We Love We Grieve We Grow 1
We Love…We Grieve…We Grow – Part 1
Death is a part of Life; an end, yet a hopeful beginning
“Then Israel said to Joseph, ‘I am about to die, but God will be with you and take you back to the land of your fathers’.” (Genesis 48:21, NIV)
“Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope.” (1Thessalonians 4:13, NIV)
Let’s talk for a bit about Death. Death is a part of Life. In one sense, Death is an end. For some, it is the ultimate end. For the Christian, however, it is a transition. In our “media world” (TV, radio, movies, newspapers, etc.), the images of violence and death are everywhere. Due to this constant barrage, one might think that we Americans are comfortable with Death and yet for so many this is not true. Death in the media is “out there”, somewhere else, not in my home. As long as Death remains “out there”, happening to others, we’re OK to talk about it, but only for a few moments. Death is scary! How scary? So scary, that our “media world” is also filled with image after image of “death denial.” We are offered “purple pills” that can fix any medical problem and we seem obsessed with the “beauty and sleekness of youth.” Where’s the beauty in Death? Death is painful and we don’t like pain. Death harbors the unknown and we fear the unknown. When we fear something we tend to hate it, therefore, we hate Death. Are we wrong to fear and hate Death? I am human. I live, I breathe and I love. Death ends my humanness and all that I have embraced and it is natural and normal for me to fight against losing all that I have embraced. I fear and hate losing that and therefore I fear and hate the one who takes it a way. I hate Death!
And yet, is Death really our enemy – a foe to be feared, to be hated, and denied? Is there no beauty in Death? Without Hope, the answer is a resounding “Yes”! With Hope, the agony of Death can, over time, be lived, and eventually, invited into the fabric of our lives. Yet finding Hope is a painful process that involves our reactions and responses to dying and Death. It is not enough to point myself or anyone else to verses like 1Thessalonians 4:13 and expect to flip the “all better” switch. To expect that is to deny our humanity and it certainly doesn’t square with the biblical examples that describe the reaction of godly people to a loved one’s death.
In the following articles, I want to talk about the grieving process and the integral part that Hope plays in our ability to embrace our losses and grieve over them in a healthy way.