Wednesday, November 14, 2007

At the Foot of a Grave

So it's been a while since I've posted regularly. My schedule has been a bit turned upside down lately and that has thrown me. However, I am here for today. I wanted to share with you a story I heard yesterday that I think fits with our lectionary readings for Sunday. As a preacher I find this a challenging stretch to be preaching. We are in the midst of a number of readings about end times and then we'll transition into Advent with similar themes in looking at the coming of Jesus (both 2,000 years ago and again soon for a second time).

With this as a backdrop and Pastor Dave's preaching about our living in a culture of death that I heard a beautiful story yesterday. I was talking to a friend of mine who is a pastor in Waseca. Last February there was a tragic shooting that involved a father and son who were killed and a mother who barely survived. Last week after traipsing through manure covered fields he came across the mother standing in the wind swept cemetery standing in front of the grave. As my friend approached the mother asked, "Is this all there is?"

If that's not a profound theological moment, I don't know what is. It's a picture of life as well, I think, covered in manure standing at the grave asking is this all there is? I think we know the answer to that question, but it hits hard sometimes. We know that resurrection, new life, is only possible through death. It is in death that we begin to see resurrection, that we begin to find hope. It's the strange thing about our faith, that it works this way. It is also the beautiful part of our faith as well.

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