A Tender, Touching Saturday

Detail from the Church of the Holy Sepulchure, Photo by Adam Kring on Unsplash

It’s Holy Saturday, an often-overlooked part of Holy Week. But it’s so important to recognize this quiet day, I’m discovering, as we look back on Good Friday’s somberness and peer ahead to tomorrow’s Easter joy. This day, with Jesus in the tomb, helps us become aware of all God has done for us, meeting the aches of the human heart with his promise of compassion and companionship, even in moments of darkness. There’s a poignant tenderness to the scene.

Here are some Holy Saturday online gleanings from folks with wise words:

“[Today is] the day when Christians remember Christ being laid in the tomb. It is a day of desolation in the Christian year. A day when God is silent. I have always felt that this day is important in the church year— the pause, the resistance to rushing to the happy ending, the willingness to sit with what seemed like the total loss of hope.” –Joy Marie Clarkson 

“On Good Friday, Christ raises his arms to embrace the world in the new life born from his agony and death. And on Easter Sunday, Christ tramples down death as the first fruits of the restoration which all creation anticipates. And yet, between the Suffering Servant and the triumphant Lord is the ambiguity of Holy Saturday, when Christ is hidden behind the veil of death, resting in the solemn quiet of the tomb.” –Joel Clarkson

A Prayer for Holy Saturday

“O God, Creator of heaven and earth: Grant that, as the crucified body of your dear Son was laid in the tomb and rested on this holy Sabbath, so may we await with him the coming of the third day, and rise with him to newness of life; who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.” –The Book of Common Prayer, page 283.