Death Is A Part of. . .
Death is a part of life.
Remember when we were kids and never thought about death? It was just not a part of our realities of life. Sure, we might have read about death in books, saw it on TV, or even heard about it at church, but it really wasn’t a part of our day-to-day existences.
The older we get, the more death becomes a reality for us. Whether it is seeing death on the news, attending the funeral of someone we knew, or facing it ourselves, death is something that we grow more aware of as we age.
In most Christian funerals you will hear a lot about resurrection and life. This makes sense because we are a resurrection people. This is why we often see more people at church on Easter Sunday–– resurrection and life is just too great a message to not rally around it.
But, the reality is that death is a part of faith too.
Scripture does not hold back on this fact as we read about dying to self, mourning the loss of those who were loved, or even facing death ourselves.
While death often marks the end, in faith, it marks a beginning, too. Now, lest you think I’m just leaning into being a resurrection person, I don’t mean when we die. What I mean is that sometimes we have to let things go if we’re going to move forward. Sometimes, how we live, what we believe, and what we hold on to all have to die before we can find the resurrection God is whispering into our lives.
The late author Rachel Held Evans said in her book Searching for Sunday that “even here, in the dark, God is busy making all things new.”
Even in the darkness of death, the newness of resurrection is dawning–– if we let it.
This Lent, what do you need to let die that is holding you back from the resurrection Christ is trying to bring into your life? What ‘new thing’ is God busy making in your life?
Why ask this?
Because, death is a part of resurrection, too.
Remember when we were kids and never thought about death? It was just not a part of our realities of life. Sure, we might have read about death in books, saw it on TV, or even heard about it at church, but it really wasn’t a part of our day-to-day existences.
The older we get, the more death becomes a reality for us. Whether it is seeing death on the news, attending the funeral of someone we knew, or facing it ourselves, death is something that we grow more aware of as we age.
In most Christian funerals you will hear a lot about resurrection and life. This makes sense because we are a resurrection people. This is why we often see more people at church on Easter Sunday–– resurrection and life is just too great a message to not rally around it.
But, the reality is that death is a part of faith too.
Scripture does not hold back on this fact as we read about dying to self, mourning the loss of those who were loved, or even facing death ourselves.
While death often marks the end, in faith, it marks a beginning, too. Now, lest you think I’m just leaning into being a resurrection person, I don’t mean when we die. What I mean is that sometimes we have to let things go if we’re going to move forward. Sometimes, how we live, what we believe, and what we hold on to all have to die before we can find the resurrection God is whispering into our lives.
The late author Rachel Held Evans said in her book Searching for Sunday that “even here, in the dark, God is busy making all things new.”
Even in the darkness of death, the newness of resurrection is dawning–– if we let it.
This Lent, what do you need to let die that is holding you back from the resurrection Christ is trying to bring into your life? What ‘new thing’ is God busy making in your life?
Why ask this?
Because, death is a part of resurrection, too.
This Pastor's Paragraphs can also be found in the March 2024 edition of BBC Connections.
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