I wrote something for Holy Saturday in 2017 that seemed really appropriate to share again. Holy Saturday feels much more intense this year, and yet many people seem all the more determined to rush forward to the triumph of redemption without really sitting in the weight of loss.

Here’s what I wrote:

“I think we too often make Holy Saturday about waiting for Sunday. About patience. But that requires hindsight not foresight, it's for a people who already know what's coming next in the story. The people of Holy Saturday didn't have that.

For them Holy Saturday was the ultimate ‘How much do you trust Me’ moment. For them it was watching all of their hopes die and be laid in a tomb and having to decide ‘is God still good?’

Holy Saturday wasn't about patience, it was about surrender. It wasn't about ‘can I hold on until you fix this,’ it was about ‘if this is it and you never fix this and it never makes any sense to me this side of heaven? You're still God, you're still good, and I'm still yours.’

I want to have a Holy Saturday faith. I want to stand in the tension and the uncertainty and see my hopes laid dead in that tomb and say "’You're still God, You’re still good, and I'm still yours.’ “

This year more than ever, I want to remember there is holiness in grief. There is holiness in mourning. There is holiness in letting go of the illusion of control or the coping mechanism of false positivity, and giving ourselves over to acceptance & surrender.

There is holiness in learning to be a Holy Saturday people.