May the words of my mouth, and the meditation
of our hearts, be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our rock and our
redeemer. Amen.
A famous writer once said the following: “If I discover within myself a
desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable
explanation is that I was made for another world.” “If I discover within myself a desire
which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is
that I was made for another world.”
It’s the
kind of quote you have to hear a few times before it sinks in, but I think what
the author’s trying to say is that we all have a deep desire for those things
that are good: happiness, health, and love. We all yearn for wholeness, shalom, peace. And yet, these good things are so
elusive sometimes. They are
difficult to find, and once we’ve found them, they’re even harder to hold on
to. They’re like tiny kernels of
sand that you grab at a beach: you can hold onto them for a while, but
inevitably they slip, they fall out, and the wind takes them away. But because we yearn for such a world,
because we long for such peace, it must exist. Somewhere.
Somehow.
I know these
thoughts ring true for me in my life, and I wonder if today, a day when we’re
here to remember those who have meant so much to you and to your loved ones, I
wonder if today these sentiments ring true for you also, as you’re gripped by
feelings of loss, grief, fear and longing…
The text
for today is from the prophet Isaiah, who wrote to people
in similar circumstances to yours.
Isaiah was addressing the people of God, who were living in exile. They were defeated by their enemies who
not only killed their families, but destroyed their homes too, and to add
insult to injury, their enemies chained them up and took them away to live as servants
in a foreign country.
To these
people of faith, Isaiah wrote, and his message was simple: the pain and
suffering that you experience now is temporary; God will make things right;
trust in His promises. The fear
and loneliness that you feel now will not always consume you; God will set
things straight; put your faith in Him.
And so my
simple message here today is the same, because even though we live in a
different time, our struggles are still the same. And furthermore, God’s faithfulness and goodness are as
valid for us today as they were for the people of previous generations: we were made for another world, a world
of blessing, a world without sin, and a world full of the presence of God. (25) And this is precisely what God is going
to bring about. God will make all
things anew. So, take heart.
The “new
heavens and the new earth” will be a source of great blessing: full of “joy”
and “delight.” Actually, unending joy; and delight without end. (18a) People enjoying that which God has
created, rejoicing with one another, and delighting in God. We can think of it as a three-fold
peace: peace with God’s created order, peace with our neighbour, and peace with
God. Everything will be as it should
be.
God’s new
creation will be one where the dark stain of sin and death will be no
more. No more sounds of weeping, no
more cries of distress. (19b) A
full and complete life, in every sense, because we will be a people blessed by
the Lord: we will no longer hurt one another, and we will no longer experience
loss. In fact, “the former things will
no more be remembered, nor will they come to mind.” (17)
And God will be among us.
This is hard to fathom, hard to imagine, and frankly, I wonder whether
at this point words begin to fail us.
But the image painted here is that of a relationship: we will be so
close to God that in a sense speaking won’t even be necessary: Before we call out, God shall answer; while we are yet speaking,
God shall hear our prayer.” (24)
Being in the presence of God will be an experience that no other earthly
experience can come close to.
Let me
switch gears now for a few moments.
You might ask yourself at this point, ‘Ok, that’s all fine and good, all
of this stuff sounds great, but .. what about now? You’re talking about the future: what do I do now? Am I supposed to ignore my grief’?
The answer
to that is no, absolutely not. Do
not ignore your grief. We do
ourselves great harm when we ignore grief, and we do one another great harm if we
tell each other to ignore grief.
My sister’s
oldest son, Ralph, 23 years old, was in a tragic car accident just over 3 years
ago. It’s a miracle that he’s
still with us – and I don’t say that lightly - having been rescued from the car
wreckage after being trapped in it, under water, for over 2 minutes; and after
being pulled out by a Good Samaritan who witnessed the accident, a nurse who
was the second person on scene, performed CPR on him. He was helicoptered to a hospital, where he had 9 hours of
surgery performed on his head, his neck, his chest and his arms. Ralph is still with us today, thanks be
to God. But he’s very different,
particularly because of the severity of the brain injuries incurred in the
accident.
But what’s
surprised me over the past few years is how much opposition there is towards
grieving in our communities. Our
family – my sisters’ family in
particular – has been told - politely - on a number of occasions that we should
just move on, that these things happen: “it is what it is”; or that this was
obviously God’s will; some even said it was wrong to grieve this long; and
still others became awkward and tense after the accident, not knowing what to
talk about with someone experiencing such deep pain. And I confess, that I have sometimes thought it too: “let’s move
on already”, as though grief is a switch we can just turn on or off at will.
Recently I
was speaking to someone experiencing incredible grief right here at our facility, and she mentioned that people from her faith community have been telling
her the same thing too: “stop feeling sorry for yourself and get over it.” So it happens here too…
I think such
responses to grief are very unhelpful, to say the least. We need to learn how to grieve, and we
need to learn to support those who are grieving, because without grieving, there
can be no healing; the longer we avoid grief, the longer the healing process
will take.
If you’ve
come here today with a heavy heart, you are in the right place. It took great courage for you to come. This is precisely why we hold memorial services:
to acknowledge our pain, to come alongside one another on this difficult
journey, and to proclaim words of hope and inspiration at a very difficult
crossroads in our lives.
And
hopefully you’re also getting support from others whom you trust: friends,
family, or maybe your faith community.
These are all very important sources of support.
Grief is a
normal part of this present world that we live in. Jesus grieved greatly during his earthly ministry. When Lazarus died and his sister was
grieving, Jesus was deeply moved, and he wept. And on the night before he was arrested
and beaten and crucified, the gospel of Luke says that Jesus was in agony, so
much so that his sweat became like “great drops of blood.”
But the
sorrow that Jesus expressed – and this is what it all comes down to - was
always in the context of trust in God, and in a promised future joy. So while Jesus suffers openly in the
garden of Gethsemane, carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders, yet he
still trusted God, saying ‘not my will, Father, but your will be done.” Jesus’ response to the crushing loneliness
was not a result of ‘mind over matter’ or ‘positive thinking’ or ‘sheer
optimism’, or ‘self-help’; but rather, Jesus’ response was anchored in faith that
the promises of God could be trusted.
He knew that the Father’s heart is set on blessing his people; that’s
why on a previous occasion, while preaching, Jesus said: “…do not be anxious about
your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what
you will put on. . . . For…your heavenly Father knows [what your needs
are]. But seek first the kingdom
of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
Maybe, just
maybe – with the support of friends, family, our communities of faith, and with
grace - God knows we need lots of grace – these words can serve as a source of
encouragement and support for us today.
Friends, we were indeed created for another world: a world full of
blessings, full of peace – in every sense of that word - and full of the
glorious presence of God. And this
is precisely what God has in store for his people.
My hope is
that these words would be a source of encouragement for you, and for anyone
deeply wounded at this point in his/her life. May God grant us the strength to endure these difficult
times. May God grant us the
courage to put our hope and our trust in Him and His promises. May God heal our broken hearts.
Allow me to
close by repeating God’s words to the prophet Isaiah:
“See, I am
about to create new heavens and a new earth;
The former
things will no more be remembered,
Nor will
they come to mind.
Rejoice,
rather, and take delight unending
In what I am
about to create!
…
No more will
the sound of weeping be heard…,
No more the
cry of distress.
…
Like the
life-span of a tree will the life-span of my people be,
My chosen
ones will long enjoy the work of their hands.
…
Before they
call out, I shall answer;
While they
are yet speaking, I shall hear their prayer.
…
No longer will they hurt or
destroy
On all my holy mountain.
This is what the Lord says.”
Amen.
