Christian Mourning (June 1, 2003)

Just an hour or so after completing the essay above about the joy of long summer days, I received news of a tragic accident involving relatives of some friends of mine. A father, mother and 12-year-old son were killed in a single-car accident in Missouri. The other son of the family, 14, survived with minor injuries. He will live with relatives. The extended family spent Memorial Day preparing for a three-casket funeral.

What sorrow, what sorrow. The words I had written about casual delights seem like such an irreverence when at that very moment dear friends were wallowing in grief.

But then again - the people of this extended family are Christians who testify to God's grace even in the midst of tragedy. The tears are abundant, but so is the assurance that their loved ones are with Christ. Several people at the wake commented that now they have been reunited with Kathryn, the grandmother (and great woman of God) whose funeral I did a couple of years ago. Kathryn was one of the saintliest people I have ever met. Blind, on kidney dialysis and wheelchair-bound, she would shine the sunniest smile whenever I visited her to serve Communion. She would pray for me and my family in her native Rumanian. She always asked about other people's needs. Her husband of 50 years, Joe, bragged to me about his wife, how she sang even when washing the dishes.

Now she sings in glory with her son and daughter-in-law and grandson.

The Bible says there is a time for everything - a time to laugh and a time to mourn. Last Monday suddenly became a day to mourn, but thank God it was Christian mourning. We who trust in Christ know that our sorrows will some day give way to joy, and so we do not "grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope." (1 Thessalonians 4:13). With a future secure in Christ, we can regard the delights of this world not as things greedily to be grasped - fearful lest death snatch them away forever - but rather we can savor them gently, receive them more easily, knowing that they are foretastes of heaven's greater joys.