May 2009
“BY CHANCE”
The Joy of the Risen Lord …
In the twenty fourth chapter of the Gospel of Luke we read about the disciples of Jesus going to the tomb where the Lord’s body had been placed and discovering that his body wasn’t there. First they were puzzled, and then afraid. Suddenly two men stood among them and asked, “Why are you looking among the dead for one who is alive? He is not here; he has been raised”. (Luke 24:5,6)
We have just celebrated Easter. It was a grand and glorious day. We were filled with joy as we sang the great hymns of Easter, as we read the good news, and shared in the Word. We had a wonderful Easter breakfast and shared in the children’s Easter egg hunt. Yet, now that all the joy and celebration have come to a close we go back to our daily lives and do our best to find the Lord in all of the everyday events of life.
I have felt deep sorrow lately as I have lost several close friends and neighbors and former church members. I felt deep loss as Mr. Ewell laid down his bible for the last time and went to be with God. I felt genuine anger at God for the first time in my life when He called Dan home, much before his time. I felt immense sadness as I stood and watched the dirt being filled in over the casket in which our good friend John Wade was buried. Yet, in the midst of all my loss and grief and maybe even because of it I felt the joy of and the importance of Easter this year in a special way. I thought of all the friends whom I have seen come and go in my life. I thought of all the beautiful people and family God has blessed me with and who have gone on to be in heaven with Him. I thought of all the good people that have been a part of our lives here at Aspen Hill Christian Church over the years. People come and go in our life. It’s a fact of life. I have never found it easy to bid adieu, whether in the short run or in the long run to the people I have loved and been loved by.
Yet, the scripture reminds me once again where to find life. The past is a wonderful and rich part of who we are, yet life goes on. For as long as we are here on earth we are blessed to live each new day as if it were the first day of the rest of our life. As Rick Nelson used to sing, “If all I have to sing are memories, I’d rather drive a truck”.
We look for Jesus in the wrong places if we wallow in our grief. We look for Jesus in the wrong places if we live in the past, to the exclusion of the present. We look for Jesus in the wrong places if we go and hang around the graveyard, long after the service is over. Grief is a very real thing in our lives. It comes in many forms. It is always with us. Yet, the angels call us toward the future. The angels call us forward, not backwards. The angels call us to find the Lord in the joy of the empty tomb, not in the tears of the sorrow of the cross. It does us well to acknowledge the sorrow and grief of our lives, while moving on toward the healing and love of faith in the Risen Lord. As I put it to a chaplain friend of mine, “my faith is stronger than either my anger or my grief.”