A 21-minute audio guided meditation, with text from John 19:38-42

Though it is wildly tempting to rush to Easter morning, I invite you to tarry a while with me, to stay here in the holy, devastating moments as the body of Jesus is removed from the cross.

As Michael Rosen so wisely said: we can't go around it, we can't go over it, we can't go under it. We have to go through it.

My prayer is that we will all gently grow in our capacity to attend the loss, absence, and bewilderment that will inevitably consume us from time to time. Not because the wilderness is an end in itself, but because our healing and our hope, can only be as deep as the depths to which we have explored our pain.

In this meditation I use the text from John 18:38-42 NRSV.

I also quote Etty Hillesum, who died at Auschwitz, from her book An Interrupted Life and Letters from Westerbork She writes: "And that is all we can manage in these days and also all that really matters: that we safeguard that little piece of You, God, in ourselves. And perhaps in others as well. Alas, there doesn't seem to be much You Yourself can do about our circumstances. About our lives. You cannot help us. But we must help You, and defend your dwelling place inside us to the last." A profound reflection for the darkest of days. Thank you to Val for sharing this with me last week.

In the closing blessing, I use words that are very close to Jan Richardson's poem Beloved is Where we Begin. This poem lives inside of me and sometimes emerges. Jan has lots of helpful blessings for Holy Week and Easter. Do sit with them.

Thank you for trusting me to accompany you on your journey, in your sacred moments. It is a great honour to be here with you.

All blessings.

Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer - space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being born out of God's love for you today - drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina.

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All music by Pete Hatch.

When God is Absent: A Meditation for Holy Saturday