Easter, Day 5: “Then so soft . . .”

LOOK: Magdalene: The Tomb by Greg Tricker

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I learned about Greg Tricker from Sister Wendy Beckett, a nun who narrated several BBC docuseries about art throughout the 1990s. In the following Piano Nobile video from 2011, Sister Wendy converses with Tricker at Gloucester Cathedral about his exhibition Pillars of Faith. While they don’t discuss Magdalene: The Tomb, which is shown at 1:03, they do discuss a similar painting at 7:11.

LISTEN: “They Have Taken Him” by The Soil and The Seed Project | Words by Greg Yoder, 2023 | Music by Greg Yoder, Valerie Bess, and Taylor Bess, 2023 | Performed by Valerie Bess and Taylor Bess on The Soil and The Seed Project, Volume 9: Lent, Easter, Pentecost, 2024

Early on the first day of the week
I slip into the darkness while the garden lies sleeping
Feel the dew upon my hand, cool from the weeping of the stone
Night still clings heavy like a shroud
I whisper to the emptiness, and the echo is as loud
As thunder, it’s a wonder the dead slumber and leave us here alone

They have taken him, and I do not know where he’s gone

Then all the world is in motion
Running like the waves trying to outrun the ocean
They overtake each other, brother tumbling over brother
To the threshold, but daring not go in
Standing in the flowers, unbelieving
Hearing voices in the garden, “Woman, why are you grieving?”
They have taken him away
And I do not know where they have taken him

They have taken him, and I do not know where he’s gone
Someone has taken him, and I do not know where he’s gone

Now I have seen the lilies of the field
And I have seen the sparrows winging o’er
But if this is how you show your love
I’m not sure that I can take much more

Early on the first day of the week
I slip into the darkness where the gardener is keeping
Watch over the mourning ones
He’ll watch until the morning comes aflame
“Sir, if you have carried him away
Tell me where you laid him so I may go to him today”
His silence breaks my spirit, then so soft I barely hear it
He remakes me with the whisper of my name

They have not taken him; I have seen the coming dawn
I know they have not taken him; I know I’ve seen the coming dawn