Welcome

Primitive religion is not believed, it is danced!

Arthur Darby Nock

Earth's crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God;
And only he who sees takes off his shoes;
The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.

Elizabeth Browning



Wednesday, June 13, 2018

Go with God


It was a beautiful day
The mountains soared snow capped
The grass, luxurious after furious rains
Lilacs bloomed
And perfumed the air
The sun warmed us, the wind cooled us

Friends gathered
And talked of those things friends talk about
Families, and crops
Class reunions and graduations

We gathered on the side of a hill
An urn of ashes before us
Death in the midst of life

But no

For this moment was not about death but about life
Yes
A dear friend was gone
Her question mark of a body stilled
Her mind, confused with dementia, calm

But  she was a child of God
Child of God
Child of God

As we are reminded by John in his first letter
“Behold what love God has lavished on us, that we should be called the children of God, and we are!!”

We are children of God.  And to me that means some very important things
It means that we come from God
It means that as we walk through life, we walk with God
And it means that when we depart this life, we return to God

So death was not present in that moment
On the hill
In the cemetery

Nor was it present a hour later
When a frail body struggled to breathe
And failure

We lay him on the ground
Friends and strangers, and urged him to live
We pounded his chest, and sought to give him air

But his heart did not beat, and his chest did not rise

I held his head gently, staring into open eyes
Fixed and sightless
I held his head to establish an airway, that would not come
I held his head so he would know he was not alone
And whispered the only words I could think of

You are loved
You are loved
You are loved

Child of God
Child of God
Child of God

Go with God
And be not afraid

No comments:

Post a Comment