Jeremiah 23:1-6
23:1 Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! says the LORD.
23:2 Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who shepherd my people: It is you who have scattered my flock, and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. So I will attend to you for your evil doings, says the LORD.
23:3 Then I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the lands where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply.
23:4 I will raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them, and they shall not fear any longer, or be dismayed, nor shall any be missing, says the LORD.
23:5 The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.
23:6 In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. And this is the name by which he will be called: "The LORD is our righteousness."
Psalm 46
46:1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
46:2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea;
46:3 though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble with its tumult. Selah
46:4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High.
46:5 God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved; God will help it when the morning dawns.
46:6 The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts.
46:7 The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah
46:8 Come, behold the works of the LORD; see what desolations he has brought on the earth.
46:9 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow, and shatters the spear; he burns the shields with fire.
46:10 "Be still, and know that I am God! I am exalted among the nations, I am exalted in the earth."
46:11 The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah
Colossians 1:11-20
1:11 May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully
1:12 giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light.
1:13 He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son,
1:14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation;
1:16 for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers--all things have been created through him and for him.
1:17 He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
1:18 He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything.
1:19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,
1:20 and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.
Luke 23:33-43
23:33 When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left.
23:34 Then Jesus said, "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing." And they cast lots to divide his clothing.
23:35 And the people stood by, watching; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, "He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!"
23:36 The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine,
23:37 and saying, "If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!"
23:38 There was also an inscription over him, "This is the King of the Jews."
23:39 One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, "Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!"
23:40 But the other rebuked him, saying, "Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?
23:41 And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong."
23:42 Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom."
In the church today this is the last Sunday of Pentecost: Reign of Christ Sunday. Next Sunday is the first Sunday of Advent, and a new church year begins. The church year follows a round from birth to death (Good Friday) to Resurrection (Easter Sunday) to the church in the world (Pentecost Sunday) that culminates with the Reign of Christ by observing: the Crucifixion.
Some years it's the post-crucifixion appearances of Jesus. Or it’s the parable of the sheep and the goats.
In the German E&R church calendar, the prayer that follows would probably come today, the Last Sunday of Pentecost, the day of the observance of the Tötenfest. As a friend of mine said about this prayer, the German pietists were about as deep as Protestants get. This prayer, and the tradition of the Tötenfest, are fine examples of that.
As best I could ever determine the Tötenfest was a Protestant version of All Saint's Day, or maybe more properly All Soul's Day, since Protestants don't have saints in the way Roman Catholics do. The oldest members of my last church remembered something about the service, involving lighting candles and reciting the names of those who had died in the past year. I had a country church where we tolled the funeral bell, a clappered one, for each name, and then for all the dead we knew. It was a very meaningful service.
As best I could ever determine the Tötenfest was a Protestant version of All Saint's Day, or maybe more properly All Soul's Day, since Protestants don't have saints in the way Roman Catholics do. The oldest members of my last church remembered something about the service, involving lighting candles and reciting the names of those who had died in the past year. I had a country church where we tolled the funeral bell, a clappered one, for each name, and then for all the dead we knew. It was a very meaningful service.
If there was a proper service in the Evanglical book of worship that my last church had, I couldn't decipher it from the original German, written in Fraktur. So I lit candles, read names, and, without a bell to ring, we prayed:
Almighty and everlasting God, before whom stand the spirits of the living and the dead; Light of lights, Fountain of wisdom and goodness, who livest in all pure and humble and gracious souls.
For all who witnessed a good confession for thy glory and the welfare of the world; for patriarchs, prophets, and apostles; for the wise of every land and nation, and all teachers of mankind,
WE PRAISE THEE, O GOD, AND BLESS THY NAME.
For the martyrs of our holy faith, the faithful witnesses of Christ of whome the world was not worthy, and for all who have resisted falsehood and wrong unto suffering or death,
WE PRAISE THEE, O GOD, AND BLESS THY NAME.
For all who have labored and suffered for freedom, good government, just laws, and the sanctity of the home; and for all who have given their lives for their country,
WE PRAISE THEE, O GOD, AND BLESS THY NAME.
For all who have sought to bless men by their service and life, and to lighten the dark places of the earth,
WE PRAISE THEE, O GOD, AND BLESS THY NAME.
For those who have been tender and true and brave in all times and places, and for all who have been one with thee in the communion of Christ's spirit and in the strength of his love,
WE PRAISE THEE, O GOD, AND BLESS THY NAME.
For the dear friends and kindred, ministering in the spiritual world, whose faces we see no more, but whose love is with us for ever,
WE PRAISE THEE, O GOD, AND BLESS THY NAME.
For the teachers and companions of our childhood and youth, and for the members of our household of faith who worship thee in heaven,
WE PRAISE THEE, O GOD, AND BLESS THY NAME.
For the grace which was given to all these, and for the trust and hope in which they lived and died,
WE PRAISE THEE, O GOD, AND BLESS THY NAME.
And that we may hold them in continual remembrance, that the sanctity of their wisdom and goodness may rest upon our earthly days, and that we may prepare ourselves to follow them in their upward way,
WE BESEECH THEE TO HEAR US, O GOD.
That we may ever think of them as with thee, and be sure that where they are, there we may be also,
WE BESEECH THEE TO HEAR US, O GOD.
That we may have a hope beyond this world for all the children, even for wanderers who must be sought and brought home; that we may be comforted and sustained by the promise of a time when none shall be a stranger and an exile from thy kingdom and household;
WE BESEECH THEE TO HEAR US, O GOD.
In the communion of the Holy Spirit, with the faithful and the saints in heaven, with the redeemed in all ages, with our beloved who dwell in thy presence and peace, we, who still serve and suffer on earth, unite in ascribing:
THANKSGIVING, GLORY, HONOR, AND POWER UNTO THEE, O LORD OUR GOD.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,
AS IT WAS IN THE BEGINNING, IS NOW, AND EVER SHALL BE, WORLD WITHOUT END. AMEN.
If I remember the dead this year, it won't be anyone close to me who died. It will be my father, who died 6 years ago at 90 years of age, a much greater age than he had any expectation to achieve. His father died at 68, his brother in his 40's, his older sister years before him. He was the youngest in the family, and he lived the longest. I mentioned this to his hospice nurse, the morning he passed. She was from Kenya, so she had a metaphor I never would have considered, but it was perfect. "He was a lion."
Yes, he was. Everything I know about what is good and decent in the world, and how to see it and appreciate it, I owe to him.
My mother followed him 2 years later, also at the age of 90 (actually, a few weeks before. Her birthday was on December 26.) She outlived much of her family, including one brother and her twin sister. I don't miss them every day; but on a day like this I remember them, and think about what I have lost.
My wife lost her father when she was a baby, so she never knew him. She lost her mother before our daughter was even conceived, and her sister when our daughter was still in elementary school. Life is about losses, and gains; but once a year we should at least remember those who meant the most to us.
A remembrance for your friends and families, too, that we may have a hope beyond this world for all the children, even for wanderers who must be sought and brought home; that we may be comforted and sustained by the promise of a time when none shall be a stranger and an exile from God's kingdom and household.
A remembrance for your friends and families, too, that we may have a hope beyond this world for all the children, even for wanderers who must be sought and brought home; that we may be comforted and sustained by the promise of a time when none shall be a stranger and an exile from God's kingdom and household.
And remember, this year especially, that the message of the scriptures, a common and binding message, is that life brings reversals, and they don't all flow in just one direction.
"Congratulations, you who weep now!
You will laugh."
Amen.
"Congratulations, you who weep now!
You will laugh."
Amen.
I started this for a comment on one of the All Saint’s posts around Halloween, but with this post I can finish it since the circumstances haven’t changed.
ReplyDelete“"Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”
“The saints know that God is the God of the living, not the dead; and that in God’s sight, all are alive.”
I needed the reminder that God is the God of the living, not the dead. My lovely spouse was with her mom the much of November, is home for Thanksgiving will be back with her mom for some indefinite time to come. My mother-in-law is in hospice, is nearing the end of her life, and it’s important to my wife to see her through. My mother-in-law has been suffering from advanced dementia for some time, and it has caused her physical condition to deteri0rate to where she is now dying. The hospice nurse (we may all be saints, but hospice nurses are saints twice over) warned my wife that as people transition to active dying, they often undergo personality changes. The sweet aunt may start swearing like a sailor, the patient can become angry or worse. An aid was helping my mother-in-law, and after having been typical very difficult self, my mother-law apologized. The aide who was worked with her for years was stunned and told the rest of the staff and my wife. The hospice nurse’s comment was ‘well, her personality is changing’. As my wife said, can you ever remember my mother apologizing for anything? I couldn’t and neither could she. It’s good to find even a little humor at dark moments.
A few weeks ago our children are all travelled to the nursing home to say their final good-byes. Speaking with my father at the time, he commented that he didn’t understand why since with my mother-in-law’s dementia how would she know who they were or even if they were there. In the moment I remembered a saying from our former pastor, “Funerals are for the living”. I suspect it was a line he used with families when they were conflicted about having (or even not having) a funeral and what it would entail. I told my father about the pastor’s comment, and said I think the current circumstances are the same. It’s not so much about my mother-in-law but about her daughters and grandchildren. Thankfully she had a few better days and the grandchildren were left with some good last memories. Two of our daughters are very musical, they sang and played for her and even got my mother-in-law to sing along with some simple nursery rhymes. She had also been a dancer in New York City, at one point even working with Martha Graham the modern dance icon. Our daughter who trained in ballet for years did arm movements with her grandmother, mirroring each other’s elegant positions. The video clips my wife captured will be precious later.
Even though she is still here on earth, the family is mourning her passing. For my wife and her sister it is particularly fraught. My mother-in-law suffered from mental health and addiction issues, severe enough that she eventually ended up not raising her own children. My wife is mourning her passing, but also grieving the relationship she never had with her mother. With the dementia, the desire for a better relationship or at least an acknowledgement of past harms faded away, but death will extinguish any last hope. Old hurts are stirred up and old wounds reopened. For our children it’s a different kind of loss. Mother-in-law somehow rose to the occasion with them. Behaviors that could be maddening with adults could be delightful and charming with children. We had moved her to live near us so as to help with her health issues, and the result was our children saw her on a regular basis. She attended their games and performances, Saturday afternoons could be at grandma’s apartment working on craft projects and baking. We attended the same church and had Sunday dinners a few times a month. While I could find her difficult and frustrating, I was grateful for the relationship she had with our kids, it was much closer than any I had with my grandparents.
ReplyDeleteSo as the family mourns and grieves, it’s good to be reminded that God is for the living. We mourn those we have lost, the broken relationships that can never be repaired with another’s passing. We are reminded also of our own failings. Those who have passed were complicated, often loving, difficult, unkind and more in turn, and to lesser and greater amounts so are we who remain. The blessed are not those who have died but those that mourn.
This year the UCC church I have been attending did all souls service to remember those of the congregation that passed in the last year. Our previous Lutheran (ELCA) church did something close to the Totenfest service (the church services were originally in German, until WWI when they switched to English). A family that had lost a father in his 40’s to cancer donated a beautiful handmade large bowl. It was partially filled with sand and a candle was lit, and a bell rung for each person that died in the last year. It was a quiet, meaningful and reverential ceremony.
So if I may be allowed to ask of you, prayers for our family as the next few weeks will bring my mother-in-laws passing. A blessing as we mourn and grieve what we have lost, and what never was we wanted.