agony He endured

in the Garden of Gethsemane

following the Passover meal

the evening He was apprehended, bound

and brought before Caiaphas, the high priest

 

Peter, James and John were with Him

He asked them to watch and pray

for His anguish was exceedingly great

 

Gethsemane means olive press—

and I imagine His torment

felt as if He Himself were in that very press

being crushed and squeezed nearly to death

 

From the depth of His soul

Jesus fell on His face and cried out

 

Abba, My Father

if it is possible

let this cup pass from Me

yet not as I will, but as You will

 

Sweat and drops of blood

ran in a stream down His flesh

and dripped upon the ground—

draining Him of strength

 

Jesus pulled himself up

and approached His disciples

but they couldn’t keep their eyes open

and had fallen asleep

He asked them again to watch and pray

that they not be tempted

then returned to the place

where He had been

to continue praying fervently

 

Perhaps Our Lord’s greatest agony

occurred then and there in the garden—

greater even than the excruciating pain

of the Crucifixion

as the staggering weight

of atoning for the sin of all the world

bore down heavily upon Him

unrelentingly, like pressure

upon olives in a press

 

In Our Lord’s unimaginable distress

an angel from Heaven

came to minister to Him

 

Jesus went again to seek His disciples, but

found them sleeping, as before

Alas, He knew their spirits were willing

but their flesh was weak

 

Suddenly there was a commotion

as a noisy crowd led by Judas Iscariot

approached, carrying lanterns

swords and clubs

 

Judas called out

 

Whomever I kiss, He is the one—

Seize him!

 

With that, the betrayer stepped forward

and gave Our Lord

a kiss

 

Maude Carolan Pych



"Behold the Lamb...poetically!"
by Maude Carolan Pych
is available online
at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, CBD, etc.

www.maudecarolanpych.net

 

Monday, March 25, 2024

"Love and the Akedah"

 A-Poem-a-Day Until Resurrection Day


Image credit: abelssacimpactoevangelistico.net

LOVE AND THE AKEDAH[1]

The Binding of Isaac – Genesis 22

 

Take your son

your only son

whom you love…

 

Twenty-two chapters into Scripture

and it’s the first time love is mentioned

as God tells Abraham

 

Sacrifice Isaac

as a burnt offering

 

What swirls

through the mind

of this old patriarch

(who after a hundred years

fathers the son

of God's promise…

the son he loves

and proudly watches grow)

What swirls as he swings

the sharp axe, splitting wood

 

It was three days journey

from Beersheba to Moriah—

Leaving his servants behind

Abraham hands Isaac

the bundled wood

and carries fire and knife

up the mount himself

 

Avi, (my father)

where is the lamb?

 

God will provide the lamb

my son

 

Abraham erects an altar of stone

arranges the wood and binds the lad

(whose faith and obedience

must be at least as great as his own)

 

Unflinching before the God

he has finally come to trust

the aged patriarch

(known to lie

to save his own skin

known to try to pull off

God's covenant himself

when it seemed God was slow

in keeping His promise)

this same patriarch…

raises the glinting blade

above his son, his only son

whom he loves…

 

Split-second to knife-fall

the angel of the Lord calls out

 

Abraham! Abraham!

Do not lay a hand on the boy…

 

The old man

who has proven he would

withhold nothing from his God—

drops the bloodless blade

unbinds and embraces Isaac

 

and there, tangled

in a thicket, struggles

the substitute sacrifice

…a ram

 

Two millennia later

God's Son

His only Son

Whom He loves

carries wood

of a crossbeam

up the very same mountain

 

No angel of the Lord

arrives last moment

to halt the hammerfall

No ram appears in a thicket

 

For God so loves the world

He provides…

 

His Son

His only Son…

 

The Sacrificial Lamb

 

Maude Carolan



[1] Akedah is the Hebrew word for binding.

Sunday, March 24, 2024

"Between the Palms and the Cross"

A-Poem-a-Day Until Resurrection Day



 Image credit: sharefaith.com


BETWEEN THE PALMS AND THE CROSS

 

It’s Lent—

I’m sitting here meditating

upon that final week

wondering what happened to His followers

after Jesus entered Jerusalem

riding astride a donkey

as people spread their coats before Him

along the dusty road

Wondering about those followers

the ones who cut branches from palm trees

and waved them at Him in homage, proclaiming

 

Hosanna to the Son of David!

Hosanna in the highest!

 

After all, He was their humble King

 

I’m sitting here wondering what happened

between then and days later

when Jesus stood before Pilate

amid a crowd of onlookers

persuasive chief priests and elders

and everyone began shouting

 

Crucify Him! Crucify Him!

 

Did they forget the taste of water

that He turned into wine?

 

Did they forget the healed lepers and the blind?

 

Did they forget Him preaching

to the multitudes, Blessed be the poor…

and the thousands He fed with a few loaves and fish

 

Did they forget He healed a pitiful demoniac

and the woman with an issue of blood

 

Could they have forgotten that he said to the dead girl,

Talitha kum, and she sprang right up and walked

 

And Lazarus? Could they possibly have forgotten

that Jesus called His friend out of the tomb

and Lazarus emerged, grave clothes coiled

around his body…after three days!

 

I’m still sitting here wondering about

how quickly they turned

from their hosannas

to calling for His death

 

Wasn’t there one clear-headed believer

one unable-to-be-swayed witness

one unshakable faithful-unto-death follower

to boldly shout out in protest…

 

No!

 

No. There wasn’t

 

Not even one

 

Maude Carolan Pych



"Behold the Lamb...poetically!"

by Maude Carolan Pych

is available online

at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, CBD, etc.


www.maudecarolanpych.net

 

 

 

Saturday, March 23, 2024

"Here Comes Our King"

A-Poem-a-Day Until Resurrection Day


Image credit: Freepik


Today I have a new poem to share...


HERE COMES OUR KING

 

I recall Zechariah prophesied

that Our King would come to us

just and endowed with salvation

humble and mounted on a donkey, still

 

it’s difficult to believe

that this King processing toward us

can possibly be the King

we’ve been expecting

 

But here comes a King

riding along the road to Jerusalem

that leads to the Temple

He’s not in a fine carriage

or upon a stately white stallion

No. This king is astride

a lowly brown donkey

 

just as Zechariah foretold

 

He’s not wearing a long regal robe

just an ordinary tunic

There’s no crown studded with jewels

upon his head. No ornate golden scepter

in His hand

 

but this King

has healed the blind and lame

and raised the dead before our eyes

He’s fed our hungry multitudes

and actually walked upon the Sea of Galilee

 

No one has ever done such things before

 

This King has taught us to pray

and has proclaimed

the very words of God

 

I’ve seen Him—

 

I believe Him

 

so I remove my cloak

and lay it on the road before Him

then break off a low hanging branch

from a palm tree nearby

 

Maude Carolan Pych

 

Friday, March 22, 2024

"Blood Sky"

 A-Poem-a-Day Until Resurrection Day



BLOOD SKY—

Good Friday 2014, Packanack Lake, New Jersey

“I will display wonders in the sky and on the earth, blood, fire and columns of smoke. The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.” Joel 2:30-31 NASB

 

The alarm went off at 3:00 a.m., Tuesday

We went outdoors to gaze at the sky

hoping to get a glimpse

of the first blood moon of the tetrad—

Passover, 2014

 

It was there, but we couldn’t see it

Dense clouds obscured our view

 

Blood moon or not, this week is crimson—

I’ve been thinking about blood in the Nile

blood on the lintels

death of the firstborn sons

 

I bought blood oranges in Fairway, yesterday

Had one for breakfast. It was sweet

 

Today is Good Friday—

I am meditating upon the atonement

the Cross, the death of my Savior

 

Now it’s evening—

I’m on my way to the Good Friday service

at the Jerusalem Center in Wayne

As I drive down Osborne Terrace

approaching Packanack Lake

the sky is incredible—amazing—red as blood

fiery red, red like I’ve never seen it before

 

As the setting sun shines on the still water

the lake mirrors the brilliant crimson firmament

and I can’t help thinking of old Moses

as he dipped his staff into the Nile river

 

At the Jerusalem Center, the dancers

fittingly extol the Lamb Who was slain, and

Jonathan speaks of the sun setting and rising—

endings and beginnings

 

and I feel God may be telling me something, or

am I so deeply aware of Him this holy week

that I see Him everywhere

and in every blessed thing

 

Maude Carolan Pych




Here's a picture of me and my book

in Barnes & Noble, Woodland Park, NJ,

shortly after it was published.

"Behold the Lamb...poetically!"

by Maude Carolan Pych

is available online 

at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, CBD, etc.


www.maudecarolanpych.net