A Day of Rest
HOLY SATURDAY
Luke 23:56b
Luke gives us the most simple, most direct account of Holy Saturday--"On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment." What else could they do? What energy remained? What else is there to say after a catastrophe of epic proportions? So often, the victims of a cataclysm stand around and gawp into space--they can't do anything else. So it was for all of Jesus' community after Good Friday--for them, the descent into Hell was an immediate, personal experience on a terrible Sabbath full of grief, loss, and doubt.
If ever there were a chaotic stew that needed the presence of the hovering Spirit of God (Gen. 1:2), here was such a stew.
And so it is for us as we pass through life. Pastor Rick Warren, in an interesting mental health initiative to get more access to trained mental health physicians for the many who have no access, said, "“We are all broken...We’re all a little bit mentally ill.” He was not being dismissive, insulting, or judgmental--he was speaking from experience--his own son died a year ago, taking his own life in the abyss of depression. We can relate. The days of darkness are real, actual, and more present than we want. Holy Saturday gives us a way to move through them--following a Zen aphorism, "Don't just do something; sit there!" Sit with God. Allow God to be present. Welcome God. Pray.
This is not meant to dissuade getting help as we need to--God gives us doctors, clinicians, therapists, counselors, pastors, friends--but rather to infuse those interactions with the power and presence of God.
As we allow that presence to enter our experience and life, we allow the Spirit to transform and transcend us. We allow God to heal, mend, and reclaim us from the depths of sorrow, despair, and darkness that loom along the horizon.
An air of expectancy enters. Possibility begins to lighten the eastern shore.
Hope lives.
Luke 23:56b
Luke gives us the most simple, most direct account of Holy Saturday--"On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment." What else could they do? What energy remained? What else is there to say after a catastrophe of epic proportions? So often, the victims of a cataclysm stand around and gawp into space--they can't do anything else. So it was for all of Jesus' community after Good Friday--for them, the descent into Hell was an immediate, personal experience on a terrible Sabbath full of grief, loss, and doubt.
If ever there were a chaotic stew that needed the presence of the hovering Spirit of God (Gen. 1:2), here was such a stew.
And so it is for us as we pass through life. Pastor Rick Warren, in an interesting mental health initiative to get more access to trained mental health physicians for the many who have no access, said, "“We are all broken...We’re all a little bit mentally ill.” He was not being dismissive, insulting, or judgmental--he was speaking from experience--his own son died a year ago, taking his own life in the abyss of depression. We can relate. The days of darkness are real, actual, and more present than we want. Holy Saturday gives us a way to move through them--following a Zen aphorism, "Don't just do something; sit there!" Sit with God. Allow God to be present. Welcome God. Pray.
This is not meant to dissuade getting help as we need to--God gives us doctors, clinicians, therapists, counselors, pastors, friends--but rather to infuse those interactions with the power and presence of God.
As we allow that presence to enter our experience and life, we allow the Spirit to transform and transcend us. We allow God to heal, mend, and reclaim us from the depths of sorrow, despair, and darkness that loom along the horizon.
An air of expectancy enters. Possibility begins to lighten the eastern shore.
Hope lives.
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