A Greeting of Peace
Easter 3; Luke 24:36b-48; Acts 3:12-20; Psalm 4
He stood among them, offered them his peace.
Amazed and doubting, they were terrified:
they thought they saw the ghost of one who’d died.
How did he help their fear and doubt to cease?
He chose to let them see his damaged flesh;
he showed the wounds in hands and feet and side.
He ate some food with them, and opened wide
their minds to understand his Word afresh.
How can we find the peace he offers here?
Our wounds reach out to his, feel he’s alive.
Communion shares the food that helps faith thrive,
and opening to Scripture calms our fear.
Communing with our hearts brings us release;
times of refreshment come; we sleep in peace.
Barbara Messner 12/04/2024
Barb, poet priest 
I started reading with my thought that the wild new-ity of resurrection could never be contained or constrained in the bonds of a sonnet and then — yes! This is the only form. Here. We can eat this; here we can bring our wounds to be bandaged, and so bound it will stood the bleeding.
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I thought this sonnet was rather contained and constrained, but it’s my default form when I’m pressured, perhaps because it is just a mouthful. I’m intrigued by your comment, not entirely convinced of the value of this sonnet, but there’s something I need to reflect on in the bandaging and binding to withstand the bleeding. Is that why I so often get drawn into patterns of rhyme and rhythm and form. Is it healing containment or constraining?
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O, I think, indeed that it is a healing bandage — not where I go except with songs. So many times we need, more than anything, to “sleep in peace.”
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