Promises

Pk’s Corner

September 2015

Matthew 5:4 (NRSV) ⁴ “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted

As I reflect on this past month, I realize that we had many opportunities to mourn.  We have tragically lost friends, neighbors, fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters.  Many of the deaths were results of long illness, and quite a few were sudden, and unexpected.  It is so hard to find comfort when a tragedy blindsides you.  

Jesus promised that any time we mourn, we will be comforted, but there is a caveat.  We are comforted when we take refuge in Christ. 

You see, death is a part of life.  As a friend once told me, we are not getting out of this alive.  Our bodies are finite creations.  The heart has a limited number of beats that it will beat.  Our lungs will only expand so many times until they will not be able to hold air.  Our bodies wear out, that is the way of a world that has fallen into sin.

That is also not what God intended when he created.  Creation was supposed to be full of life, not tainted with death, and yet humanity fell and here we are.  Jesus came to stop death.  Jesus came to release us from the bonds of death, by offering us life.

Those who mourn will be comforted.  We know, because we have a promise from Christ, to live with him eternally.  This is not an empty promise, nor the ravings of a mad man.  Death has already been denied, when Christ rose from the grave.  We, who believe, know that Christ reigns eternal, and we are called to live with him for eternity in heaven.  We are comforted knowing that there is a future, and there is a hope.

Meanwhile, we plod along, trying to make sense of the loss we feel.  We try to hold it together.  We often forget in our sorrow, that Christ shares this with us.  Christ who knows the feeling death brings, knows the hurt we feel.  We are not alone.

For those of you that are hurting, I beg you to give it to Christ.  If you are not involved in a church, please go.  In that church God provides people who will and can share your grief.  God provides comfort, not just in prayer, but also in presence.  Sometimes that presence is the person sitting next to you in the pew.  Be assured, even in your darkest time of sorrow, God does not and will not abandon you.  Blessed are you, for you will know the comfort that comes through Christ.

God does not allow sorrow to last forever.  Trust him, he is only a prayer away.

Amen