This morning I awoke slowly, the weight of Holy Week lingering on my eyelids.  I wandered to the kitchen to grab a bit of breakfast and cozied up on my couch to begin the morning reading over my notes from the week.  What a journey, this life with Jesus is. 

To think a meal gathered around a table, breaking bread, and drinking wine could be such an integral part of the story of life together.  Jesus teaches us the importance of beautiful meals together, recognizing that when we gather, we gather in strength, for we gather in his presence.  An act of service, taking a cloth, and washing feet, who knew that something so simple and sweet could be the sign of turning the earth on its axis, but it is.  It is.  To serve one another in love ends up being one of the great witnesses to all the world.  Others begin to believe in the power of love because of the witness of it in the way the disciples and early Christians live their life paying attention to the needs of others, just as God attends. 

We live in such busy times.  Distraction is a resting state for many of us.  We live in times where we have ready access to all sorts of entertainment.  It is so Interesting to me, that the origin of the word “entertainment” in one of its Latin roots is to “hold.” To be entertained means to be “held” while waiting.  We can be entertained by countless hours of watching movies on Netflix, we can be entertained by reading a book that shares with us the story of a faraway land, we can be entertained by idle conversation, we can be entertained by the anxious thoughts that stir within our head.  We can be entertained by the turns that we make left or right, that fill our moments, but leave our spirits wanting for something more that only the author of our life can ascribe. 

This Holy Saturday, I invite you to be held in quiet reflection.  Spend some time wondering about the week up unto this point.  What is it that Jesus desires to whisper unto you?  You’ll find it in the quiet, in the stillness, the place where the Spirit of God beckons us to find rest.  Wander in the stories found in the Gospel of Luke and allow the stories to become more alive in you.  Allow yourself to be held in prayers, prayers spoken, sung, woven together in prose, painted on canvas, lifted from the depths of your being.

This Holy Saturday, commit yourself to ABIDE.

With you on the journey,

Michelle