Eternal Love
by Rev. Cynthia O'Brien
November 6, 2005 (All Saints Sunday)
Psalm 116:12-19
PS 116:12 How can I repay the LORD
Precious in the sight of the LORD
1 Corinthians 15:51-57
1CO 15:50 I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed-- 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory."
1CO 15:55 "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
I read in the Oregonian last week about Diane Martinez Mandaville. She has a Halloween party every year with her neighbors. But this year, as she had been studying her heritage, she asked her neighbors: What would you think if this year, instead of our traditional Halloween party, I held one for the Day of the Dead?”
Day of the Dead is the Latino observance of All Saints Day, November 1, the day on which we remember those who have died. In Latino cultures, it includes making altars to remember the person and celebrating with sweets in the shape of skulls and skeletons.
Diane told her neighbors she’d like to build an altar for her grandmother, and she wanted to invite the neighbors to build altars, too.
She said the reactions ranged from interested to “eewww.” She said, “One of my neighbors thought the skulls, the whole idea of Day of the Dead, was scary, morbid and awful,” she said. But I thought to myself, “She just doesn’t understand.
“The skulls are a reminder of our mortality and our immortality. My grandmother is very much alive. We don’t stop at the point of our death.”
They planned the party, complete with authentic Mexican food, then she started on her grandmother’s altar. On a table she laid a brightly striped blanket and a few of her grandmother’s possessions and several other symbols of what she had loved in life: a plastic rosary, images of the Virgin Mary, mermaids, a stack of cinnamon sticks, and a necklace strung with topaz, silver and an avocado charm. “These are the things that bring her back to life for me.”
A neighbor prepared an altar dedicated to four deceased relatives, and it turned out to be a good experience. She said, “What surprised me were the overwhelming emotions that I felt.” I’m not Latina and the Day of the Dead is not part of my cultural tradition, but participating in this really moved me.”
The reluctant neighbor, the one who had thought it was scary morbid and awful: She made skeletons of white chocolate, stayed through the whole party and declared it “wonderful” before she went home.
Diane says “There were watery eyes all over the place. People were sad and happy all at the same time.
from “Grateful for the Dead” by Nancy Haught, The Oregonian,
The Day of the Dead, or All Souls Day, can be a very sad time, remembering our loved ones who are separated from us. And it’s right to be sad.
Charles Allen, a Methodist minister, wrote about the sorrow when a loved one dies:
When a loved one’s body dies, it breaks our hearts and fills our eyes with tears. We would not have it otherwise. There is something wrong with a person who can be physically separated from one he truly loved and not feel deep sorrow. It always leaves a hurt in our hearts that will never be healed. Sorrow because of death is not a lack of faith. Though we have complete confidence in the future life, still the separation is hard to bear.
But for believers, death is not the end. That’s why we have so many poems and images and songs about death being not the end, but a doorway, a passage into eternal life.
It is because of our faith that we feel sorrow instead of despair. Those who believe in God may be brokenhearted at the loss, but we also have hope.
1CO 15:50 I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
Part of the reason people die is that we live in perishable bodies which cannot exist forever in heaven.
51 Listen, I tell you a mystery:
What you are about to learn is a mystery. There are many who do not understand it.
Dr. Johnson was one of those who did not understand the mystery. He was a friend of Bible teacher William Barclay. Once a man said to Dr. Johnson that there had been times when he had not feared death. Johnson answered that “he never had a moment in which death was not terrible to him.” Once a woman told him that he should not have a horror for death, because death is the gate of life. Johnson answered, “No rational man can die without uneasy apprehension.” He said that the fear of death was so natural to man, that all life was one long effort not to think about it.
He was one who could not grasp the mystery. But you will understand:
the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.
The perishable bodies must be transformed into heavenly bodies. Each person will still be the person God made them to be.
One believer who did accept the mystery was Saint Gregory of Nazianzen. He lived in
“Why am I so earthly in my thoughts? I shall await the voice of the archangel, the last trumpet, the transformation of heaven, the change of earth, the renewal of the universe. Then I shall see my brother Caesarius himself, no longer in exile, no longer being buried, no longer mourned, no longer pitied, but splendid, glorious, sublime, such as you were often seen in a dream, dearest and most loving of brothers, whether my desire or truth itself represented you.
(Ancient commentary on 1 Corinthians, p. 180, FC 22:23)
54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory."
1CO
Remember Jesus explained this to Martha in John 11
JN 11:23 Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again."
When our perishable earthly bodies have been transformed into heavenly bodies that will never die, then the final victory over death will have been accomplished. God has promised that one day death will no longer have victory or sting because, as it says in Revelation 21, death will be no more, and here in 1 Corinthians,
57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Perhaps this is why we feel better after a funeral or memorial service when this hope has been lifted up. We realize that we are not in love with a dead person, but with a person who lives on.
“Death Is Nothing at All”
Death is nothing at all. I have only slipped away into the next room. I am I and you are you. Whatever we were to each other, that we still are. Call me by my old familiar name, speak to me in the easy way which you always used. Put no difference in your tone, wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow. Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes we enjoyed together. Let my name be ever the household word that it always was, let it be spoken without effect, without the trace of a shadow on it. Life means all that it ever meant. It is the same as it ever was; there is unbroken continuity. Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight? I am waiting for you, for an interval, somewhere very near, just round the corner. All is well.
(found in the book “For those we love but see no longer” by the Rev. Lisa Belcher Hamilton.)
Love doesn’t end when a person dies. It’s up to you to think about how you express and receive that love. Many people talk to their loved one – one of my friends walks into her husband’s den and talks to him as if he were right there, and she find comfort in that.
I have found that many people keep that love alive by acts of remembrance. I am a kinesthetic person – I like to do things with my hands, so I notice those kinds of things.
People in our church have done a lot of interesting things to remember a spouse or loved one. One family planted a tree recently to remember their dog who died. One wife made their wedding rings into a beautiful necklace. Many people visit the cemetery, or visit a place that he always loved to go, or make a donation to a charity in her memory.
When my mom’s longtime companion, Phil, died a few years ago, she made albums for me and for my brother of pictures and copies of some of the cards and artwork he made.
Phil’s love is especially near me whenever I do certain kinds of artwork that he taught me. Maybe your dad taught you fly fishing, or your mom taught you to cook a special dish. Doing those things can be an act of remembrance. Just think about what you’ll be having for Thanksgiving dinner – the recipes are loaded with history.
When you water that tree, or wear that jewelry, or go to that place, or look at the album, or make that recipe, you keep that love alive.
Diane Martinez had a table of remembrance for her grandmother. You might find that a nice thing to do – set up a little place with some special memories.
In the church we have a table of remembrance. It has things on it that help us remember. And while some people might be put off by the words “this is my body” and “this is my blood,” this is not morbid and it’s not scary. It’s a reminder of the mortality and immortality of Jesus Christ, and as Jesus said, “do this in remembrance of me,” we remember not only his death, but his rising. More than that, the spiritual presence of Christ is here. At this table today, we will remember our loved ones who have died, and we will look forward to the day when they – and we – will be raised with Christ to eternal life.
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