That empty aching void... the blend of disbelief and certain knowledge... the wishing we could make it go away and the realisation it won't... we've all had such moments, and if we haven't then we will.

The death of a loved one

The failing of an important exam

The words from a doctor "I'm sorry it's... [cancer/terminal/incurable/non-viable etc]

The final slamming of a door

The trampling of our dreams beneath the feet of history

The many, many 'little deaths'

We have no choice but to enter the pain, feel the loss of hope, experience the isolation...

Holy Saturday is the day when, like no other, God demonstrates sure and certain knowledge of grief and desolation.  As Jesus dies, something within God's very self dies; as Jesus lies in the cold darkness of a borrowed tomb, God experiences the icy gloom of bereavement.

Don't rush on, don't try to bypass the bewilderment, the emptiness, the all too long, all too hard to face day.  This day, of all days, God's message to us is this: me too, I have felt like that.

Today I think of friends who grieve or are in fear, of friends whose dreams are shattered.

For the joys and for the sorrows - for this, we have Jesus.