After the Storm

This morning when I woke up, it was sunny with a light breeze blowing.  There were a few clouds on the horizon, but they seemed to be there to offer a visual contrast, rather than portend threatening weather.  All was calm, all was quiet.  My thoughts turned immediately to the very stormy night I spent aboard a friend's sail boat moored in the waters of the Penobscot Bay.  It was everything one imagined.  The boat rocked, the wind howled, the hull's wooden planks creaked (or at least they did in my recollection). The space belowdecks was not exactly cavernous.

But we were warm, dry, protected from the storm.  Roger had piloted the Blue Goose to a protected cove, so we could have some protection from the raging storm.  While I was grateful for and confident in his seamanship, I wanted nothing more than for that night to be over.  And ultimately it was.

We awoke in the morning to clear skies and calm seas.  The storm had broken.  I don't recall the specifics of what we did next, but I vaguely remember a slow start to our day, eggs and coffee for breakfast, and just enjoying the peace that surrounded us.  The rest of the day would follow in short order.

For Christians, we are at sea and the storm has broken.  Good Friday is behind us and now it is Holy Saturday and all is quiet.  There has been a lot of debate over what happened on this day, with some arguing as did the Apostle's Creed, that Christ descended to hell before returning, and other saying that his body simply lay in the tomb.  We can't know for sure.  We'll have to wait for an answer, we'll have to wait to understand the meaning of Good Friday.

This Holy Saturday is a time to do this.  Our spiritual boat is resting at anchor, gently bobbing on a glass-like sea, offering us a respite from Good Friday's raging storm and a change to rest in anticipation of the joy we know will break forth on Easter morn.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Shortest Day

Today is the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year.  You've probably heard by now about the conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter, which should be quite a sight.  Of course, this being 2020, the sky will probably be overcast obscuring this celestial event. But rather than be pessimistic, I will indulge in some optimism, some hope, that we will be able to see what has been dubbed "The Christmas Star" - even though Christmas isn't until the 25th and Jesus was likely born in March.  Still, it's the thought that counts, right?  Advent is all about hopeful anticipation, and we're coming to its glorious conclusion. I choose to welcome Christ with an open heart.  What about you?  Will you join me?  Will you look heavenward, confident that, clouds or no clouds, Our Lord is coming to be with us?
Read more

Stop the Yuletide Madness!

"Felize Navidad," move over. Justin Bieber's singing "Little Drummer Boy." I kid you not. I don't make this stuff up. Really. Just four seconds of the hour's musical wunderkind singing "Little Drummer Boy" this morning made me desperately long for the morning of December 25 and the return to regular programming on the radio. Of course, this may be a sign from above, offering us yet another reason for us to reclaim Advent from the wider culture!
Read more

My Pal Richard Dawkins

The New York Times ran a profile of evolutionary biologist and uber-atheist Richard Dawkins in this morning's Science Times section. Prof. Dawkins, an Oxford don, knows a lot about biology and is a brilliant scientist, but knows squat about religion; his rants against God show an understanding of religion and theology that are as simplistic (and, dare I say, simple-minded) as the approach to science shown by a number of religious and political figures on the right. None of this is news, really. But it is puzzling. Why does somebody like Dawkins abandon any sense of intellectual nuance when discussing something of which he disapproves? Surely he can do better than his standard "religion is the source of all evil" schtick (especially since it was religion, of the Roman Catholic variety to be exact, that invented the enterprise of which he is currently a part). Today's story makes me wish there were compelling religious figures who could command the same level of pres...
Read more