04-04-26

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
April 4, 2026
It said, “Insufficient memory.” My response was simple, “Tell me something I don’t know.” It was the copy machine at the church that had insufficient memory for the graphic I was trying to print, but at first, I was a little insulted. Joking aside, during these last days of Holy Week, I feel as if I have insufficient mental capacity to absorb it all. When you mix limitless love with an insecure world, add some violent tendencies and a whole new expression of the divine being crucified as a criminal, most people are left feeling as if they have insufficient knowledge, faith, and wisdom to be able to make sense of it all. Today is sometimes called Holy or Dark Saturday, and I find that the best thing to do on this day is simply sit in the mystery of it all, while trying to tame that part of me that always wants a straightforward answer that I can present as an elevator speech. Yet maybe it’s okay to sit with the absurdity of it all, at least for a day. I think about those who have suggested that this time between Good Friday and Holy Saturday, between the cross and the tomb, is the time when even God became an atheist. In my mind, that is absurd, yet maybe that idea teases the imagination just enough to let go of traditional answers so that we can breathe in the mystery.

O Sacred Life and Limitless Love that was killed by a world unsettled by such nonsense, we pause to offer gratitude, even as we try to capture the beauty of love crucified and a sacred life buried in a tomb. Thank you! Amen.