He Descended to the Dead

Most Episcopal churches forgo the Holy Saturday service in our Book of Common Prayer, skipping instead to the Great Vigil, and from my perspective this is problematic. Holy Saturday, according to von Balthasar, is the day when the actual work of salvation is being carried out.

This is when he descended to the dead.

There are also readings in the three-year Episcopal lectionary that are reserved for Holy Saturday, and if we skip from Good Friday to the Vigil, we miss these readings; for example, Matthew 27:57-66 or John 19:38-42, dealing with Joseph of Arimathea procuring Christ's body; or the epistle, 1 Peter 4:1-8; or the Old Testament reading, Job 14:1-14. We get pieces of these stories in other three-year lectionary readings, but not these pieces, unless we observe Holy Saturday.

As one pursuing parish ministry, I am not eager to heap more liturgies on overburdened priests; but why is this the one we skip? Why are these readings less important? To me it feels like we want to gloss over death and grief, and zip straight to resurrection and celebration.