Holy Saturday

Inside the tomb

where your dead body laid

there was silence and stench, 

breathless body,

heavy air.

We can handle the stench,

even wrestle with the pain.

But who can take the silence?

The One who spoke plants alive

and the stars to shine

doesn’t utter a word!

Are you there?

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The One who spoke from eternity

now sits silent in infinity

while we endure the silence

born in infinite Light.

Are you there?

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Didn’t you say you’d be with us? 

Didn’t you say you don’t sleep? 

ARE. YOU. THERE?

Wake up!

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We hurt!

We cry silent tears,

hidden in painful smiles

and lonely hand shakes.

We are in pain! 

We wrestle with empty wombs

and empty rooms.

We are longing for peace

but the world is at war

and our streets filled with violence.

We desire intimacy

but seek it in disconnected

online connections

that make the world smaller 

but our souls’ holes bigger. 

Are you there?

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Just one word

Oh please, just one! 

Are you there?

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“WAIT!”

Really? 

That ‘s all you have to say? 

WAIT?  

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We wait for Easter Sunday

in Saturday’s uncomfortable silence,

learning the patience that only silence can teach.

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Jesus, 

You who endured in the tomb, 

Holy Saturday’s painful silence,

help us endure with patience

the painful silence of our many Saturdays.

Let the Father’s silence shape us

into patient people in a hurried world.

Let patience grown in silence 

shape You in us,

the hope of glory

that springs on Saturdays.

Amen