Susan Ahlbrand of Indiana is our host today for the 20th day of VerseLove 2025. She inspires us to write poems using Broadway lines that stick. Since it’s Easter and I’m heading to Callaway Gardens on Pine Mountain, Georgia for the Sunrise Service this morning, I’m going to wait and choose a line from a Sunrise Service song and change things up a bit.
Check back later for a poem and for pictures of the sunrise on this Easter morning.
Honk! Honk! Honk!
we watched the Cliff Swallows
coming and going from their
mud nests under the eave
of the dock as we waited
for the service to begin
off they went, and back again
as we sang
out of the silence
the roaring lion
declared the grave has no
claim on me
and then we heard them
overhead, coming our way
Honk! Honk! Honk!
right smack dab in the middle
of the Callaway Gardens
Easter Sunrise Service
here they came, flying around
the people
commanding our attention
I counted twelve
and the loudest
Canadian Goose was
the one in the back
Immediately my mind
went to the twelfth disciple
Judas Iscariot
who betrayed Jesus
for thirty pieces of silver
leading to His crucifixion
this cup Jesus asked to be
taken from Him in the
Garden of Gethsemane
and my mind went into
wondering mode
as I sat in Callaway Gardens
hearing the twelfth goose
honk, spurring the pastor
to remark
isn’t that a beautiful sound?
(laughter from the crowd)
that’s how the goose gives praise!
another hymn sung
but drops of grief can ne’er repay
the debt of love I owe
here, Lord I give my self away
’tis all that I can do
Judas, the Greek version of
the Hebrew name Judah,
means Let God be Praised!
the one disciple not from Galilee
the one who betrayed his friend
the one whose evil actions God used for His purpose
the chain of events starter leading to our salvation
the twelfth one by whom God was not blindsided
the one who hanged himself with regret in the aftermath
holds a message for us
that there is hope for all of us yet
that God uses evil for good
here was the twelfth goose
circling us overhead
honking the loudest
on Easter Sunday morning
to the masses below
Honk! Honk! Honk!
Let God be Praised!
Let God be Praised!
Let God be Praised!
as we closed in song
Because he lives
I can face tomorrow
Because He lives
all fear is gone
Because I know
He holds the future
And life is worth the living
Just because He lives!
I disagree with predominant
Christian belief that Judas is in hell.
I believe he had a change of heart at
the eleventh hour, fifty-ninth second
(he was twelfth for a reason)
and that he was the loudest
God-praising goose
this morning.
Hallelujah!
Common Threads 