Thanks to a 5am combination of wind and rain, I have this long Saturday stretching out in front of me.

It strikes me that this is the time of watching and waiting. Like the women who stayed as the crowds dispersed after the crucifixion. The women stayed in sadness, uncertainty, anxiety, fear, desperation, despite the risk of being associated with Jesus. Is that not what the whole world is doing on a grand scale? Watching, waiting, learning to exist within uncertainty and anxiety. Holding in place, waiting for what is to come, whatever that may be. The women hold vigil until the time comes to do what must be done.

Like the women who stay, many around the world are mourning the breakdown of the expected this Easter, and the comfort and meaning it brings to their lives. Without the usual rituals with which to organise their weekend, they are watching and waiting, hurting and anxious, from a place of fear and uncertainty. Will things ever be the same again? Can we even think about finding any hope in this loss?

So what is today? A day for taking a breath, taking stock of where we are at, a day for discernment. If there’s ever a liturgical day on which it is appropriate to sit with hurt, in the emptiness and silence, this it is! It is a day to begin to work out the things that must be done (the anointing of Jesus’ body, or today caring for the sick, dying, grieving), and time to start to tackle them. In the middle of the our own uncertainties, it is a day for looking for those people standing quietly by, hurting, mourning, blending into the background, almost unnoticed, for acknowledging those who don’t have a safe place in which to watch and wait. On this day of the in-between, which encapsulates what will be going on for at least the next 6 months, let’s recognise those who are getting on with what must be done. And where we can, let’s share in the work of serving others, and in that, find meaning in the in-between times.

Photo by Aron Visuals on Unsplash

In Between

In this in between
Stop
Be you
Breathe

This time in between
It’s yours
Be silent
Be still

Make meaning in between
The moments
Pains
Expectations

Rest in the in between
It hurts
It’s uncertain
It’s coming

Stretch your in between
Into your life
In love
In hope against hope