I took some time to listen to the audio of a memorial service for the Pastor of a local Church, which some of our friends are a part of. I didn't know Pastor Bill; I don't believe that I've ever met him. But he was an important person in the lives of some of our friends so I thought I ought at least to listen to his memorial service. It can be an amazing thing to listen to the thoughts and memories when people speak of the life of a Christian loved one who has passed on.
I remember when my Granny passed on. I cried and cried that night in my bed. I knew, even as I cried, that my tears were for myself. They were because of all the missed time, of all the things I never learned from her that she surely had to teach me. I cried for my mother and my aunt who had lost a wonderful, loving, and giving mother. I did not cry for my Granny. Had I cried for her they would have been wasted tears. Where she is, there are no tears... there is only joy. I had tears, I had hope. But Granny has no need for such things where she is. No tears, no hope... only blessed joy and communion with He who is love incarnate.
I also remember meeting Greta, my dear wife's mother. Well, I didn't actually meet her in person: I met her at her memorial service through those to whom she was a mother, a wife, a sister, a friend. I heard tales of her, stories of a beautiful woman who enriched the lives of those around her. I saw sorrow in the eyes of those who loved her and missed her deeply. I also saw hope. Greta now walks in a place that we can only imagine in the vaguest of ways, a place of love, a place of joy, a place of wholeness.
There is no abiding tragedy in the death of a Christian. There is the sorrow of losing the company of loved ones. There are questions of why - questions we are not able to answer sufficiently in this life. there are tears. Tragedy? No, there cannot truly be tragedy when we have such hope, when those who have left us are drinking deep from the well of infinite joy and love.
I have not known Pastor Bill. I have not been a part of his church congregation. But as I listened to his memorial service I realized that the power behind the life that he led - the life that so obviously moved and inspired those around him - is the same power that guides my life. We worship and serve the same loving God. Those of his congregation who feel the pain of loss are comforted with the same comfort with which all Christians are comforted: the hope of eternal life, eternal joy.
We are an Easter people... a people of hope, of life. Even death cannot change that. Those who have gone on, who have walked through the valley of the shadow of death, those people have a hope that is now realized. Theirs is a hope fulfilled.
For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.
Gloria Deo!
- - - - - - - - - -
No comments:
Post a Comment