EASTER DAWN

 

Photo: Gail K. Kachnycz; Easter Dawn Purple. Holy Sepulcher Cemetery, Cheltenham PA 

EASTER DAWN

By Gail K. Kachnycz on 2 April 2024 

     Three A.M…Four A.M…Five A.M…I was having a restless night and anticipating a busy Easter day. First, attending the Easter worship service and providing transportation for an elderly couple to the church and back to their home. During the afternoon and evening there would be a gathering of extended family for the holiday meal. I was preparing food to bring. Sleep continued to evade me. At ten minutes to six, I decided to get up. I had wanted to get a special sunrise photo for my blog. When I was sleeping well, I avoided getting up before dawn, but since I was awake and needed to prepare for the day ahead, I pulled on some casual pants and tied up my gardening shoes.

     As I stepped outside, I noted that the sky seemed a uniform gray. An overcast sky would prevent the illumination I wanted for the photo. Hoping that there would be breaks in the clouds, I jumped in my car and headed out into the predawn darkness. The idea for the photo was the contrast of a cemetery symbolizing death and despair, with the light of dawn bringing hope. It seemed particularly significant that the morning I set out to do this was Easter morning.

     The cemetery was only about a mile away. As I pulled up toward the gate, the car passed through fog resting in the low lying areas of the roadway. Fog would also ruin the chances for a good image. I drove through the gate and parked where the asphalt lane changed to a grassy path. I stepped out into a cold March morning and began walking through the damp grass.

     Although the cemetery was in my neighborhood and I had driven past it countless times, I had never walked through it before. Once inside, I found myself surrounded by trees and small family mausoleums that might obscure the skyline. Most of the headstones were no more than two or three feet high. Would there be a monument tall enough to silhouette against the sky? I was also hoping for clouds, as they provide a sense of depth and also the illuminating effect I wanted. There was a gray bank of clouds along the west, but the eastern horizon seemed clear and empty. As I walked along, I prayed that the Lord would guide me to the place where the sunlight would appear behind a grave marker with a cross. I scanned across the headstones. Most were plain, but along a ridge there were more ornate monuments, and I saw the outline of a cross. Walking through a graveyard in the darkness and mist seemed like something out of a Sherlock Holmes mystery, but I was not afraid. I kept heading toward the east and focusing on the outline of the cross.

     As I drew nearer to the monument, I noticed a faint wisp, almost just a line, of clouds low in the eastern sky. I positioned myself in front of the monument pedestal, with the cloud behind the cross. For twenty minutes, I stood in the damp and cold, transfixed as the increasing light of dawn illuminated the cloud with changing shades of pink and purple, cream and peach. I took pictures at intervals, but my phone camera just could not capture the delicate nuances of the early light of the edge of dawn. Finally, at sunrise, the sky faded to pale blue and the cloud was only a filmy white wisp. In the light of day, I saw the inscription at the base of the pedestal supporting the cross. It was only one word, no date of birth or death, just the family title, “KING.”

    I could write another full essay on all the lessons that I saw in this experience. Let me state the most important in just a few sentences.

The empty cross, and Christ’s resurrection, defeats death and the darkness that surrounds us. It points us to hope. And finally, at our journey’s end, we will see that the KING was guiding us through it all.

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we also have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we celebrate in hope of the glory of God. And not only this, but we also celebrate in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. Romans 5:1-5 NASB2020