Holy Saturday

Psalm 31: 3-4: You are indeed my rock and my fortress; for your namesake leads me and guides me, ⁴Take me out of the net that is hidden for me, for you are my refuge.

Psalm 31 can teach us how to die, but overall, it teaches us how to survive.

You are God’s creation where you are born by the grace of the Holy Spirit; and you grow to be the expression of your Creator,  in its likeness and image, and it is there where the world can tell us all of their –“contradictions”. At the same time that Jesus is in the tomb of Holy Saturday, he lies there to remind us that his ministry breaks all molds of what is known – the established, the false idols – which are given as the only route to happiness and success.

You are born into this likeness and image. Let that truth fill you from head to toe. Let it be for the rest of your existence and never forget it. It is your emblem, your cross, your solace, and your peace – and deep within you, you know belongs to you and that you belong to your creator.

Nothing comes easy, right? You are born, you grow up, you try to do the best you can and when you cannot, you learn from your mistakes. You live and suffer, others make you suffer, and you recognize the beauty of whom you’ve always been – to its image and likeness. Who you are is a marvelous individual – you identify yourself as LGBTQI or an ally, in the whole sense of those terms.

Our journey is not easy. Neither was it easy for Jesus – the hero of this story. Today, on Holy Saturday, Jesus lies in the tomb as scapegoat because of all the unfounded facts of who he was or was not, or for the risk of what his presence could have been. Does this sound familiar?

Our survivor creator lies in the tomb as who he really was and continues to be – a being amongst us that challenges the status quo. One does not choose to be, but rather one is, one feels, one lives. Trust in your creator, and when your trust is not enough, remember that our identity does not derive from all idols without value of our culture.

Jesus’ presence in the tomb reminds us today that even though the world wants us to lie in tombs of falsehood and the silence of whom God calls us to be – we trust in God’s fidelity, of God’s call to welcome us in God’s creation the very same way that we were given life – in God’s image and likeness.

Loving One, make me an instrument of the life-giving gift of your likeness and your image in me – from me, myself and I to the world. Amen.