This is a poem for Good Friday that my Aunt Jill sent my mom years ago. Since it is Good Friday today, I thought I'd share it with you all. It's from a collection of works called Waters Under the Earth (Canon Press) by Robert Seigel.

This Lenten season has been a particularly meaningful one for me. I don't know that I really understood the journey of lent or the joy of Easter (other than assured receipt of mass quantities of chocolate, and maybe a pretty new dress if I was lucky) before I was an adult. It's strange for me to think of how disconnected I was from my faith for most of my childhood. It felt like something that happened around me and that I was only marginally involved in, simply because I was present for it. Now having taken ownership of it and being an active participant, the words I've been saying for so many years have sprouted new branches of understanding.

The liturgy I've said for so long has formed deep roots and a structure from which my faith has grown. As I get older, and I learn more about different parts of it, I am more amazed at how the church fathers of yore wrote such a complete, concise, and beautiful expression of faith for us to join together in on a Sunday. This Easter I will be in Constantinople/Istanbul. I'm looking forward to a different experience of this high feast day. I'll report back with pictures and stories throughout the week.

This trip comes directly on the heels of my completion of grad school. I'm done with my Masters degree officially and I am elated. What better recourse than to leave the country! It's sort of my M.O. A toast to other GW graduates and to a summer of uncertainty and faith!



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