HOLY SATURDAY
(A Space between Good Friday and Easter)

They took the body of Jesus and wrapped it with the spices in linen cloths, according to the burial custom of the Jews. Now there was a garden in the place where he was crucified and in the garden there was a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid. And so, because it was the Jewish Day of preparation and the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.
John 19:40-42

Holy Saturday – a pause. A space between Good Friday and Easter. A full tomb and, except, for the guard, an empty garden.
We don’t pay a lot of attention to Holy Saturday other than as our day of preparation for Easter Sunday. We are occupied with busy anticipation. We have moved on from Good Friday.
We are given this one holy day to pause. We are given this holy space to grieve, to be empty, to realize that life, as we know it, is over.
There is a danger if moving too quickly from grief. Grief cannot be rushed. None of the Good Fridays in our lives can.
Holy Saturday is more than the necessary and holy space to face death without denial and to grieve. There is something much deeper going on. On Holy Saturday, we are invited to shed our lives and enter the tomb. Our effort and righteousness as much as our sin binds us. Our effort to save our lives binds us. This is true as much for the church as it is for each member.
Holy Saturday can be seen as empty, void. But this space between Good Friday and Easter beckons us from our life to life in Christ.

Pastor Lynette