From the Pastor

May 2006

"For I know that my redeemer lives..." -- Job 19:25

Something I had not thought about in years... Easter came about a month after my dad died. On Easter Sunday, my mother and I went to the cemetery to take flowers to his grave. When we arrived, we noticed a woman kneeling and crying by a very new grave nearby. We placed the flowers and stood quietly. As we stood there, the woman's cries grew louder, and she became quite agitated. Finally, my mother stepped over to see if the woman needed help. They had a brief conversation, which I was unable to hear.

Although my mother did not tell me exactly what was said, when she came back she said, "She told me she does not believe in God and that she has no future without her husband. That is so sad."

My mother and I were sad ourselves. My father had not been dead long, and we were deep in the midst of our grief at his sudden and unexpected death. But we had something the other woman did not have: We had Easter. We had hope for the future and confidence in Jesus Christ's promises of eternal life and salvation.

In May, Brian and I will travel to Ohio, and I will visit my parents' grave for the first time since my mother's burial in October. I have no doubt that I will cry. Actually, I have no doubt that I will weep. I still miss my father, and my mother's death has left a void in my life that I find impossible to explain, even though I write and speak to communicate concepts and ideas to others as part of my call. I will carry that emptiness with me to the grave, in addition to the flowers that I will take.

However, I will also bring something else. I will bring my Easter hope. I will bring my confidence in the promises of Jesus Christ--the promises of eternal life and salvation. And although my eyes will be blurred by tears, I will still have these things to cling to in the midst of my grief.

As children of God, we are an Easter people. We are people who have been redeemed through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and while this does not protect us from all the grief and pain that life may bring, it does give us the ability to look beyond our tears to the eternal kingdom of God. We can cling to the hope that all those whom we have loved and lost rejoice now in the heavenly kingdom--because they have received their reward. And we know that one day, we too, will join them in singing the unending praises of our great and glorious Lord. We that that because he lives, we will live in him and with him...forever.

We can rest assured in that knowledge because Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

In Christ,
Pastor Brenda