Do you have the patience to wait till your mud settles and the water is clear? Can you remain unmoving until the right action arises by itself? – Tao Te Ching
Holy Saturday. We don’t talk much about Holy Saturday. We talk a lot about Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and of course Easter Sunday. But what about this “in between” day – Holy Saturday?
It’s a space between death and birth. It’s liminal space. Threshold space. “Not yet” space.
We often find ourselves going through a “Holy Saturday” when something has died and “what is to come” still hasn’t risen yet. It’s truly a transitional experience.
On Holy Saturday, Jesus is dead; his body is in the tomb. The rug has been pulled out from underneath his family and friends. Each person in his community is reacting in his or her own way. Some are freaking out, others want answers.
On Holy Saturday, nothing appears to be happening. What is known is that Jesus is dead. What is unknown is who they are to become – as individuals and as a community. That is yet to be born.
Holy Saturday – the space between death and birth.
We find ourselves in this liminal space at different times in our lives – starting or ending a relationship, getting married, getting divorced, having or adopting a child, starting a new job, retiring, attending school or an educational program, going through a big financial change, buying or selling a home, having health issues, feeling the shift in your relationship with your now teenage child, preparing to send your child off to college, or losing someone you love.
We no longer are the same person we were before the transition. Something is dying. Something is changing and we cannot and are not the same. And yet who we are to be is still being birthed.
How do we respond to our Holy Saturday experience?
Do we lock ourselves inside – our homes and hearts, frozen with fear – like some of the apostles did in the upper room?
Do we “pack up and get out of town” like the two unnamed disciples on the road to Emmaus who heard about the possibility of resurrection but don’t believe and just want to “leave the pack” and be on their own?
Do we want control over something like Peter?
Do we go and bury what is dead through ritual like the women on the way to the tomb were doing?
The invitation of Holy Saturday isn’t a popular one. It’s not an easy one, either.
The invitation of Holy Saturday is to wait. It is to acknowledge we are in the deeper waters of the holy unknown, the Mystery. And though OF COURSE we want to try to figure it all out and we want answers NOW, the holy invitation is to “tend to” and “greet” what is here with tenderness and reverence.
Read that again.
It’s hard for us Type A people who like control to be present with the despair of losing what is known, and to be present with the hope that what emerges is something filled with abundance and beauty.
So how do we tend to and greet the Mystery with tenderness and reverence?
– Whatever it is that is dying – whatever it is that is still yet to be birthed—we breathe with it.
– We “send” compassion to that space within us.
– We have the courage to breathe, cry, reach out, and wait until the mud settles and the water is clear.
– We have the courage to tend to what our bodies need – movement, nourishing food, being outside, balancing being alone and being with others, and rest.
– We have the courage to hope that if we remain fully present to what is happening within us and around us – the next right action with arise by itself.
Yes, I know, this isn’t easy nor a simple “5-step” linear process. But that’s Holy Saturday. The hardest invitation – to be in the space between death and resurrection. But it is a holy day that can open us to deep communion with the Divine. It can be a soft place to wait and allow the mud to settle until the water becomes clear. And we rise.
Blessings,
Thanks Lisa. I am still waiting form the mud to clear but am finding meaning in the mud. You put it so well.
Ahh, Kay, you bring up a good point! Yes, meaning in the mud. I like that!
Hi Lisa,
In the last couple of months, I have been working on letting go of my attachment to my animals. It is difficult to do this, but I am aware of an unhealthy, codependent relationship that I want to break free of. So we can all be free yet together in a new and healthier way. It is a sort of death unto myself that feels scary but necessary. You remind me that in this death, there will be birth. I am beginning to experience some of that. And to be compassionate in the process too. Great post!
Hi Diane,
Oh yes, letting go of our animals — of anything — especially living things/people/animals…I hear you. It IS a type of death. If I may, what is the call within you to break free from your attachment to your animals? Does it have to be ALL or NOTHING? YEs yes yes, be very gentle and kind and compassionate to yourself. I’m going to be doing another post in a few days about how we are to hold our pain as if we are a mother holding her baby. With gentleness, sweetness, and total presence.
Keep me posted. Love, Lisa
Great question! All or nothing…
First off, the call to break free came with a climax of illness in my horse. He had agreed (and I agreed to let him) to take on my stuff, take on the disease, and I want to end that. I am strong enough now to deal with my own stuff and I desire spiritual, emotional and physical health for both of us. I am currently wading through the gray area of all or nothing. I know for certain the unhealthy way of being together must die. Out of that I will discover the healthy way to be in his life, and I in his. Thanks for your interest and I look forward to that next post.
i just sent you an email!
Thanks. I’m still chewing on it, but I hope to respond soon to your insight and wisdom within it.
Lisa, you have such a beautiful way with words – I can truly envision being in the mud while dealing with various issues over time as well as currently. It’s such a beautiful thought that even as we are in the mud, there is new life waiting for us !
Awww, Angela, thank you.
It’s interesting, right now, I don’t feel stuck in the mud. I feel like I’m in the season right now of actively seeing that mud settle and the water is becoming clearer and clearer. This was a repost from 5 yrs ago. BUT it still applies – to me and to others – in that we really do have to honor the space between DEATH and BIRTH (and BIRTH AND DEATH!)…we don’t do that much in our culture. We are quick to transition and quick to hurry along to the next thing. I have found that being in the mud is quite nourishing and necessary…even “caccoon-like”. Looking back, I was flourishing all along in those years of being in the mud. AND there will come a time when I am “in the mud” again and everything is merky and unknown. That’s when I just need to sit and be nourished.
Thought I’d share!
Love to you!
Reblogged this on Gems of Delight and commented:
Often in this Easter season we can focus on Thursday, Friday and Sunday…but what about Saturday? Holy Saturday. That space between birth and death. That time when nothing seems to be happening. As I recoup from this brain injury and (this just happened this week) water overflowed from our bathroom and three levels of our home are in chaos, I am moved again to share this post. I hope it resonates with all of you. Yes, being in the space between death and birth/birth and death…between what was and what is still yet to come…and holding vigil, nourishing ourselves, gathering in community, waiting for the mud to settle, allowing the Divine to Rise within us out of the ashes. Easter Blessings, Lisa
Lisa this is absolutely beautiful expression… of such a deep and spiritual truth…
I love the idea of “breathing with it… and sending compassion” to that space… oh you have summed it up so well ~ a lesson for us all to remember and hold on to in heart and soul ~ there is not room for the mind here — it is so much richer that the mind… Thank you Lisa ~ you are an angel! ~ Be Blessed, RL x
Thank you, dear Robyn. Though written originally in 2007, the truths of this still run through me — in my bones, in my tissues. No, no room for the mind. I have found that on Holy Saturday – that space between death and birth – the mind can take us places that just create more anxiety and darkness and make us fold in on ourselves. But if I just feel the body, connect to my heart, connect to Community, allow, soften…Grace and Light emerge…softly, lightly, and yet so very powerfully. That is what I am finding this year. Many blessings to you dear friend. Lisa
I personally do not care when it was written. I am just blessed that it was written! And that it was reposted so that new followers can see it. Thank you Lisa for listening to God , following his Direction and are talented to write so eloquently that we can understand it!!. I pray that you continue to use your gGod-given talent.
This is a topic that is close to my heart… Best wishes!
Exactly where are your contact details though?
Hello. Check out the top of the blog under “contact me”. Blessings, Lisa