Holy Saturday offers us an invitation to quiet prayer and stillness as we join Mary and Martha as they sit before the tomb and keep watch. If your church does not celebrate the Easter Vigil, consider introducing a Holy Saturday prayer practice. We have provided a prayer service for use by families or small groups gathered in homes or for use as a printed resource during a come-and-go time of prayer in your worship space. Also consider posting the invitation from the service or a meditation on Holy Saturday on your church’s social media pages as a reminder to take a moment to watch, wait, and pray as Lent ends and we prepare for Easter morning.

Invitation

On this final day of the season of Lent,
a season of self-examination, repentance,
prayer, fasting, and self-denial,
we are invited once again to observe a holy Lent
by reading and meditating on God’s Holy Word
and praying as we sit vigil at Christ’s tomb.

Meditating on the Word

Include the scripture for the day here. Consider writing a reflection on Holy Saturday relevant to your community and context for persons praying at home or in the worship space to read and meditate on.

Prayers of the People

Let us pray:

In the hush of the tomb, we remember those who mourn.

Silent prayer

In the hush of the tomb, we pray for those who have been neglected and rejected.

Silent prayer

In the hush of the tomb, we lift up those cast down by dismissive glances, harsh words, and violent actions.

Silent prayer

In the hush of the tomb, we come alongside those who wait for life while surrounded by death.

Silent prayer

May the hush of the tomb, the quiet of the waiting, and the awe of Jesus’ poured-out love form us into midwives of life in the midst of death. Amen.

Benediction

May you carry the quiet persistence of those who keep vigil at the tomb with you as we wait in watchful hope as people of the light, for the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it. Amen.

Dr. Lisa Hancock, Discipleship Ministries, September 2022.