Holy Saturday – Embracing the Wilderness Within Us and Around Us

Holy Week invites us into a story of betrayal, abandonment, mockery, violence, and ultimately death. So, it makes sense then that there a natural tendency to want to rush from the pain of Good Friday to the celebration of Easter Sunday.

Instead, we are invited on this day to sit in the sacred space of instead of Holy Saturday. Not only is it a sacred space, it is a wild place because of the unknown as it lingers between the suffering and death of Jesus on Friday and the resurrection of Easter Sunday. Holy Saturday is a reminder of the human conditions and is an invitation to let go of things or people, identities or securities and then wonder what will rise up out of the ashes of our lives. Anytime we find ourselves in pain, grief, sorrow, or suffering there is the haunting question, “Will I ever experience joy again?” Our lives are full of Holy Saturday experiences.

So, before we rush to resurrection we must fully dwell in the space of in between. The liminal place of restlessness and unknowing - holding life and death in tension with each other, and experiencing and living into the wilderness allows us to fully embrace and appreciate the power of resurrection.

Not only will we experience the full joy on Easter Sunday by facing the darkness and unknown of Holy Saturday, we might have the opportunity one day to accompany others who find themselves in their own disoriented space of Holy Saturday.

May the experience of wilderness within and around you transform you on this scared day of in-between. Our walk with Jesus demands something of us and calls us to stand in uncomfortable places where we are offered no easy answers. May you find courage as you live with the tension of life and death, committed to asking questions in your Holy Saturdays– knowing that in embracing the wilderness, you will be Spirit-led to the other side to something new and beautiful that has risen out of the ashes.

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