Earth's Easter (MCMXVI)

"Behold The Lamb"

EARTH'S EASTER (MCMXVI)
BY ROBERT HAVEN SCHAUFFLER

Earth has gone up from its Gethsemane,
And now on Golgotha is crucified;
The spear is twisted in the tortured side;
The thorny crown still works its cruelty.
Hark! while the victim suffers on the tree,
There sound through starry spaces, far and wide,
Such words as by poor souls in hell are cried:
"My God! my God! Thou hast forsaken me!"

But when Earth's members from the cross are drawn.
And all we love into the grave is gone.
This hope shall be a spark within the gloom:
That, in the glow of some stupendous dawn.
We may go forth to find, where lilies bloom,
Two angels bright before an empty tomb.

Easter Day by John Keble

"Faith At The Cross"

 

EASTER DAY 
BY JOHN KEBLE

O Day of days! shall hearts set free.
No "minstrel rapture" find for thee?
Thou art the Sun of other days.
They shine by giving back thy rays:

Enthroned in thy sovereign sphere
Thou shed'st thy light on all the year:
Sundays by thee more glorious break,
An Easter Day in every week:

And week days, following in their train,
The fullness of thy blessing gain.
Till all, both resting and employ,
Be one Lord's day of holy joy.

Then wake, my soul, to high desires.
And earlier light thine altar fires:
The world some hours is on her way.
Nor thinks on thee, thou blessed day:

Or, if she thinks, it is in scorn:
The vernal light of Easter morn
To her dark gaze no brighter seems
Than Reason's or the Law's pale beams.

" Where is your Lord? " she scornful asks
"Where is his hire? we know his tasks;
Sons of a King ye boast to be:
Let us your crowns and treasures see."

We in the words of truth reply
(An angel brought them from the sky),
" Our crown, our treasure is not here,
'Tis stored above the highest sphere:

" Methinks your wisdom guides amiss,
To seek on earth a Christian's bliss;
We watch not now the lifeless stone:
Our only Lord is risen and gone."

Yet even the lifeless stone is dear
For thoughts of him who late lay here;
And the base world, now Christ hath died,
Ennobled is and glorified.

No more a charnel-house, to fence
The relics of lost innocence,
A vault of ruin and decay —
The imprisoning stone is rolled away.

'Tis now a cell where angels use
To come and go with heavenly news.
And in the ears of mourners say,
" Come, see the place where Jesus lay ":

'Tis now a fane, where love can find
Christ everywhere embalmed and shrined:
Aye gathering up memorials sweet
Where'er she sets her duteous feet.

Oh, joy to Mary first allowed.
When roused from weeping o'er his shroud,
By his own calm, soul-soothing tone,
Breathing her name, as still his own !

Joy to the faithful Three renewed.
As their glad errand they pursued!
Happy, who so Christ's word convey.
That he may meet them on their way!

So is it still: to holy tears,
In lonely hours, Christ risen appears;
In social hours, who would Christ see
Must turn all tasks to charity.

Sabbath Morn by Nicolai Grundtvig

Waiting at the empty tomb...

 FROM THE DANISH OF NICOLAI GRUNDTVIG

From death, Christ on the Sabbath morn,
A conqueror arose;
And when each Sabbath dawn is born
For death a healing grows.
This day proclaims an ended strife,
And Christ's benign and holy life.

By countless lips the wondrous tale
Is told throughout the earth;
Ye that have ears to hear, oh, hail
That tale with sacred mirth!
Awake, my soul, rise from the dead,
See life's grand light around thee shed.

Death trembles each sweet Sabbath hour,
Death's brother. Darkness, quakes;
Christ's word speaks with divinest power,
Christ's truth its silence breaks;
They vanquish with their valiant breath
The reign of darkness and of death.

An Easter-Tide Deliverance

The Hope of Israel...

AN EASTER-TIDE DELIVERANCE A. D. 430
BY MARIA H. BULFINCH

The sun was drowned in the western tide,
The moon shone pale on the mountain side;
The heathen host, by the camp-fire's light,
In feasts and revels passed the night.
They talked of deeds that should be done
At early dawn of the morrow's sun;
They laughed in scorn that the Christian band
Their mighty host should dare withstand.
The Christians prayed through the whole night long,
Their arms were weak, their faith was strong.
Close pressed the foe on every side,
But heaven above was fair and wide.
The sun that sank in the blood-red sea,
An earthly type of their fate might be.
The moon that shone with so cold a light
In vain might seek them another night;
But Christ, their leader, would faithful be,
And death in His cause is victory.
Hours passed — one ray of morning light
Was on the topmost mountain height.
On a lofty crag, sublime and high,
A form stood forth 'gainst the glowing sky.
The Saint Germanus! — he turned his eyes
Where Easter's sun began to rise.
No word of sorrow his lips let fall.
No word of dangers around them all.
He bared to heaven his reverent head.
For Christ this morn arose from the dead.
Then "Alleluia!" aloud he cried,
And "Alleluia!" the rocks replied;
And "Alleluia!" from cliff to cave,
An answering shout the Christians gave.
The echoes sound it again and again.
Like the voice of a host of mighty men.
The heathens start, with strange, vague fear,
"What unseen foes have drawn so near?
Hath the God of the Christians sent in the night
His Bands of Angels to join in the fight?"
Then wild with terror they fled away —
The battle was won that Easter-Day.
Is life so hopeless, brother, to thee,
That naught but death can bring victory?
Rise thou above thine own despair,
Forget thyself and thy pressing care;
Let the voice of praise from thy lips arise,
Thine Alleluia mount to the skies;
And on thy heart's glad Easter-Day,
Thy foes, in terror, shall flee away.

Weave a Chenille Stem Easter Basket

The finished yarn and chenille stem basket.

       Learn to make a very sophisticated Easter basket using textured and unusual yarns. This is a perfect Easter craft for using left over yarns that you may have tucked away in the drawer full of discards. I have so many supplies like this! I just hate to be wasteful and not use them somehow... The supplies you will need include: chenille stems (all white), yarn, cardboard, small nail and wire clippers. I made this basket for 2019, but I'm just now getting around to posting it here, sorry.

Selecting the yarn for this craft will greatly
determine how your finished piece looks!

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Cut an oval from heavy cardboard for the bottom of your chenille stem basket.
2. Use a nail to punch holes along the outer edges of the cardboard bottom.
3. Bend the ends of each chenille stem around and up through the holes. The length of these fuzzy wires will predetermine the height of the sides of your basket.
4. At this point you may wish to wire the bottom of your basket with an extra wire or chenille stem if you intend to display it on an Easter egg tree. To wire the bottom push a stem up through and back down into two holes strategically located in the bottom cardboard.
5. Now continue to weave yarn in and out of every other chenille stem. The yarn you choose to use for this weave will greatly shape and affect the appearance of the basket; so choose carefully.
6. Shape a wire oval the same size of the base to twist the tips of the chenille stems around at the top of your basket. 
7. Weave additional yarn around the top edge to cover the top edge till smooth. 
8. Wire loops at both ends of the basket using covered wires.
9. Bend another wire for the handle and twist this through the wire loops at both ends to shape the basket handle. 
10. Cover the basket handle with more yarn.

Left, Cut an oval from heavy cardboard for the bottom of your chenille stem basket.
Center, Use a nail to punch holes along the outer edges of the cardboard bottom.
Right, Bend the ends of each chenille stem around and up through the holes. The
length of these fuzzy wires will predetermine the height of the sides of your basket.

Left, The wires inserted into each nail hole. Right, see what the bottom looks like.

Left, I decided to glue a second layer of cardboard on the bottom of my basket to make it stronger.
Center, At this point you may wish to wire the bottom of your basket with an extra wire or chenille
stem if you intend to display it on an Easter egg tree. To wire the bottom push a stem up through
and back down into two holes strategically located in the bottom cardboard. Right, Now continue
 to weave yarn in and out of every other chenille stem. The yarn you choose to use for this
weave will greatly shape and affect the appearance of the basket; so choose carefully.

Left, I chose to switch out my yarn types to make a stripe. Center, the bent oval stem for the top
edge of my basket is the same size as the cardboard bottom, however, you could adjust this to be
larger or smaller to change the shape of your basket. Right, I covered this with yarn before and 
after attaching it.

Left, See the chenille stems wrapped around the wire edge. Right, see that I wrapped the edge of
the basket again with yarn to cover the exposed stems.

More Weaving Crafts:

• Weave colorful Easter baskets using Dixie cups
• Weave yarn trees
• Weave Indian Corn for Autumn Fun!
• Construct a cardboard box loom for a child

Print, Cut and Color a Vintage Rocking Bunny

Directions for Making This Vintage Easter Toy: Paste the cutout on cardboard. When the paste is dry, cut around the outline of the rocking bunny toy. When the toy has been cut out, bend it back along the dotted line in the middle, between the ears. Color the toy. Cut out the flaps and bend these at the lines. Paste the two braces at either end of the rockers between the two bunnies on the inside of the toy. Now you have a fun rocking bunny for your Easter table top!

• Antique bunny postcard, Easter Joys poem and a hidden nest of Mister Bunny or possibly his brother Sunny...
• Sew a vintage stuffed bunny for a grandchild or new baby this Easter!
• Strange Easter Dolls, Enchantimals, once stuffed inside baskets for Easter...