Good morning all!  Hope you got to sleep in a little. 🙂

Today’s scripture:

Matthew 27:57-66(NRSV)

57 When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who was also a disciple of Jesus. 58 He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus; then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. 59 So Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth 60 and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn in the rock. He then rolled a great stone to the door of the tomb and went away. 61 Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb.

62 The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate 63 and said, “Sir, we remember what that impostor said while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise again.’64 Therefore command the tomb to be made secure until the third day; otherwise his disciples may go and steal him away, and tell the people, ‘He has been raised from the dead,’ and the last deception would be worse than the first.” 65 Pilate said to them, “You have a guard of soldiers; go, make it as secure as you can.” 66 So they went with the guard and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone.

I just had breakfast with the weekly crew of people and then I stopped by the church to pick up a few things. Jenny had to get to an appointment so she went ahead and took the car which meant I got to walk home this morning.  I was actually eager to do it. A good walk is a good thing (I live about a mile from the church) and it is a good time to walk. All of the flowers are blooming and the world is stirring and it isn’t raining but it also isn’t hot this morning. Perfect. I welcomed the walk.  I started out to head home and I tried to clear my mind while I walked. I wanted to notice things I hadn’t noticed before.

Instead, I started to think about all of the things I needed to do between now and Monday night when I leave for Miami before going to Cuba the next day. I found myself walking faster. I realized that wasn’t why I wanted to walk. I stopped.  I looked around.  What if I prayed about who is in each house?

So I did that for a bit, observing the different houses and how they showed different personalities. I thought about who was in them or who made that space home.  I liked this activity…I felt as though I was connecting differently with the world.

A few blocks from home I started thinking about how we never get to do this kind of thing and really this is what Holy Saturday is all about.  Nothing happens on this day in the Jesus story but reflection and waiting. We are not good at this in our culture.  We get anxious when we don’t know what to do next.  We want action.  I am sure the disciples felt the same way.  Once we stayed in tents on Monday and the tents went down on Tuesday, people wanted action that same day.  But we needed a little bit of space to breathe, and pray, and discern where God is calling. I keep saying to people, “Before we launch, let’s see what Holy Week will do in us. Let us live into Easter and then we can do again.” I feel so deeply that we have to be allowed to grieve and breathe and take stock before we go again.  In my own life, I am waiting for some answers and it is so tempting to just go and do and make decisions when I know that isn’t the right piece.  A friend of mine has recently said, “You are really living into the longest Holy Saturday, aren’t you?”

And here we sit in Holy Saturday and I feel that tension…between doing and waiting and being. Between action and listening. Between getting the task list down and praying my way home.

Today it would be worth our while to live into Saturday a bit.  Take a walk.  Breathe in and out.  Acknowledge the anxiety of getting to Easter but not being able to yet.

Peace,
C