Dealing with Death

I walked into my associate pastor's office a while ago to collect my completed internship forms. We spoke warmly of my time at New Life--my real Church home. As that conversation slowly dissipated, I broached a new topic: "Kevin, how do pastors deal with death? I grieve so much over the loss of the church family members, and I don't know how it will ever get easier."

Of course, at the forefront of my thoughts was Sandra Wagner--a woman who virtually has defined the concept of a godly woman for me. Kevin told me that he has not had too much experience with this in his few years of pastoring, but he knew what I had in mind--"This one...it really hurts." Our head pastor, with choked-up voice, led the congregation in prayer this past Sunday, and apparently there was not a dry eye in the house. The people who know Sandra have blinked back tears all week. It hurts so much.

When I first came to New Life in 2005, I quickly fell in love with the Wagner family. Coming from a spiritually-broken family in a culture of spiritually-broken families, I marveled at this family-encapsulated testament to God's covenantal faithfulness. They would sit together--the happily-married (of some 50 years), Dan and Sandra, and their three kids and each of their spouses, and a host of little grandkids. God really blesses the generations of His people.

Sandra also epitomizes the "godly woman" to me. Within the Church, she participated, prayed, and produced. It is those women--those stereotypical prayer warriors--who make the Church whole. Ministries seem incomplete without their labors of love; days seem incomplete without their encouragement. When the individual sinner is unable to lift both feeble hands in prayer to God Almighty, their persistent prayers lift them in a symbolic way.

Contrast the covenantal blessings of our God and the godliness of His servant, Sandra, with the ugly spectre of death. It is no wonder that Jesus wept and raged at the death of Lazarus. Sure, resurrection awaits, but the beauty of God's creation seems utterly wasted under the temporal reign of death. This is NOT the way it is supposed to be. And every person knows how very out of place death is to us. It is expected, but it is not natural. The whole creation groans under the weight of this knowledge--waiting for the eternal relief that comes with Christ. Thus we labor forth in the valley of the shadow of death, knowing that on that distant hill, light breaks.