Holy Saturday Sermon Ideas
Holy Saturday is the Sabbath between Jesus's crucifixion on Good Friday and his resurrection on Easter Sunday. Holy Saturday is a sabbath, a time for resting from the hardest work since creation. Holy Saturday is a necessary time for pause, for catching the breath before the next and glorious phase of the work of God. This is a sabbath of "resting from" but also of "resting for."
What is Holy Saturday?
Holy Saturday is a crucial day for the church to remember and, in many churches and traditions, to recover. Holy Saturday calls us to live into the uncomfortable middle between Christ's death on Good Friday and his resurrection on Easter Sunday. This day reminds us that we also live in a "middle time": the time between Christ's resurrection and second coming. This calls us into the space of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, one of broken hope and the pain of Christ's dying.
How do I plan a service for Holy Saturday?
Holy Saturday is the Saturday after Good Friday, which recalls the day when the crucified Christ visited among the dead while his body lay in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. In the ancient church, those preparing for baptism and perhaps others continued the fast they began on Good Friday. Holy Saturday ends at sunset. Fasting and other preparations end at sunset or with the Easter Vigil, which begins the celebration of Easter.
When is Holy Saturday?
Holy Saturday occurs the Saturday before Easter.
What associated objects or symbols may be used for Holy Saturday?
What themes may be associated with Holy Saturday?
Bible passage ideas for Holy Saturday
"Crucifixus," from J. S. Bach's Mass in B Minor, is a lament that is heavy with sorrow and loss, but we pay attention when the movement unexpectedly ends in G major. "In his genius," Cornelius Plantinga writes, "Bach does not then start the following 'Et Resurrexit' with music. No, 'Et Resurrexit' begins with a beat-and-a-half rest that, someone has suggested, may be the most eloquent silence Bach ever wrote into a score. For a beat and a half, the silence fills with expectation and hope until trumpets and timpani burst out in a D-major celebration of Jesus walking out of his tomb" ("The Mother of God at Prayer for the Kingdom of God," First Things, Nov. 30, 2007).
The great pause between Bach's two movements is Holy Saturday. We Christians know what's coming. Holy Saturday is all about preparation. Waiting for Sunday now feels like vigil. Saturday has a vigilant feel because we know it's getting to be time for the timpanist to set up and the trumpet players to pull their instruments from their cases. D major is almost here.
