In his memoir, The Pastor, Eugene Peterson, who writes the only really good material I have ever read or come across, about Christian pastoral work as a whole, describes Holy Saturday through to the Sabbath Keeping of Easter Day as 'Staying in touch with people in despair, knowing them by name, and waiting for resurrection.'
He has just written of the Pastor's "work" assignment as paying more attention to what God does than I do, and then guiding others to find those daily, weekly, yearly rhythms that help get this awareness into our bones. And part of the awareness is the waiting of Holy Saturday.
This is to do with being alongside people in heir waiting. It is the 'Jesus wept' of pastoral ministry, the phase than spoke to me in the recent fire of Barn Mead.
Eugene Peterson learnt his lesson of Holy Saturday for the whole of ministry. Much of my ministry has to do with waiting. This gives me a Biblical context, at the heart of the Easter Story.
And i I must revisit what Isaiah says about Sabbaths. Isaiah 58:3 is relevant here. I must explore further this as an understanding of the Sabbath. Perhaps this has to do with Sabbaths as well as Saturdays, for the Sabbath of Sabbaths (Leviticus 16:29-31) is to do with fasting.
Isaiah 58:
6 “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness[a] will go before you,
and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
9 Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
He has just written of the Pastor's "work" assignment as paying more attention to what God does than I do, and then guiding others to find those daily, weekly, yearly rhythms that help get this awareness into our bones. And part of the awareness is the waiting of Holy Saturday.
This is to do with being alongside people in heir waiting. It is the 'Jesus wept' of pastoral ministry, the phase than spoke to me in the recent fire of Barn Mead.
Eugene Peterson learnt his lesson of Holy Saturday for the whole of ministry. Much of my ministry has to do with waiting. This gives me a Biblical context, at the heart of the Easter Story.
And i I must revisit what Isaiah says about Sabbaths. Isaiah 58:3 is relevant here. I must explore further this as an understanding of the Sabbath. Perhaps this has to do with Sabbaths as well as Saturdays, for the Sabbath of Sabbaths (Leviticus 16:29-31) is to do with fasting.
Isaiah 58:
6 “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness[a] will go before you,
and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
9 Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
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