courage

What took more courage: going into the tomb or coming out? On Good Friday the thought of going into the tomb overwhelms me. Too much blood and betrayal, too much violence and grief. I drag my feet, wanting to stay in Holy Thursday where we break bread and wash each other's dirt away. Yes, there's betrayal and violence that night, too, but something feels safer in the celebration of service than in the commemoration of death. When I'm thrust into Friday, it's painfully dark and the Gospel makes me squirm and can't it be Sunday already so we can get this mess behind us? So whenever I close my eyes and try to imagine how Friday felt, the mocking and the beating and the pounding of nails into flesh, I'm awash with wonder at the courage it took Christ to die. The courage it took to enter the tomb. But this Easter, sitting in a dark church flickering with small candles of hope, I thought about the courage it took to leave the tomb. Saturday must have felt so quiet and empty after … [Read more...] about courage from the tomb