Last night (Friday night), BIZG and our Center for Biblical Research joined with Biblija365 to present a public reading of scripture for Good Friday. It was a beautiful event, with classical guitar & vocals accompanying the reading.

At the event, I was struck by how we weren’t very good at Good Friday in American churches; at least the churches I was part of usually weren’t.

We didn’t like the dark, uncertain ending of Good Friday. Give us resurrection! Finish the story! Don’t leave us hanging here with our hopes dashed.

What I REALLY loved about last night is that the readings DIDN’T “jump to Sunday”.

We moved through Job, Psalms, Jeremiah, and Isaiah, solitude & abandonment & fear & rejection, THEN Matthew’s story of Gethsemane & the crucifixion. And then …

And then the closing was scriptures about God our comfort in distress, God who stands with us in trial. A mention of the resurrection (“God who raises the dead”) but only that.

Which brings us to today, Saturday. Dark Saturday, in some church traditions.

Our life as followers here is as much Saturday as it is Sunday, right? Sometimes more Good Friday or Dark Saturday than Easter.

We believe & affirm that Jesus is risen. But we are still on the crucifixion side of the veil, aren’t we? And tomorrow–Easter–is as much a promise as it is a reality in us.

Living between the now and the not yet.