Mourning with True Hope
by Jim Kenaston
We have all lost loved ones to death over time. In having recently lost my father, our family is thankful for the expressions of condolence we have received, and especially by those who have walked this path of mourning significant losses before us.
A pastor who was a contemporary of my father offered this reflection during one of his sermons of many years ago:
“The peace of God does not mean never having to carry burdens of unhappiness. If it were so, then Christianity would be a way around the ennobling effects of pain and sorrow and would make Christians into eternal children who never grow into an adult world where people deal with sorrow, pain and difficulty…
“Rather, the ‘peace of God’ means something far more profound (and perhaps, a little more complicated). It means that behind all of life's troubles and hassles there is the objective peace of God… No matter what life's fortunes turn out to be, the Christian is aware that he has his main treasure and solace in his faith in Christ. ‘The peace of God’ means the knowledge that things are never out of control… They are purposeful, and God is in control and he is omnipotent.
“‘The peace of God’ means having someone who empathetically shares our burdens. Of course, this is hard to imagine in a transcendent God, but Christianity knows a transcendent God, who in Jesus Christ, his Son, became man and experienced our burdens and who offers to help shoulder our burdens. Likewise, the Holy Spirit ministers to us and comforts us…
“Finally, ‘the peace of God’ concerns the knowledge that there is a life when we will be free from all these encumbrances. Our burdens will be completely past. This was clearly Paul's perspective when he spoke of all his troubles, describing them as a ‘slight momentary affliction that is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.’” - Rev. Alan Dan Orme (1933-2015).
While I find this reflection to be both true and comforting during my own time of mourning, a recent instance of serendipity touched my heart further, and directly from scripture itself. This happened when I had gone to the funeral home to retrieve the urn that contains my father’s ashes.
I often drive while listening to a series of CDs of the Bible being read aloud. In recent months my father and I would listen to a chapter or two on the way to and from various doctor appointments. On the return trip from the funeral home, I turned on the CD player to listen to the next chapter in the sequence of readings, which happened to be I Corinthians 15. This chapter presents the Gospel in a nutshell. It is about the resurrection of Christ and of those who trust in Him, and the resurrection bodies that we are to receive as His followers.
As you can imagine, the timing of this reading served as a special blessing to me, and as I drove home with my father’s remains. The passage reads in part:
“But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in turn: Christ, the first fruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him.” - I Corinthians 15:20-23
This is the hope that we proclaim in Christ, the one true hope that is so desperately needed for our fallen world, and especially during our times of mourning.
