Chaplain's Chat

As I sit and write this at my desk, my bookshelves are empty, my walls are bare, and I am surrounded by boxes as I pack up this space so that the chapel rebuild can get underway after Easter (although I can hear banging and drilling already!). As Whitby is torn down and renovations begin, there will be a time of noise and disruption before the excitement of when all the wonderful new spaces are completed. One has to go through the challenge in order to get to the reward!

As the writer of Ecclesiastes says, “There is a time to tear down, and a time to build … a time to keep, and a time to throw away” (3.1-8).

This is a bit like Easter. The joy and thrill of Easter Sunday’s resurrection could not happen without the pain and brokenness of Good Friday. In between those two important and event-filled days is the waiting time of Easter Saturday, a space of limbo, of hope, and wondering. Such times are not always easy – waiting for test results, waiting for an answer, wondering if we will get that call – or perhaps living out of boxes and in other people’s spaces. But they are also important times. This is when, like the first disciples, we have to rely the support of others, and we need to trust and not let despair overpower hope. Good Friday is never the end – there is always the dawn of a Resurrection Sunday! And in between is Easter Saturday.