March 31, 2018 Chapter 32C Doubt. Darkness. Despair. (Holy Saturday)
I've often said that Jesus resurrection would have been just as powerful if he had died at 3 p.m. and rose at 9 p.m. or 8 p.m. or midnight or 7 the next morning. But he stayed in the tomb for three days. Is that God's way of telling us that there would be times when we are caught int he tomb? Is that God's way of saying life's pains are not usually easy to overcome. When we have deaths in on ours lives (both literally and figuratively) it takes time to deal with the pain. It doesn't happen overnight...or even in three days...but it happens. And it happens because Jesus showed us the way.
Today I invite you as McLaren does to sit in the darkness. Rest in the moments of despair that come often in our lives. To allow yourself to experience the doubt of loss.
My spiritual director in seminary put it this way: sometimes we just need to sit in the shit! Sometimes we just need to lay in the tomb and allow God to be with us in the pain.
May this day allow you some time to do that.
Amen! Been to the tomb! Not a pretty place but no Resurection without it.
ReplyDeleteIt seems that darkness is what helps us remember there's light at the other end.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, sometimes we get too comfortable in the darkness that we start believing that is all there is.