April 11, 2020 Holy Saturday

Usually I write earlier in the day, preferably before noon, but today “got away from me”  as the old saying goes. It’s just as well as the late start has afforded me the chance to think about the Saturday that precedes Easter Sunday from more than one perspective. As I slipped into jeans and a tee this morning, I remembered the pre-Easter Saturdays of my youth and early to mid adulthood. I can only speak to the experiences of those of us of varying hues who long ago were kissed by the sun. Commonly in our homes that was a day of preparation for the grandest of church services. Hours would  be spent in those hallowed spaces called beauty shops that prepped the locks of the females in the household while barber shops did the same for dads and sons. (Assuming one could afford such services; if not mothers and dads did the honors in kitchens and bathrooms) Easter outfits hung ready to adorn; dinner was prepped or, if one had the means, brunch reservations were secured. Easter baskets filled with dyed eggs, jelly beans,  Peeps and chocolate bunnies sat on a table, waiting for the attack of little people the next morning. It wasn’t a somber day at all. I don’t recall it being called Holy Saturday,  or a day reserved for reflective thought,  though we knew that Jesus was dead in the tomb after His crucifixion the day before. But we didn’t linger on that. We were too hyped in our preparation for Sunday – the crush of crowded pews sporting congregants in their Easter finery, the choir in full regalia singing “Christ the Lord is risen today, Alleluia”, the little children’s Easter speeches,- “What cha looking at me for? I didn’t come to stay. I just came to wish you Happy Easter Day,” and the sermonic theme that spoke to the essence of our faith-Jesus is risen!

“Longevity has its place“, MLK, Jr said and I certainty agree. With longevity comes the blessing of the opportunity to mature in one’s faith, to come to a greater understanding of what it means to believe in Jesus and to follow Him. What I knew only in part then I know now more fully. And I continue by His grace to grow in my understanding of the faith I profess. Thus Holy Saturday is not like the aforementioned. Instead it forces me to confront something very uncomfortable, something that saddens, something that reaches my core. Jesus lies in a tomb on this day 2000 years ago. He’s been cruelly crucified and death has claimed him. He has scarified His life to save me.  That reality hits home every year and though I know Resurrection is just hours away, today is a sobering day. It is a day in which we are given the chance again to embrace our faith, to get better at this calling to be like Christ.

And perhaps more so than ever in our lifetimes, we are in the unique position of knowing what it might have felt like for the disciples on this Saturday. They stayed out of sight for fear of reprisal by the Roman authorities. We imagine their uncertainty, their anxiety, their sense that life had changed so drastically it might never be the same. In this period of pandemic that has us staying out of sight for fear of an enemy  that is no respecter of person, we too fall prey to fear, to uncertainty, to anxiety and the sense of life being so disrupted, it might never be the same.  Unlike the disciples however, we know what tomorrow holds, as we know who holds it. The joy of Jesus’ resurrection restored their hope and faith in Him. Life did change, but it was a change that fulfilled God’s plans. I think we can claim in tomorrow’s Resurrection Sunday a resurrection of our hope and a renewal of faith. God holds the world in His hands today as He did then. As death did not defeat Jesus; neither will a virus defeat the Lord’s plans and purposes. Irrespective of statistics and pundits, God knows what He’s doing, even in the midst of illness and death. We who know Him also know that His Son has conquered death. God’s plans will prevail.  Tomorrow, (God willing) we will rejoice – no matter where we are.

Love. Joy. Peace,