And they mourned …

 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
    a time to mourn and a time to dance

(Ecclesiastes 3:4a NIV)

It is no ordinary Saturday

…

For those who experience the passing of a loved one, it is as though life has stopped for them as well.  Everything is in slow motion and one wonders how to go on.   Pain reaches to the depths of the soul and all seems lost. The inexpressible heartache is nearly too much to bear.

The heart of every disciple and follower of Jesus was broken over his death.  Yesterday was unthinkable.  One incomprehensible act led to another until … he was gone.  Hadn’t they just shared a meal, heard his teaching, seen him heal?  Hadn’t they traveled with him and believed that he would save them?  Yet, they watched him die.  A couple of the women even went to where he was buried and were there when they rolled the stone over the entrance to the tomb.  They woke up today without their friend, teacher, master.  And they mourned.

Friends, let us not fall prey to our culture’s tendency to minimize the need to grieve.  Let us not skip from the darkness of Good Friday to the celebration of Resurrection Day without pausing to reflect on this Holy Saturday.  Today is important.  It is an opportunity to acknowledge that all is not perfect, that suffering affects all of us, and that our hearts break over injustice and death.

Jesus too mourned the night before he died.  “Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. (Matthew 26:36-38a)

That last line describes exactly what has been or may be currently experienced by each one of us.  With all that is happening in the world – loss of life, loss of jobs, loss of connection – we are in need of this time to mourn.

The invitation today is to come together in heart and mind as a community of faith to lament.  In lament, we call out to God, bring our complaints to Him in prayer, express our trust in Him, ask God to help us as only He can, assure God that we do not doubt He will answer, and end with praise – letting Him know we love Him. 

Join with me to lament and to “mourn with those who mourn.” (Romans 12:15b).  Let us as a community lift each other up today by connecting heart to heart in our individual and collective grief.

Shelley 04102020 © 2019-2020 Shelley Ministries.  All Rights Reserved. Photo used by permission.