by Chad O'Leary

The Holy Waiting. To me, Holy Saturday is one of the most powerful days of the entire liturgical year. Growing up, however, it seemed strange that we would have liturgies on Thursday, Friday and Sunday -- but nothing on Saturday before the Great Vigil. I remember just sitting around the house. Was it a break? A time to dye eggs and hide baskets? Certainly not.

If we've done our "Lenting," Holy Saturday is that last pregnant pause to sit with our tension before emerging transformed, with Christ, on Easter Sunday.

In our preparation to become educators, we are told to embrace a "I do, we do, you do" model. We begin learning by first seeing someone else model something, then we practice, and finally we reach a point where we are able to perform on our own. I think that this is very applicable to our own learning during the season of Lent. Each Ash Wednesday we commit ourselves to using Jesus as a model for re-examining the basics of our humanity and call to godliness. Then, each day afterward we study scripture and many of us choose to take on that ministry in a variety of different ways (praying, giving of alms, etc.). Now, on Holy Saturday, we stand at the end of our 40 days of preparation. We have been trained. We wait. It's time for the "I do" part of the learning model. 

Iwish to share an article that I read several years back that I found to be very inspiring about this Holy Waiting. I keep it close every Lenten season. It is by a young pastoral theologian called Bonnie Dowie and she talks about how we need to learn to wait better in our culture. She suggests that staying present, resisting passivity, holding onto hope, remaining thankful, and trusting process are key to a holy waiting.

She writes:

When I was in Uganda recently, my friend told me a story about waiting. (Africans always seem to have a proverb up their sleeve, offering wisdom for every occasion in a delightfully simple and engaging way).
The story was about a boy who asked his father for a fish to eat, because he was hungry. So the father went out, caught a fish, and began preparing it. The boy said impatiently to his father, ‘I want it now!’ The father told him he would have to wait until it was ready. But the boy became very cross, repeatedly shouting ‘I want to eat it NOW!’, throwing himself on the ground, kicking his legs and crying.
As silly as the story might sound, we are often like the little boy. Demanding things NOW, and throwing tantrums when we think we’ve waited long enough. But all the while, God is working carefully to prepare what we have asked for. And because he is a good dad who wants the best for us, he won’t allow us to have it before it’s ready…or before we’re ready to receive it.
We need to learn how to wait well 
Our modern day culture does not exactly lend itself to waiting well. We want things, and we want them now…we are a microwave society.
But the reality is, whether it’s waiting for the bus or dinner to be cooked, or waiting for God to answer our deepest desires and prayers, life is full of waiting. Surely then, we ought to learn how to do it well. How can we do that? Here are some thoughts.
Stay presentThere’s a big temptation to put life on hold when we’re eagerly waiting for something. We can feel like we’re in ‘limbo land’… just waiting until that ‘thing’ happens so life can begin again. 
We’ve got to resist this temptation. Don’t disengage from life. Stay present – you can’t live in tomorrow. Don’t miss all the opportunities to live the life that’s right in front of you, now. It’s good to walk towards a vision, but don’t be so fixed on the destination ahead that you end up missing the beauty and purpose in your present surroundings.
Don’t be passiveWaiting isn’t supposed to be passive. If we choose to be passive, expecting what we’re hoping for to land in our lap without any effort on our own behalf,
we’re more likely to delay the process. Or possibly stretch it out forever.
Waiting is not a waste of time unless you allow it be. Choose to stay fully engaged in your season of waiting. If you’re waiting for a spouse, for example,
maybe ‘waiting’ looks like taking some risks, facing fears, and going on dates. Or maybe it just looks like praying a lot. Ask God what waiting looks like for you, and then do that!
Hold onto hopeWaiting a long time for something we desire, especially when we don’t know when or if it will come to pass, is hard. ‘Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life’ (Proverbs chapter 13 verse 12). 
It’s okay to acknowledge exactly how your heart is feeling when you’re waiting for something. In fact, it’s healthy. But how do we stop ourselves from descending into a pit of despair, frustration and bitterness when our longings go unfulfilled?
We hold onto hope. Not just hope that things we long for will come to pass…we cling to the God of hope. If he is our biggest desire and longing, he will not let our hearts grow sick. Holding tightly to him enables us not just to endure seasons of waiting, but causes us to thrive in them. He is the hope that never disappoints.
Stay thankfulSometimes we withhold our thankfulness and joy until the moment we have what we want. It’s not often our first response to worship God when we feel like our prayers are going unanswered. 
But guess what? God is good, and his love never fails. Even when nothing seems to be going to plan, and chaos surrounds us, God is still on the throne. He is sovereign, he is mighty, his plans for us are good. He didn’t promise an easy life, but he did promise he would never leave us.
So be thankful now. Praise him for who he is now. Don’t withhold yourself from him until you get what you want. If you do, you’re only selling yourself short of what’s available to you – the beauty of intimacy with Jesus through every season in life. After all, knowing Jesus is about walking with him and being in love – not just knowing him so we can get things we want!
Trust the processWhen a woman is pregnant, there’s not much she can do to hurry up the process of giving birth. In the final weeks, she might try every old wives’ tale in the book to encourage the baby to come quickly, but ultimately it comes when it’s ready. She can’t try or work to make it come. The best thing she can do is rest and not stress.
God’s timing is impeccable. Often it’s impossible for us to see this, because we’re only looking at one piece of the puzzle, when he sees the whole puzzle from a bird’s eye view. We really need to trust God more than we trust our own judgement of how we think things should pan out.
God does not waste any of our waiting. He prepares us and gets everything ready to give us the absolute best. Be encouraged. God is in the waiting.
May the Spirit bless your holy waiting today and may you each have a blessed Easter celebration tomorrow.

We know the ending: He shall rise!

Chad

We have reflections from both our Wardens today!

​For Chris's reflection, please click here. 

For Michael's reflection, please read on.

Human acts of brutality and violence are still all too common today, some 2000 years after Jesus’ crucifixion. It is hard for me to see Jesus hanging on the cross without feeling a sense of despair and some cynicism about the future of the human race; events this past year have done little to quell that sense of despair about our collective future. Acts of violence and brutality are a daily news feature in our country and throughout the world. Countless acts of love and compassion by so many good people seem at times to be overpowered by acts of evil.

Cynthia Bourgeault, in her book The Wisdom Jesus: Transforming Heart and Mind—a New Perspective on Christ and His Message (quoted from Richard Rohr’s daily readings), invites us to reflect on the meaning of the passion by understanding how it calls us into personal transformation:

“The spectacle of an innocent and good man destroyed by the powers of this world is an archetypal human experience. It elicits our deepest feelings of remorse and empathy (and if we’re honest, our own deepest shadows as well). . . . It’s been used to stir anger and scapegoating. It’s been used to fuel anti-Semitism, to induce personal guilt—“Christ died for your sins”—and to arouse devotion in a sentimental and even fanatical way.

From a wisdom point of view, what can we say about the passion? . . . The key lies in . . . reading Jesus’s life as a sacrament: a sacred mystery whose real purpose is not to arouse empathy but to create empowerment. In other words, Jesus is not particularly interested in increasing either your guilt or your devotion, but rather, in deepening your personal capacity to make the passage into unitive life. If you’re willing to work with that wager, the passion begins to make sense in a whole new way. . . . Our only truly essential human task here, Jesus teaches, is to grow beyond the survival instincts of the animal brain and egoic operating system into the kenotic joy and generosity of full human personhood…”

Growing into “full human personhood” is the invitation, through reflection on the passion, not to sink into a cynical despair about the future of human-kind, but the on-going transformation that comes from a deepening relationship with a loving God, “who so loved the world…” Allowing the mystery of the passion to deepen my sense of connectedness to all creation, and the power of love that ultimately renders human hatred and brutality impotent, is what is empowering. Trust in love and growth in my ability to give and receive love comes to me when I can hear Jesus’ commandment to love one-another while I contemplate the passion. And as an Easter people, we have the advantage of knowing the outcome, that death did not have the final say!

by Marilyn Baldwin+

For Marilyn's devotional, please click here. 

by Emma Friend

The Old Testament reading encourages us to fearlessly stand against our “adversaries” and those who do wrong. It urges us to find strength in God to defy those committing sins and injustices in our world, to never shy away from their attacks and instead to have the “tongue of a teacher” to speak our truths of goodness.

It is no secret that the world is rife with these adversaries, those who commit injustices in the world. Social inequality affects a countless amount of people around the world every day. Lives are lost, families separated, homes and ecosystems are destroyed, rights are restricted, people go hungry, all at the hands of people who thrive under oppression of others. These people cannot be allowed to go unopposed.

This is not the easy path, but the path that is necessary. It is the one that has the potential to end wars and save lives. The one that will undoubtedly cause strife and conflict, but will bend toward justice, as Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. said.

Love thy neighbor as thyself, one of the most important lessons in the Bible. But love is not just a passive action. Let your love be heard in how you seek out opportunities to fight for peace and justice for all people. Let your love be heard in how you engage with your adversaries to speak messages and lessons of goodness that will lead to harmony between people.

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. The true neighbor will risk his position, his prestige, and even his life for the welfare of others. In dangerous valleys and hazardous pathways, he will lift some bruised and beaten brother to a higher and more noble life.” -Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.

by an Anonymous Member of the St. Christopher's Community

Lord God,

The message of the cross is difficult.
How can death give way to life?
How can weakness be strength?
Yet your word says that Jesus, being God, 
Took on human flesh
And suffered a horrible death.
How can this be?

This message is indeed difficult to take.
But your foolishness is wiser than our wisdom.
Your weakness is greater than our strength.
Help us to know that none of us can boast before you.

It is only in Christ Jesus that we can boast.
In his name, we ask you to help us to understand.
Help us learn to love you, and walk in the way Jesus taught us.

In his name,

Amen.

by Jean Crow

Prayer is very important to me and each Lent I try to focus on improving my prayer life. I do believe prayer is both actions and words. Here is a prayer that I say before bed as I think about people in my life.

Watch, now dear Lord,
With those who wake or watch or weep tonight,
And give your angels charge over those who sleep.
Tend your sick ones, O Lord Christ,
Rest your weary ones,
Bless your dying ones, soothe your suffering ones,
Pity your afflicted ones, shield your joyous ones,
And all for your love’s sake.

Amen

​- St. Augustine

by Ann Trapnell

If you read the March 5th Lenten Devotional, you know I’ve been trying to give up worrying for Lent. Matthew 6:27 is the bible verse that inspired my original decision; Romans 12:12 helps me on my journey. You see, the way I’ve been trying to eliminate worry is to “give it up to God”; I pray.

Attempting to be constant in prayer, I discovered worrying occupies more energy than prayer. Prayer is meditational and hopeful, worrying is a downward spiral. As I turn to prayer more often, I find I have more energy to connect and discover.

​Sacrificing worry, and replacing it with prayer, has given me more energy to embrace those things that help me be present in life – present for my friends and family, my community, myself and my faith. And so, I plan to continue on my journey to “give it up to God”, or, to be constant in prayer, long after this Lenten season concludes. Will you join me?

by St. C's Youth
​
Jesus,
​
you have known us from the beginning of time,
you have known us in the depths of our dreams and in the darkness of our shortcomings,
you know us as your beloved.

Help us to own that core identity more and more in this season of self-awareness and mercy.
Give us the rock-solid assurance of your unwavering faith in us
as we seek the same in you.

Amen.

by Fr. Randy+

On Giving Up and Giving
​
I had the great joy of growing up as a kid in Columbia Heights, just a stone’s throw from Northeast Minneapolis. It was a terrific place to live in the late 1960’s and 1970’s—in a very tight community of mostly Polish and very Roman Catholic families. Everyone in the neighborhood knew each other and watched out for each other. If you got a bit out of line, there was a great number of neighbors who would without hesitation straighten you out, then let you folks know what happened so you could get “tuned up” a second time once you got home!

Most kids I hung out with had a last name that ended with “ski.” Wasleski… Schmigenoski…Levendoski… Wasnewski…Witkowski…you get the drill. It seemed I was the lone Scandinavian/Swede, with a last name that ended in “son.” My friends mainly attended church at The Church of the Immaculate Conception in downtown Columbia Heights—a beautifully grand and sacred building with lovely paintings, colorful stained glass windows, and solemn statuary.

Besides the different sounding last names, we had a different set of Christian denomination traditions and practices. While I was a Baptist/Evangelical, my friends were from strong Roman Catholic traditions. When it came to Lent, I really did not understand it—it was not something we really dwelled upon in our Evangelical tradition. Yes, we had Palm Sunday and Easter, but none of the Ash Wednesday, Lenten, and Holy Week traditions I have since learned to lean upon in my current walk with Jesus. I was always curious about the tradition of “giving up something for Lent.” My friends gave up stuff like chocolate candy, or Coca Cola, or dancing, or movies—things that would help them better understand the sacrifice Jesus made in the season that led up to Holy Week. 
I was not quite sure how to feel about the whole “giving up” thing. I recognized that they were giving up something that they may have taken for granted in life, or something that was pleasurable, but now removed from their reach. Each time they wanted to partake in this activity or thing, they would think of what Jesus gave up in giving his life for us on the cross. I could appreciate this connection, but in reality I thought it seemed like a rather shallow response to such a tragic, yet holy event. On the other hand, I deeply appreciated the Roman Catholic emphasis upon the 40 days of Lent leading up to Holy Week and Easter—a season focused upon a penitent response to the Passion of Christ, as well as to reflect and pray upon the immense impact of this truth leading to the glorious Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Today we are given the Lectionary reading from St. Luke (1:26-38), widely known as The Annunciation. Please take a few minutes look it up in your Bible—it is an amazing account of God’s sending of the angel Gabriel to Mary in the tiny, backwater town of Nazareth in Galilee—to announce the conceiving of the Christ Child through the work of the Holy Spirit and the power of the Most High. Jesus’ coming into this world is revealed to young Mary, and he is announced as the Son of God! No small announcement by any piece of imagination! 

And my mind is going to a place today that is very distant from the memories of my childhood friends, in which they thought of ways to “give up” something for Lent. I suppose we could consider that Mary “gave up” much of her own life—potentially even her life itself, at a time in history in which being an unwed mother of a child not belonging to her betrothed husband, she could be stoned to death. She would be “giving up” all that a woman dreams of doing in lifetime--in carrying an unborn child to birth, then the many years of caring for, nurturing, and raising a child to adulthood. It is a selfless act of uncompromising love. 

But today my mind draws me to the final statement made by Mary in response to Gabriel’s words--“Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” This to me is not at all what I would consider words of “giving up” something. My heart and mind interpret it much more as a “giving in” to God’s will and word. This is what I believe is the truer nature of Mary—a woman of great courage, hope, and love. A woman who discerned and digested the words of the angel Gabriel, who was open to the moving of the Holy Spirit, and was singularly faithful in her response to the Most High. A woman we all can revere with awe and honor. Truly “giving in.”

Giving Up or Giving In? With the faith, hope, and love engendered in the person and heart of Mary, we, too, should be free to “give in”--as we know and believe that the words of Gabriel ring true for each of us--“For nothing will be impossible with God.” Amen.

by Becky Lucas

Dear God renew our spirits this day and help us to grow today.

​Increase in us our faith in you and your loving kindness, build up our hope for good times ahead for all your people and increase our understanding that you love all people.

As we reflect on this field of cotton remind us of all we can do to care for ourselves in our daily lives.

That we may use the natural gifts of the earth to meet our self-care needs.

As we are renewed today and in the days ahead prepare us to serve others in your love.

Please bless the self-care items St. Christopher’s is collecting today to share with those in our community who are in need.

May we always remember to love and care for others as we love and care for ourselves.