He gives me Rest

He was dead,

Our Hope,

Our Salvation;

Joseph, kind Joseph, had taken down his body, wrapped it in white linen and laid it in a tomb.

Nicodemus, perfumed his mangled body with myrrh and aloes as hastily as he could. It was Preparation Day, the light was dimming.

That was last night, what a night!

People saw their dead,

The temple curtain torn from top to bottom.

Judas hang himself. Peter and all the others are in hiding.

A centurion believes that Jesus is truly the Son of God.

Today is the Sabbath,

We rest,

We keep it holy,

We pray,

We give thanks to the Lord because He is good and His mercies endure forever;

We give thanks to the Lord because He is good, His love is eternal.

Yet

Our savior lies dead in a rich man’s tomb.

It hurts. Shall we wail in hopelessness? It is the Sabbath, it is the Lord’s day. The rumblings of victory swallowing death.

The lamb slain before the foundations of time?

Mary had broken her jar of precious oil, anointed his feet with oil,washed his feet with her tears. Giving her all, she, not a priest, not a man, prepared our passover lamb for sacrifice.

Dead on the Sabbath,

quietly reconciling,

reconstituting,

reframing,

resounding,

restoring,

All things to Himself,

All things in Himself,

All things for Himself.

Taking captivity captive,

Making a public spectacle of principalities and powers of darkness,

Taking the sting out of death,

Taking the sting out of Hades.

Redeeming us for Love alone,

Conveying us to the Kingdom of God,

Triumphing in Rest.

It is finished!

Guns…so primitive

I finally visited Wakanda. This is the point at which collars would be pulled up, I would acquire a new bounce in my step and a new accent. très bien!

Not in Wakanda. Walalala! What was that?

I know who I WAS when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then.

LEWIS CARROLL, Alice in Wonderland

We saw, we conquered, We are coming.

The costumes reminded me of Namasagali plays at the National theatre. The special effects in Black Panther made all the plays come alive. The dances were faster and so were the fights. What a beautiful twist to drama. Yamawe, yamawe!

I found all the Bond movies with a delightful Q who created even more jaw dropping toys! And the intrigue in Bourne Supremacy. There was a bit of Fast and Furious with the ‘Bugattis’. Oh and guess who popped in as well, Shakespeare. And I think Lion King. It was breathtaking.

The way those men honored the women. The respect the women showed the men. Eh eh. Wakanda forever. The jokes between the women are familiar. The responses to death and to crisis reminded me of Olanna and Kainene in Chimamanda Adiche’s Half of a yellow sun. The relationship between the T’Shaka and T’challa. The relationship amongst the leaders. Kithufu nyo

Technology fits within our African chaos, visions of hope that we do not need drastic changes to our environment. More bridges and less barriers. The energy, rhinos, kinetic, vibranium, loads of energy.

The humor, the punchlines are so Ug. And there was Everett, Everett is that guy you bump into and he has no clue. ‘You have that?’ And walks around fascinated by all things African. Asking all sorts of questions to which your teacher would have responded, “common sense” while tapping his forehead. Everett gets off with only a slight telling off, a passing reference to Oz.

Okoye. Selah.

I thank Ryan Coogler for keeping it up there in the league of all other Marvel heroes. Superman with his signature theme song. And the dark batman and his faithful butler.

I pledge allegiance to the King and kingdom of Wakanda, one nation under God, undivided, with liberty , justice and vibranium for all.

Sounds of spears. Sounds of armour as arms crisscross each chest.

The plot does not degenerate into street fights or bitching or good old soul food. It’s classic Marvel. I await the Lois and Clark series nay, T’Challa and Nakia. The story behind the story.