Holy Saturday

Holy Week has been a very significant one for our new faith community. We joined St. John's Lutheran and Operation New Hope and invited the neighborhood to Community Prayers in the Park. We gathered Wed., Thurs. and Fri. mornings for a time of prayer, silence, scripture reading and reflection. It was our way of intentionally moving through this Holy Week and intentionally creating spaces where we express our common love for God and one another. It was rich in meaning and relationship.

Today is a much more quiet day and I am forced to confront the reality of my personal Lenten journey. The question that I have been focused on during Lent this year is: where is death needed in order for new life to be experienced? The painful truth is that the story of Jesus' life and ministry teaches us that in order for new life to begin (and I'm talking about new life here and now), there must be some things that are put to rest. It sounds strange to say this, but there are some areas of my life that need death. Here are a few: dwelling too much on what used to be, allowing negative thoughts/doubts about myself to keep me from taking risks, not resting enough, avoiding spending necessary time in silence and spiritual discipline, and I could go on...I think you get the point. There are places where I need to let go so that I can live more fully. That is where my Lenten journey has taken me this year.

Today is Holy Saturday and we have no events on our calendar for this day before Easter. It is traditionally meant to be a day of rest and quiet meditation, remembering the day Jesus rested in the tomb. We will not gather with our community today, but will anticipate being together to serve at the Clara White Mission in the morning. For today, though, we are left to consider a world without Christ, a world void of hope and new life...remembering all the while that "weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning" (Ps. 30:5, NRSV).