The Last Hallelujah

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday.

Three years ago, Ash Wednesday began with an early phone call from my sister telling me that my brother had died unexpectedly. It brought a whole new depth to “Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.”

Now the two events are forever linked in my mind — Ash Wednesday and Stewart’s death. Somber and sad.

This morning I was looking for a Collect for Shrove Tuesday and stumbled across a website where I would like to spend more time:  Liturgy  It’s the work of Bosco Peters, an Anglican priest in New Zealand. On his Shrove Tuesday page, he said,

This is the last day of the “Alleluias” until Easter. This day may even involve the burying of the Alleluia.

I loved the idea of making today a day of Hallelujahs, the last day of Hallelujahs before Easter.

I looked out the window and saw a little chickadee hopping around on a tree and imagined it chirruping Hallelujah. I could hear the stream in the basement (not a good thing, but a sign of spring) and saw the clear blue sky with puffy white clouds. Before I knew it, I was writing a little Hallelujah poem.

My day will be filled with Hallelujahs. Will you join me?

The chickadee hops from twig, branch, to limb
Chick-chick-a-dee hallelujah
The gurgle of water as snow melts to spring
Burble-splish-splosh hallelujah

10X sugar piles on robin’s egg sky
Azurean cerulean hallelujah
Mud-luscious earth, spikes of green occupy
Plant-sprouting-spring-shouting hallelujah

Brisk breeze brushes cheek in a chilly embrace
Shiver and shudder hallelujah
Remembering the quickening, tender touches of grace
Life, light, and love — hallelujah

Tomorrow hallelujah dies from our lips
We walk with both Jesus and Judas
Today we rejoice, putting darkness aside —
Come sing! Come shout! Hallelujah!