The Pierce and Hawk households are experiencing a sad Thanksgiving week. This past Sunday, my wife's mom, Marilyn, passed on and we have been mourning her loss. The funeral will be Saturday. In the midst of this grief, my turn for the News Journal Viewpoint came up. Each Saturday a local pastor writes a column about the Christian faith, and this just happened to be my week. Coincidence? Or God's timing? Tuesday morning I wrote and submitted what follows. It will appear in Saturday's paper.
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The old white house, once so full of life and laughter, now sits empty. The grandkids would be putting up the Christmas tree this weekend over in that corner. The kitchen table now sits with stacks of unopened mail, where stews and stuffing would be steaming. The rug by the door, once overrun with shoes, now only holds empty oxygen tanks. The air in our house is stuffy, filled with this “life goes on” staleness. For our family, though, life has stopped.
This Thanksgiving week we lost our mom. After 80 full years Marilyn died leaving behind this large family without its center. Like her house, our family today experiences only emptiness. That is, in our better moments, when we’re not overwhelmed with grief and tears. Yet Thanksgiving is supposed to be a time of fullness, a time of celebration.
I’m the brother who is the pastor. Where is our celebration? Where is our fullness? Where is our thanksgiving? What does the pastor brother say on a day like today?
Like many other families during the holidays, there will be an empty chair at our table. Especially this year, celebration and fullness may be elusive. But not thanksgiving. And not hope. These we will have in abundance.
Marilyn taught her children the love of Christ. She taught them how to pray. She filled them with faith and hope. She never doubted. She lived out her faith on the streets of real life, where we could watch and learn. This Thanksgiving Day, in the place of celebration and fullness, we find comfort and hope.
In the first century there was another brother, Paul, sitting with his family of soul-mates, possibly also during a holiday week. They wondered about their own loved ones who had passed from this life. Here’s what Paul told them:
“And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died.”
Paul did not pen these hopeful words for some family whose names are lost in antiquity. These are words written today for my brothers and sisters: Gene, Dan, John, Mary Kay, Rick, Patty, and Mike. These are words written for me. These are words written for you.
The Christian always has reason for comfort and hope and thanksgiving, regardless of the season. Regardless of the circumstances. This is Christmas and Easter and Thanksgiving all rolled into one.
There will come a day - and that day could be this day - when Christ will return. Some people view this day of the Lord’s return as a day of foreboding. Not this family. This will be our day of reunion. The day when we see our Savior. The day when we are reunited with our mom.
On this Saturday morning, while you are reading this, I will be sitting in a church with my family saying goodbye. There will be tears aplenty. Mom’s favorite flower was bittersweet, because she knew that God gave us life filled with both the bitter and the sweet. Marilyn and Paul were of like mind. Paul did not say we do not grieve. Paul wrote that we do not grieve like others who have no hope. We shall grieve with all of our hearts. Hearts filled with loss. Hearts filled with love. Hearts filled with hope. Hearts filled with thanksgiving.
