At the end of this week, Good Friday awaits. It is the solemn day that we remember how Jesus suffered and died because of His love for us.
I have often heard the term “Good Friday” used when people are in the midst of tragedy and despair in their lives. I know people who are smack in the middle of Good Friday right now.
In the course of one week, I have encountered three families faced with shocking loss.
One family is mourning the death of their 25 year old son, while the other family grieves for a 41 year old husband and father.
This was capped off by the news of another family’s house burning to the ground today.
The family is safe, but their beloved pets perished, and they have yet to figure out if any of their treasured mementos are still salvageable.
Indeed, they are living Good Friday.
You don’t have to look very far to find people up to their eyeballs in Good Friday experiences.
I was in Alabama last week and watched the news coverage of tornadoes that touched down in multiple neighborhoods.
I know a mom who has taken her daughter to every doctor under the sun and still, no one can give her a definitive diagnosis, much less any kind of treatment plan.
My husband has been a landlord for over two decades, and some of our tenants just can’t make their paychecks stretch long enough, struggling to afford both shelter and food.
Many years ago, I attended a three day mission hosted by our church at the time. The speaker unpacked the meaning of the Triduum: the three sacred days leading up to Easter, known respectively as Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday.
I have never forgotten how this gentleman defined Good Friday in our own lives. He said that, for us, Good Friday is any moment where we think to ourselves, “This is not the way it was supposed to be.”
Can you relate?
I grew up with very intentional rituals and ways of observing Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday, but Holy Saturday was always a bit more mysterious. I was never quite sure what to do with the day between Jesus’ death and resurrection. I usually ended up dying eggs and preparing food for Easter brunch, but nothing I was doing really spoke to the meaning of Holy Saturday.
Until I attended this mission.
The speaker was Dr. Terry Nelson-Johnson. Google him. He is powerful and thought provoking.
Dr. Nelson-Johnson talked about Holy Saturday as the in between time. It is the space where you are after something rocks your world, but before you feel any reassurance that you will come through it okay.
He defined Holy Saturday as the time when we “wait in hope for hope.”
There are a lot of people walking around these days without hope.
Sit with someone in that place. Don’t try yanking them through it.
Don’t offer any explanations.
Don’t try to placate them with overused clichés that bring zero comfort.
Just be with them right where they are. Listen. Love. Accept. That may be just what they need to give them that glimmer of hope.
Christians often loudly proclaim, “We are an Easter people,” and yes, absolutely, we are. We know that Love has the ultimate victory.
But God is in the pain, too. God is with us in the dark. God is with us while we wait.
That’s something to meditate upon this Holy Saturday.
May you always wait in hope for hope.
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