This is a week of extremes: from the joyful Hosannas of Palm Sunday, to the Maundy Thursday scene of the Last Supper, the agony of Good Friday, the silence of Holy Saturday, and the joyful Alleluias of Resurrection Sunday, we travel the gamut. My prayer for you this week is that you will not rush too quickly to Alleluia, and will allow yourself to experience the grief of Friday and the silence of Saturday. It is only from that grief and silence that we can fully realize the gift of the cross; that we can fully absorb the gift of his great love for us.
Therefore I Will Hope
A Blessing for Holy Saturday
I have no cause
to linger beside
this place of death
no reason
to keep vigil
where life has left
and yet I cannot go,
cannot bring myself
to cleave myself
from here
can only pray
that this waiting
might yet be a blessing
and this grieving
yet a blessing
and this stone
yet a blessing
and this silence
yet a blessing
still.
Jan Richardson
May God bless you as you live fully into this holiest of weeks.
-Pastor Jane