Dead, Buried, and Alive!

As Tuesday evening came, Bev left. The children and I gathered ‘round her and waited: helpless and hopeful. As I held her, her heart fluttered, her breathing slowed and then, she was gone.  One moment the body was alive, the next, lifeless. As I laid my head on her tiny frame, my own heart felt like it would stop. 

Grief stalks me, catching me like prey in a lion’s claws. It mauls me and leaves me battered. I dread the coming hours. We will carry that body to the top of the mountain and tenderly place it in the ground. I will hear words I have spoken at hundreds of gravesides – “ashes to ashes, dust to dust … in the certain hope of the Resurrection” and it will be The End.

Except that it isn’t! Bev lives. “Oh, yes,” you say, “she lives in her children, in our memories.” True enough. Even as I write memories interrupt me, pulling my thoughts to years past and places we knew.  But, when I say she lives I mean it in fact. Bev is gone but not like a flame extinguished. Her body is lifeless, but the spirit lives in the Presence of God.  I am not just dreaming that so I can avoid ‘reality.’ Jesus came to Bethany to meet two sisters who were grieving and angry. “We called you to come to heal our brother,” they told Him, “but You did not! Now, he is dead, buried four days!” Jesus gave them a miracle I do not expect, raising Lazarus from the grave.  In the middle of that story, He made a declaration that I am holding onto today. “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die.” (John 11:25-26, NLT)

In faith I receive the Word, inspired and hopeful, where I read that "if earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. …  For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. Therefore, we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. We live by faith, not by sight." (2 Corinthians 5:1-7, NIV)

Yes, at this moment, I would prefer to have Bev’s ‘earthly tent’ still intact! I loved that beautiful assortment of carbon atoms in which her spirit lived for 61 years. But, I am comforted by the knowledge that she is no longer in a temporary dwelling, but is at home in the Father’s house, a ‘heavenly dwelling.’  She is eternal, beautiful in a way I can scarcely imagine, and beyond the reach of suffering and death.

So, I will bury her body today with tearful hope. I will leave it to decay, trusting in the mystery of faith, that in some glorious moment, the trumpet will sound to announce the end of time and God will reassemble and resurrect that body to complete the work of salvation.  "The dead will be up and out of their graves, beyond the reach of death, never to die again. At the same moment and in the same way, we’ll all be changed. In the resurrection scheme of things, this has to happen: everything perishable taken off the shelves and replaced by the imperishable, this mortal replaced by the immortal.

Then the saying will come true: Death swallowed by triumphant Life! Who got the last word, oh, Death? Oh, Death, who’s afraid of you now? It was sin that made death so frightening and law-code guilt that gave sin its leverage, its destructive power. But now in a single victorious stroke of Life, all three—sin, guilt, death—are gone, the gift of our Master, Jesus Christ. Thank God!" (1 Corinthians 15:52-58, The Message)

So, for now, until my life is over, I must deal with the sorrow and the loss that her dying has left to me.  Gradually, I suppose, the ache will lessen and memories will recede, emerging occasionally to make me cry.  I will see reflections of my Bev in our children. I will dream of her. I will be reminded of her in a hundred ways each day.  And, I will hope, ready for that day when my own earthly tent will be folded up and laid in the ground and my spirit will slip through a rip in time and into the Presence of God to live in a house not made by human hands!  Oh, Glorious Day!

How Great Is Our God

The splendor of the King,

Clothed in majesty,

Let all the earth rejoice,

All the earth rejoice!

He wraps Himself in light,

And darkness tries to hide,

And trembles at His voice,

And trembles at His voice.

How great is our God;

Sing with me,

How great is our God;

And all will see how great,

How great is our God!

And age to age He stands

And time is in His hands;

Beginning and the End,

Beginning and the End.

The Godhead -three in one-

Father, Spirit, Son-

The Lion and the Lamb,

The Lion and the Lamb.

How great is our God;

Sing with me,

How great is our God;

And all will see how great,

How great is our God!

Name above all names,

Worthy of all praise,

My heart will sing,

How great is our God!

Chris Tomlin | Ed Cash | Jesse Reeves

© 2004 sixsteps Music (Admin. by Capitol CMG Publishing)

CCLI License # 810055

That is how you stand firm

“Oh, how can I do this?” Bev asked me sorrowfully as we both sensed that the days ahead were about to become even more difficult. Perhaps I merely state the obvious, but there is no escaping that dying is hard. There is grief, loss of dignity, and frequently terrible bodily pain. Bev was not alone in musing about how to travel that road hopefully. I too wondered - in my own thoughts - “How can I do this?”  The hospice resources offered practical advice: Keep friends close. Use music to soothe the troubled soul. Follow familiar faith practices. Talk with people who understand and empathize. Try to get regular rest. And, we have done all those things, and yet . . .   the sorrow is crushing, the pain of spirit unlike any earthly ache I have ever known.

Prayerfully, I turn to the wisdom that is from above and found an old, new truth.  The only way to endure is to remember Heaven! When Bev and I were talking and I told her the best way to ‘do this’ was to focus on the Eternal Promise of unending Life in Heaven, she was not, in that moment, greatly encouraged! She is a fighter and, up until a few days ago, was determined to stay with me and her family as long as possible. We love what and who we can see, touch, and hold. Still, we can only walk the road though the valley of the shadow when we have Heaven in our heart.  Paul says it this way:  "But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. Therefore, my brothers, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, that is how you should stand firm in the Lord, dear friends!" (Philippians 3:20-4:1, NIV)

Richard Baxter, a 17^th century Puritan, captures the importance of our hope of eternal life.  “A heavenly mind is also fortified against temptations, because the affections are thoroughly prepossessed with the high delights of another world. When thou hast had a fresh, delightful taste of heaven, thou wilt not be so easily persuaded from it. … Besides, while the heart is set on heaven, a man is under God’s protection. If Satan then assaults us, God is more engaged for our defense, and will doubtless stand by us and say, “My grace is sufficient for thee” (2 Cor. 12:9). … The diligent keeping of your hearts in heaven will maintain the vigor of all your graces, and put life into all your duties. The heavenly Christian is the lively Christian. It is our strangeness to heaven that makes us so dull. … When a worldly man will talk of nothing but the world, and a politician the state of affairs, and a mere scholar of human learning, and a common professor of his duties; the heavenly man will be speaking of heaven, and the strange glory his faith hath seen, and our speedy and blessed meeting there. O how refreshing and useful are his expressions! How his words pierce and transform the hearers into other men!

When a Christian can live above, and rejoice his soul with the things that are unseen, how is God honored by such a one!”  Discipleship Journal  : Issue 92. 1999 (electronic ed.). Colorado Springs: The Navigators/NavPress.

Have you Heaven in your heart, your mind, and your soul?

I am nearer heaven these days as my wife lays dying in the next room. She has slipped beyond my words and no longer can respond to my caress. The sense of loss would be beyond description except for that hope that I possess in faith- “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am." (John 14:1-3, NLT) I am glad that I am not attempting to make reservations at this late hour!  Long ago, Bev and I put our trust in the One who saves, who makes us alive forevermore.  Have you?

The word from the Word steadies me on this rocky way.  Though sad, I am not hopeless. My prayer is that the Truth will steady you, too.

"When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” (1 Corinthians 15:54-55, NIV)  

"Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain." (1 Corinthians 15:58, NIV)

___________

Sing The Wondrous Love Of Jesus

Sing the wondrous love of Jesus,

Sing His mercy and His grace.

In the mansions -bright and blessed-

He'll prepare for us a place.

While we walk the pilgrim pathway,

Clouds will overspread the sky.

But when trav'ling days are over

Not a shadow not a sigh.

Let us then be true and faithful,

Trusting, serving, ev'ry day.

Just one glimpse of Him in glory

Will the toils of life repay.

Onward to the prize before us,

Soon His beauty we'll behold!

Soon the pearly gates will open,

We shall tread the streets of gold.

When we all get to heaven-

What a day of rejoicing that will be!

When we all see Jesus,

We'll sing and shout the victory!

Eliza Edmunds Stites Hewitt | Emily Divine Wilson

© Words: Public Domain

Treasure and Ponder

Christmas chaos is an all too common experience. December’s calendar fills up with events, parties, travel, children’s programs, gift preparation, feasts, and family gatherings. More often than not, by the day after Christmas, we are ready to collapse from exhaustion.   

That is one reason I observe the Christian season of Advent. Slowly, beginning four Sundays before Christmas, the season unfolds, each week a gentle reminder that we are marking the most momentous occasion in human history- when God entered Creation as a tiny Baby, a mysterious and miraculous coming that announced a new era and made possible a whole new way to know the Lord.

Let’s not allow bright lights and festivities to steal the Moment! Let’s not substitute fun for substance!

There is a little phrase buried in the middle of Luke’s narrative of the Nativity that speaks of Mary’s response to the birth of Jesus, the angelic announcement, and the visit of shepherds with the wondrous tale. "Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart." (Luke 2:19, NIV) Treasured and pondered- the words that arrest me.  She took time to store the moments in memory and revisited them often. Why? Because they were precious, sweet memories for a mother? Perhaps.  More importantly, I believe she treasured and pondered knowing that His birth was the pivotal moment of her life, the reason for her very existence- to bear the Son of God.  I wonder if, as she stood 33 years later at the foot of the gruesome cross where her Son hung dying, if she retreated to that Holy Night and drew comfort from the knowledge of God’s plans?

I encourage you to take time for silence. Before you laugh at the suggestion as you look over your calendar, please consider that God’s gift cannot be found in the mall, on Amazon.com, or even on the songs playing on the radio. Yes, the props of Christmas play a part in our celebration, but the love of God shown to us in Christ Jesus will only be found in the quiet, where His Spirit can whisper to us about the wonder, the mystery of the Incarnation (God in flesh)!  Treasure and ponder this fact - “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." (John 3:16-17, NIV)

Through the years, one of my favorite gatherings of Christians is on Christmas Eve. In the church where I serve, we make it a relatively simple liturgy of Scripture readings, carols, and sharing the Holy Meal – all with the hope that our celebration will not intrude on the momentous message - "Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” (Luke 2:11-12, NIV)

I pray for you a most blessed Christmas, a renewal of love for the Savior, a re-centering of faith on Him, and a recommissioning to service of the Baby of Bethlehem, now the Lord of Heaven and Earth, our King!

________

Joy to the World,

The Lord is Come!

Let earth receive her King.

Let ev’ry heart prepare Him room,

And Heav’n and nature sing!

CoffeeBreak will be back next week, Lord-willing! I am taking my own counsel and hope to spend time treasuring and pondering the mystery of the Word become Flesh.

Merry Christmas!