Holy Saturday B – March 30
March 30, 2024
Holy Saturday
“The Tomb”
Liturgical Note: Holy Saturday is not typically a day that the local church gathers. This service may be used for a congregational settings, but it can also be used for small group or private devotion.
Gathering Moment
Note: invite the assembly (onsite and online) to a time of quiet and stillness. Complete silence is not necessary, but use of clearly recognizable music may interfere with the quieting of the mind. Use of a simple drum beat, singing bowl, or sounds of nature would help set a meditative tone.
Distribute small sheets of paper with the following instruction:
Say No. During the season of Lent, we embark on a journey of exploring the sacredness of saying “No” to what does not serve us or God. As the season concludes, we will bury those things in uncertainty as well as in expectation of hope.
Supplies needed: pot(s), potting soil, seeds and/or bulbs, trowels, towels, stones
Prepare one pot (or several pots) filled with soil. Arrange them in the space to be accessible to worshippers. For online worshippers, provide the list of supplies in advance of the service or small group ritual. Alternatively, small pieces of paper and bowls of water may be used for both onsite and online worshippers.
This service uses the words of Job 14:1-14 throughout to invite a response. The Response of Silence may have varying lengths depending on the context and culture of the group. They should be at least 60 seconds to allow time for contemplation. Graphic images may be used to offer a focal point, yet there should be ideally no more than one image per response.
Invocation
Holy One, we gather to worship you and to meet you in the quietness. We gather to abide in stillness, to sit with uncertainty, to confront our fears, to hear the echoes of the cries of passion and compassion, to grieve your death, and to contemplate the mystery of the tomb.
Reading: Job 14:1-3
14 “A mortal, born of woman, few of days and full of trouble,
2 comes up like a flower and withers,
flees like a shadow and does not last.
3 Do you fix your eyes on such a one?
Do you bring me into judgment with you?
Response of Silence
Reading: Job 14:4-6
4 Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?
No one can.
5 Since their days are determined,
and the number of their months is known to you,
and you have appointed the bounds that they cannot pass,
6 look away from them and desist,
that they may enjoy, like laborers, their days.
Response of Silence
Reading: Job 14:7-9
7 “For there is hope for a tree,
if it is cut down, that it will sprout again
and that its shoots will not cease.
8 Though its root grows old in the earth
and its stump dies in the ground,
9 yet at the scent of water it will bud
and put forth branches like a young plant.
Ritual of Entombing including Reading of Matthew 27:57-66
Invite worshippers to plant seeds in the soil. Unless absolutely necessary, do not encourage use of gloves as the element of touch increases the sensory element of the ritual. Towels should be available to wipe hands following contact with the soil. As worshippers plant their seeds the words of the Gospel Reading should be read slowly.
After the final seeds have been planted, one or two worship leaders should place the rocks/stones over the planted seeds to symbolize the closing of the tomb.
Response of Silence
Reading: Job 14:10 (Read responsively)
10 But mortals die and are laid low;
humans expire, and where are they?
11 As waters fail from a lake
and a river wastes away and dries up,
12 so mortals lie down and do not rise again;
until the heavens are no more, they will not awake
or be roused out of their sleep.
13 O that you would hide me in Sheol,
that you would conceal me until your wrath is past,
that you would appoint me a set time and remember me!
14 If mortals die, will they live again?
All the days of my service I would wait
until my release should come.
Benediction (1 Peter 4:7-8 NRSVue)
The end of all things is near; therefore be serious and discipline yourselves for the sake of your prayers. Above all, maintain constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins.
Depart in Silence.
The Tomb: Service Prayers for Holy Saturday Year B was written by The Rev. Dr. Cheryl A. Lindsay, Minister for Worship and Theology, United Church of Christ.
