Drifting Back into Thursday on Holy Saturday

As I contemplate the dark reality of Holy Saturday, I am reminded of the in-between; remaining stuck somewhere between the tragedy of Friday and triumph of Sunday. The problem is I cannot keep my mind in the in-between. As I live this side of resurrection Sunday, I have to try hard to step back and imagine what it must have felt like for the disciples. How dark. How desperate. How hopeless. But I can’t do it. I cannot imagine that place because I know what they did not–Jesus will rise and overcome the dark desperate hopelessness. I know that Holy Saturday is only the in-between.

But even then my mind cannot stay there. It needs a place to settle; resolution. So my mind drifts back into Thursday. Why? Because Thursday is where it all began. It is the place of divine surrender where I am reminded that in the midst of Holy Saturday’s darkness I need to follow Jesus’ lead and surrender to the divine. Thursday is the day God in the flesh willingly submitted to His fickle and comparatively weak created-ones to offer us freedom. It is the day where God whispered to us:

“I’ll allow you to break me so you can be whole.”
“I’ll allow you to revile me so you can be redeemed.”
“I’ll allow you to reject me so you can be reconciled.”
“I’ll allow you to kill me so you can take on true life.”
“I’ll allow you to hate me so you can know God’s love.”
“I’ll allow you to deny me so you can be accepted by God.”
“I’ll be forsaken by God so you will never ever be.”

Jesus’ divine surrender led to His redemptive suffering. Today I cannot help but wonder, will I allow His divine surrender to move me toward surrender? Will I live a life of self-giving love even if it means I am to share in His sufferings? Will I carry within me the death of Christ as I share the load of another’s burden? Because I know Sunday is coming I know the divine power that awaits. My Holy Saturday prayer is that I will allow this divine power to lead me to surrendering to the divine so my old self with all it’s self-serving desires can be carried away and crucified that I might receive the divine power of resurrection. I pray you will too, because one thing is sure this Holy Saturday.

Sunday is coming.

About Fred

Fred came to serve greater Williamsburg and WCC as lead pastor in October of 2010 and is grateful to be a part of the family. He is a husband, father, certified trauma professional, S.T.A.R. (strategies for trauma awareness & resilience) practitioner, community organizer, TEDx alum, founder of 3e Restoration, Inc. and co-owner of Philoxenia Culture LLC. He received his B.S. in Ministry/Bible at Amridge University and his Master’s of Religious Education in Missional Leadership from Rochester University. Currently he is a candidate for a Doctorate of Ministry in Contextual Theology in at Northern Seminary in Chicago. Fred has also served as an adjunct professor for Rochester University and Regent University where taught courses in philosophy, ethics, leadership, pastoral care, intro to Christianity, and ethnography. He has also served as a guest lecturer on the subjects of racialized cultural systems, poverty, and missiology at various universities, such as William & Mary and Oklahoma Christian University. Fred has authored on book (Racialized Cultural Systems, Social Displacement and Christian Hospitality) and several curriculum offerings, including The FloorPlan: Living Toward Restoration & Resilience. Fred enjoys hanging out with his family anytime, anywhere. He is deeply grateful for how God graciously works through the Church in all her various forms, despite our brokenness. He is passionate about seeing the last, least, and lonely of every neighborhood, city and nation experience God’s in-breaking kingdom, and come to know Jesus as King. Oh, and his favorite season is Advent and Christmas. Fred is a founding member of the board of directors for Virginia Racial Healing Institute, a member of the leadership team for Williamsburg's local chapter of Coming to the Table, and a member of Greater Williamsburg Trauma-Informed Community Network's Racial Trauma Committee and Training Committee.

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