|
|
|
A man had a friend who enlarged his business. His sales had increased to the point that a larger warehouse and sales office were needed. Even though the move was a rather complicated and burdensome process, it was really a thing to be celebrated. For this reason, the man sent his friend some flowers on the day of his grand opening. The flowers, however, were poorly handled and the businessman received a bouquet that was intended for a funeral. It was accompanied with a card which said: "My deepest sympathy during this time of sorrow." When the man called his friend on the phone to wish him well, he was confronted with the error, "Why in the world," said the businessman, "did you send me these sympathy flowers?" The man went immediately to the florist to demand an explanation. The florist met him outside the shop and was obviously upset. "I am terribly sorry about the mix up with the flowers," he said, "but I hope you will be understanding. Your situation is not half as bad as the one down at the funeral home. The folks there received your flowers accompanied by the card which said: BEST WISHES IN YOUR NEW LOCATION." Sometimes what we find it hard to talk about, we joke about. I'd like us to spend a few moments talking about the "D" word...the big goodbye...the final departure...the grim reaper that we know as DEATH. The reason we need to talk about it is because it is a part of life. There is an absolute fact that we all know to be true. We all will die one day. And how we accept our death in the future directly affects how we live our lives today. Our culture has spent too much time, energy, and money trying to deny death. We like what Woody Allen says about death, "It's not that I'm afraid of death...It's just that I don't want to be there when it happens." Another reason we need to talk about death is because of our faith in Jesus Christ who was raised from the dead. We proclaim this resurrection hope for all persons who will receive him; we believe it in our heads; we sing about it; we confess it in the affirmation of faith. But do we really accept our own resurrection and the death that will bring us to it? Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse was one of America's great preachers. His first wife died from cancer when she was in her thirties, leaving three children under the age of twelve. Barnhouse chose to preach the funeral himself. What does a father tell his motherless children at a time like that? On his way to the service, he was driving with his children when a large truck passed them in the highway, casting a shadow over their car. Barnhouse turned to his oldest daughter who was blankly staring out the window, and asked, "Tell me, sweetheart, would you rather be run over by that truck or its shadow?" The little girl looked curiously at her father and said, "By the shadow, I guess. It can't hurt you." Dr. Barnhouse said quietly to the three children, "Your mother has not been overrun by death, but by the shadow of death. That is nothing to fear." In our gospel lesson John tells the story of Mary anointing Jesus with a vial of perfume so expensive that it cost an entire year's wages! When Judas tried to point out the waste of this act Jesus affirmed Mary's loving act. Mary knew that Jesus was going to die. She was willing to face up to his death, not because she didn't love him, but precisely because she loved him so much! This is why you and I need to take some time to talk with our family and friends about our death. It is because of our love for them that we need to talk about it. In Catherine Marshall's book about her husband Peter, she cites a touching story of a young terminally ill son asking his mother what death was like, if it hurt. "Kenneth," she said, "you remember when you were a tiny boy how you used to play so hard all day that when night came you would be too tired even to undress, and you would tumble into mother's bed and fall asleep? "That was not your bed. It was not where you belonged. And you would only stay there a little while. In the morning, much to your surprise, you would wake up and find yourself in your own bed in your own room. You were there because someone had loved you and taken care of you. Your father had come with big strong arms and carried you away. Kenneth, death is just like that. We just wake up some morning to find ourselves in the other room, our own room where we belong, because the Lord Jesus loved us." The boy's shining, trusting face looking up into hers told her that the point had gone home and that there would be no more fear, only love and trust in his heart as he went to meet the Lord in Heaven. He never questioned again. We all acknowledge that we have a need for our lives to have a purpose and meaning. Most of the people whom I have ministered during close calls with death say something like, "I suppose God still has some purpose for me in this world." Jesus knew that Mary was preparing him for his death, a death which was Jesus' great mission in the world. Donel McClellan tells the story a man's 16 year old granddaughter who had had a nervous breakdown, stretched too far with school and work and activities. It had happened 2 weeks earlier, but the grandfather just found out about it the weekend when he had gone to visit. She was up in her room, sleeping most of the time, medicated, letting her body recover. He describes his visit: "Helpless, I couldn't do anything. I went up to see her, and they told me she might not be awake, but she was and she smiled at me. Didn't say anything, but she smiled. Later that afternoon, she asked for me to walk with her down the driveway. She didn't say anything then, holding on to my arm, but we walked to the mailbox and back. And before I left, my son told me she had said that walk really felt good. You know, I've escaped death many times by just seconds (a WWII veteran who jumped out of a crashing plane, and was nearly caught several times by the German army). And I wondered, why didn't I die? What was I still doing here? Was there a reason God kept me alive? Could it be that I escaped death just to make that walk? Is that why I'm here?" Thinking about our own death is not just morbid. It can be healthy. Death is the road each of us must travel on our way to the heavenly city. It is okay to talk about it because it will happen! It is indeed sad when a person wants to talk about his or her own death and a friend or family member says, "Oh, don't talk like that!" Included in your worship folder today is an insert designed to help you plan your funeral or memorial service. You are invited to complete the form and let us keep it on file in the office. My hope is that this will get families talking about after-death preparations. There is so much grief and emotion for loved ones left behind. When I die I don’t want my family to wonder about what to do with my body or what to include in a service. I have already made that decision. The good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ is that death is not the final word for those who trust in Christ. Be assured that as long as you are alive God has a purpose for you...which is to live in a manner worthy of the gospel. And like Mary, we don't have to be afraid of death. We can even look forward to it! Isn't that what we do at Communion? We celebrate the fact that God gave God's self to us in Jesus Christ. Through his death and resurrection we now have the possibility of new life. We need to realize that there is no resurrection without death. There is no Easter without Good Friday. There is no bread and cup without the cross. A United Church of Christ pastor tells the story of a man in his church who was very near death. Bill had been crippled by Lou Gehrig's disease the last decade of his life and then cancer had wracked his body in the very last months. The pastor arrived and Dorothy led him into the bedroom where Bill was half sitting up. The room was dark because Bill's eyes could not stand the light. He could only see by the light in the hallway outside the bedroom. Bill's voice was but a whisper because of the radiation treatments he had received for his cancer. With great effort he asked the pastor for Communion. He told Bill that he had left his Communion set out in the car and that he would go and get it. He motioned, "no," since his throat was in such pain from radiation that he couldn't have swallowed anything anyway. Then the pastor was confused. How could he give him communion if he couldn't swallow anything? He thought that Bill was a bit delirious and he really didn't know what to do. Bill then asked him to pantomime Holy Communion -- go through the process, say the words of institution, pray the prayers, ask for the presence of the Holy Spirit. The pastor thought this request was strange indeed, but how does one deny a simple request of a dying man? So they had communion. The pastor said those words that Bill had heard all his life, "On the night in which he was betrayed, our Lord took bread and when he had given thanks he broke it and gave it to his disciples and said, .. .". He took an imaginary wafer between his thumb and forefinger and held it to Bill's lips; he opened his mouth and took it. He took a "cup" with his hand making a horizontal circle in the air. Bill drank from it. Tears welled up in their eyes as he gave Bill Communion. He died just a few hours later. The pattern of his faith which sustained him all his life had a special meaning for him at the very end. The pastor still would not want to say that what they did that night was normative for the United Church of Christ. But it was surely sacramental. 2000 years ago Jesus ate the Passover meal in an upper room with his disciples. A day before he was to die he took bread and cup and said to them, "Eat this bread, drink this cup, in remembrance of me." It is because of this great gift of grace that you and I can not only talk about our own death and resurrection. We can not just prepare for it. We can actually celebrate it! |
The St. John Web Site needs your input! Click here to leave feedback Copyright © 1998-2004 Jon S. Dawson. Last modified: February 01, 2009
|
04.06.03 - Talking about the "D" Word (John 12:1-8)
