Parents are not supposed to bury their children. It is just not the order of life.
I never realized how difficult this was until my sister, Karen died. I had watched my parents go through their life with a deep faith in God. There were difficult times but faith was always the answer. But the death of their first born child shook and continues to shake them to their very core. There are times where they do well but then there are times when there is nothing but darkness. It has to be one of the most difficult moments in life.
Death does that to us. It creates a vacuum of darkness that we cannot find our way out. We know there is a handle to the door but we grope in the darkness trying to find it. When a child dies, we cannot even find the door, much less the doorknob.
On Good Friday, God knows what it is like to have a child die. God knows what it is like to see suffering that one must just bear. God knows what it is like to see the injustice of the human situation. God knows what it is like to just be present while life does what life does. You see, in the Christian faith, Jesus, the Son of God--the ONLY Son of God died. Jesus did not just pretend to die. Jesus died. Dead. Cold Dead. A brutal death. God saw the battered beaten remains of God's only son.
God's answer to the death is found on Sunday. It is not found on Friday. The sorrow lasts for three days. The joy of resurrection is found only after the tragedy of Friday. The joy of life everlasting is known because we know God does not leave. It may feel like it, but feelings can deceive us. God does not leave us or our children.
This Friday at McKneely and Son funeral home in Hammond, I will worship with those who have lost a child. It is a 6 p.m. service where parents gather in the darkness of grief to seek light. It is the darkness before the dawn of a new day. We invite parents to gather in sorrow and light a candle remembering their child.
If you are close enough to join us, do. If you are not, pray. And as the old sermon says, "It's Friday....but Sunday's a comin!"
Pray for me as I pray for you.
In the Master's Name,
Rev. Dr. M. Jack O'Dell
Lead Pastor, The Well
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