Great Is Their Faithfulness

 “I thank my God every time I remember you…” (Philippians 1:3)

In January I began serving in my new calling as a chaplain in a retirement community founded by the Presbyterian churches of South Carolina. It is a large community, with nearly 300 residents ranging from independent living, to assisted living, to skilled nursing and memory care. When I talk to friends about my new call, one of the things that often comes up in the conversation is, “Oh, you have to deal with a lot of death. That must wear you down.”

It’s true, people pass away in my current setting at a higher rate than they have at any church I have served. But that’s because we have no residents who are under 65 years old. Old people tend to die more often than young people. That’s a basic fact of life. 

And to be sure, there are some moments that the emotional toll of frequent encounters with death weighs heavily on me. But as a person whose hope is grounded in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the heaviness of death is short-lived. And it’s okay to experience some measure of sadness, because sadness is often an indication of the love that we have had for the one who has passed away. Ultimately, I consider it a sacred privilege to be able to accompany a person and their loved ones on their journey into the valley of the shadow of death.

At a memorial service, one of the things that I always point out is that the one whose life we are celebrating and remembering wasn’t just a friend or family member. That person was also someone whom God used to bear witness to God’s love, grace, compassion, care, and countless other traits of God that we hold dear. You see, the person whom we are remembering was a child of God who bore the image of God in their being. And as such, many aspects of the person’s life bore witness to God’s goodness and mercy.

A mother who never stopped thinking about the needs of her children bore witness to the never-ending, never-sleeping nature of God’s love for you and me.

A man who never met a stranger bore witness to the gracious hospitality of our Lord.

A person who was a gifted artist bore witness to the creative beauty of God.

The woman who tended the nursery at the church for 50 years showed us what it looks like to obey Jesus’ command to “let the little children come unto me.”

The doctor who spent his or her vacations on medical mission trips gave us glimpses into the mercy and compassion of God for those whom the world considers “the least of these.”

You get the picture, don’t you? The truth is, none of the saints whose lives we celebrate ever said, “Hey, look at me – I’m bearing witness to God’s love.” But they lived their lives in such a way that there can be no denying that God used them to give us glimpses into God’s grace, love, righteousness, justice, and glory.

"Since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses..."

- Hebrews 12:1 

The writer of the New Testament letter to the Hebrews speaks at length of the faith of those who have gone before us, and the witness that they have provided to us. And then he told us to let their example embolden and encourage us in our own lives of faith: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” (Hebrews 12:1) 

I truly believe that one of the gifts that we receive when loved ones die is the gift of a faithful witness to life in Christ. It is a gift that inspires me to live in such a way that one day when people look back on my life, they will not only talk about me, but they will also talk about the God they saw in me.