7:05 p.m. - 2005-03-28
lent is over, easter now, then spring
monday, march 28.
so this weekend. was so good.
driving back and forth across the mississippi, just me in my car, coffee and ipod. and picking up KRUI for about three miles as I speed past Iowa City, old Mates of State and Jurassic Five. I forget how much good driving by myself does, how much it clears me out.
Iowa (and illinois) are still all brown, but I've been monitoring the buds on the trees and it's going to be green any day now.
I love the traditions of church that mark the year, the Good Friday Tenebrae service which feels so different from any other evening service. My dad wears his long black robe with all the buttons down the front, it's the only time he wears it all year. The Good Friday hymns are dark, beautifully worded and sad.
The sinless Son of God must die in sadness;
The sinful child of man may live in gladness;
We forfeited our lives yet are acquitted;
God is committed!
O wondrous love, whose depth no heart has sounded,
That brought you here, by foes and thieves surrounded,
Conquer my heart, make love its sole endeavor
Henceforth forever!
During the service, the story of the passion is read, the lights are periodically turned down and the candles extinguished, until the very end where we are all in complete darkness, the congregation recites the Lord's Prayer, and everyone walks out in silence. It's the most quiet moment in my entire year, every year. And it feels so refreshing to be out in the edge of town quiet church after the noisiness of the city.
But Lent is over now, the brightness of Easter morning balances it out, and here we are. It's sunny today, I felt different when I woke up.
Yesterday, Easter Sunday, we all went to my brother's for lunch. My adorable one year old niece, decked out in the frilliest pink dress you've ever seen, played with my bangle bracelets. Easter ham was consumed. And my backwards drive into Illinois. All is well.
Mike cleaned his house and he and the dog were there waiting for me late Sunday afternoon. It stays lighter and lighter out every day, and next weekend is the time change. I can't wait. I feel a little lighter myself.
