Untitled Sermon (2)

Grief: A Season we Must Embrace

1 Peter 1:6

There is something in my life that I am grateful for this today and that is that I knew Barbara. I have been blessed by the Lord to have gotten to know Barb, for her having been in my life. To those of us here, she touched our lives in different ways. She was a mother, a grandmother, I can attest to the fact that she was a very wonderful grandmother. Barbara was a sister, a caregiver. To some she was a mentor, she touched lives in many different ways. To me she was a friend. Barbara was in the hospital visiting my son, not too long ago. That was the type of person she was, it did not matter that she was sick, she was going to make sure that you knew she cared about you. She was a people person, she truly cared about people.

Barbara was the type of person who invested her life in other people. She made life better by her presence. Her sister just told me yesterday of Barbara wanting to spend time shopping with her sisters even though she was ill. She got them all out and they had what sounded like quite a day shopping. I saw her at her grandsons basketball game not too long ago. Barbara I learned had been on mission. I think the term that best describes the Barbara I knew and have heard about in these last several months is caregiver. Barbara cared about people. Up until her final days Barbara was more concerned about others than herself. Barbara would tell her family and friends that they ought not to worry about her, because she knew where she was headed. Barbara knew she was going home and it showed in who she was right up until the end.

As I prepared this struggled with what type of message she would like and I finally saw that what I believe she would want is a message that ministers to you, she is home, whole, and in the presence of our Lord.

I am reminded of a pastor who recieved a letter from a fellow minister in Kenya. It read, “I only know God’s faithfulness in filling the void that is left when a beloved one is taken from us. I am saddened by the passing of my late wife. The pain and grief is still very real, and it is a season that we must embrace.” Grief is very real, friends. It can come in many forms in life, but its sting is alway unique.

In his book A Grief Observed, C.S. Lewis relates the feelings of grief as he watched his wife pass after a long illness. The opening words of the book: “Nobody ever told me.” Grief’s impact is universal. It stalks every home, knocks at every door. Rich and poor of every race in every nation know the reality of grief and tears.

The Bible speaks of grief eighty-eight times and of tears 45 times. Jesus Christ, the Lord of Life, was a man acquainted to sorrow. He wept over the death of His friend, Lazarus, and over the lostness of Jerusalem. Bible heroes walked the corridors of grief: Jeremiah, Peter, Jacob, Joseph, Ruth, Hannah, David, the early church.

Peter writes to a scattered band of believers who have been removed from their houses, familiar communities, possessions, and jobs. Now persecution had set in on the church as he writes these words: “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials” (). As he dealt head-on with grief, so must we.

You have walked a long time with suffering. You have prayed. You have wept. You have hurt. Now let us seek what I believe Barb would want of us, to seek to begin the healing process.

We all must respond to gIrief in this season we must embrace. Grief can hide under many masks, but it must be exposed and guarded against. It can be a feeling of anger, like Martha. She reproached Jesus as he came to her home at the death of her brother Lazarus: “If you had been here, my brother would not have died” (). It can come in waves of depression. It can be buried in a host of busy-ness and activity. It can be denied. But grief must be handled.

Forget those who say that grief is a sign of a lack of faith or that only weak people grieve. Grief is natural and God, in his wisdom, has provided us an outlet for dealing with our sorrow and pain. Remember. Cherish the memories. Tears of joy will come, as well as tears of sadness. The funeral service is not the middle or end of grieving. It is just the beginning.

We all must respond to grief in this season we must embrace. Grief can hide under many masks, but it must be exposed and guarded against. It can be a feeling of anger, like Martha. She reproached Jesus as he came to her home at the death of her brother Lazarus: “If you had been here, my brother would not have died” (