The second of my four Easter Workshop meditations on Easter Saturday

Evening Prayer, Good Friday

Psalm 22:1-2 

 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? 
       Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning?

Isaiah 42:1-4 

 "Here is my servant, whom I uphold,
       my chosen one in whom I delight;
      … A bruised reed he will not break,
       and a smouldering wick he will not snuff out.

Matthew 27:50-51

And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split.

Reflection

“We are living in a world of Easter Saturday:

Somewhere between the death

            Of what we thought we could trust

And the birth of new hope”

 

We are at the start of the Jewish Sabbath that Jesus would have known. It is Easter Saturday, the day after Jesus died, the awful day before Easter morning.
Today, we know that something huge has happened, but at that moment it was invisible to the world. Today we know that resurrection is just around the corner, but at that moment all hope had been destroyed.

So, now we are abandoned, left for a day.

The world around us crumbles,
the security we thought we had evaporates.

What have we to offer? So few, so scorned, so invisible;
what have we to offer an Easter Saturday world?

Here, on Easter Saturday,
a bruised reed – thrown away by the musician;
a smouldering wick – giving no light,
is all that our Lord needs
to do a wonderful, invisible work.

 

 

Comments

[top running shoes]

The world originally belongs to you, therefore you have no need to get rid, what must get rid is all rigid. the myriad things all are adopted by us, but I am must respective.

[Tory Burch Outlet]

So, for me, I'm challenged by the high value that I put on success, doing my job well, being praised for doing a good job. It's all too important to me. Now, maybe I could think about giving up my present job and going for a less prestigious one? I think that the work I'm doing is what God has called me to do, but maybe I could do it in a different context (not a university). Now, I might be able to explore that idea further when I go on retreat next week, but I might also be able to experiment with some ideas. Just giving up my job would, I think, be too extreme, but what could I do that would try out a new way of valuing 'success'? Two options spring to mind. I've got to write a report on a project that I've been involved in. I don't think that I'm going to write a good report (too long to explain why) and I've been delaying, putting off the evil day when I'm criticised, and maybe found wanting by colleagues I value, maybe I won't be asked to do a project again? How will I handle that? Secondly, I'm going to try to organise some time over the winter to take my work up to a community house I know well. What will it be like to fit my academic research writing within the rhythms of a 'monastic' day?

So what explorations or experiments could you try to test out your emerging 'ideas'?

[North Face Sale]

The second story happened to me. About 5 years ago, I went for a promotion at my previous university.

[Timberland Boots]

There followed a painful period where I had to come to terms with the fact that any chance of progression at that university was over for me and, given my age, I was probably going to struggle to get to another un iversity and get promotion there.

[North Face Outlet]

I was probably going to struggle to get to another un iversity and get promotion there.