“Mourning By Morning” - Lenten Video

“Mourning By Morning” is the fifth (final) video in our Lenten series of short devotional films. “Mourning” may anticipate Good Friday’s grief, which we will experience again, soon enough. But the song by Shellee Coley recognizes the story does not end there, in death. “Mourning by morning, … I am becoming new,” she sings. “Come and make us new,” she prays to God. That day is coming!

We also hear echoes of Ezekiel's vision of the valley of dry bones (Ezekiel 37:1-14) in the opening of Kelly Ann Hall’s poem: 

I AM walking through the valley of death, beloved,
opening graves, piecing together sets of dry bones,
speaking them to Life.

The poem, with the song that overlays it, express something of the hope that Ezekiel saw in his vision. It’s a glimpse of a promised future, life breathed back into that which was dead. But that newness is not yet fully realized. "Mourning by morning, by morning, we are becoming new,” is the song’s witness. In Lent, let us strive day by day, to learn, to grow. We’re becoming - on our way to being Easter people. Soon!

May these evocative visual resources encourage deeper personal reflection for your Lenten spiritual practice. Previously posted videos can be found on the News (fyi) page of our website.

The video series,“Becoming: a Season of Rebirthing,” is a creative collaboration of singer-songwriter Shellee Layne Coley, poet Kelly Ann Hall, and filmmaker Travis Reed (The Work of the People).

Discussion Guide— If you’d like to go deeper in your reflection on the songs and poems in these videos, this resource can be used by yourself or with others.

Click image below & enter your email to view "Mourning By Morning" - available thru April 21

Video used by permission, via Group subscription to The Work of the People