Reflections on Saturday

 

Today is a day-between-days, a day of waiting.  The Gospels are silent between Friday and Sunday. There are no services offered at my Church.  Instead, our family carries on with normal life, we finish housework, my daughter has her birthday party.  We eat some more Hot Cross Buns.

But back then, the disciples didn’t know they were supposed to be waiting for anything.  Despite Jesus trying to tell them what was going to happen, they had no concept of resurrection.  After all, whoever thought of a dead man coming back to life again?  For them this was just a day of grief, all their hopes dashed, their world shattered.

We know what happens next.  We’ve peeked at the end of the book.  It’s with the perspective offered by the Resurrection that we can actually make sense and understand the Crucifixion.  It wasn’t until after the Resurrection that the disciples began to understand the Hebrew scriptures that the Christ must suffer and die. And it was the risen Jesus that explained it to them.

In some ways, it seems that the world I live in today is in Saturday.  Jesus walked the earth nearly 2,000 years ago, died for our sins, rose again, then to all appearances seems to have vanished from the picture leaving it up to me to muddle through with what’s left.  I live in a world today where there is still suffering and pain and grief.  I live is a city that lies in ruins, waiting for a promised rebuild some time in a distant future when the Insurance industry figures out how it will be paid for.  I live in Saturday, but I can’t really say I know what I’m waiting for.  I read hinted prophecies and scriptures that promise one day God’s Kingdom will be somehow fulfilled on earth.  Images of no more mourning, no more suffering, God walking with us as he did in Eden.  When I’m honest, I don’t really know when that will come or what that will look like.  And I live my daily life without any real expectation of that being fulfilled in my lifetime.  I’m unconvinced about any “rapture” type predictions.

I can carry on doing what I’m doing, working, raising my family, praying, worshipping, and trying (with varying success) to make my faith relevant to my everyday life.  But what would my life look like if I kicked it up a notch? What could I do to practically bring more of Sunday into my Saturday world?

I recommend liturgy.co.nz for some further reflections.