Long Way Here

Holy Saturday is about the in-between–remaining stuck somewhere between the tragedy of Friday and triumph of Sunday. We have a difficult time keeping our minds in the in-between. We are too uncomfortable with the tension. We are desperate for resolution.

But life doesn’t always work that way. There are tensions we can’t resolve and questions we can’t answer. There are tragedies we can’t avoid and times when redemption feels impossible. This is why Holy Saturday is good for us, even this side of resurrection. We are invited to wait. Like the disciples we will face the darkness, sit in distress and feel the desperation. We will feel the weight of the tension, the questions, the tragedies and seemingly irredeemable circumstances.

Then, when we least expect it, the sun rises and Sunday comes.

“Sleep on son and take your rest. We all love you, but God loves you best.”

~Joshua Owusu-Koramoah’s Grandmother

This young man made Jesus famous and makes me want to be a better man and follower of Jesus.

“Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.”
~ 1 John‬ ‭4:4‬ ‭

We celebrated his life today as we gave honor and glory to Jesus.

We will miss him.

Because of Easter, we will see him again.

There’s a difference between thinking life in the USA is meaningful versus life in the USA being the meaning of life. Christian nationalists have it all twisted up and it is a death-dealing ideology more reflective of the reign of sin and death than of the reign of Christ.

Palm Sunday, in its biblical context, speaks to this.

Today we trekked to Moab Utah for The Canyonlands to hike the Mesa Arch and Aztec Butte. Although it was a gift to be together, my mind and body was wearied, more than I realized, with the news of the tragic recent loss of a beautiful young man. It was a day filled with all sorts of unexpected emotions and contradictions. One one hand I was compelled to cling tighter to my family as I marveled at God’s beauty. On the other hand, as I marveled at God’s ability to create such beauty I could not help but wonder why this same creative-power would not intervene in such a tragedy. Yet in it all, I remembered the tension and paradox of a world given over to the reign of sin and death being turned upside down—or should I say, right side up—by the reign of Christ.

Stepping into Holy Week I’m drawn to the passion of the Christ who arrives triumphant on a donkey of peace in the midst of mad and violent world filled with men on horses of war. In a day filled with contradiction I was able to see, and even feel in my body, so poignantly, that the Creator of these mountains stooped down to the lowest low atop a different mount called Golgotha, so that the cross of Christ would become a crown of victory for all who would trust and believe—just like Wusu trusted and believed.

Yes, death has given way to resurrection life. And even though it feels like a Holy Saturday, I trust and believe that Easter Sunday is coming.