St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church

Contact our Web Master

Death and Dying – Grieving and Moving On

Isaiah 43:16-21; John 12:1-8

March 25, 2007         (Click the date to see the bulletin)

1. This is it, folks. This is the last sermon in the series on Death and Dying. And just in time! This is also the last Sunday of Lent, that season in the Church year when we "die" to ourselves so we can "live" in Christ Jesus. Next Sunday is Palm Sunday, and we will "Ride Into a New Life" with him. But that’s next week – we’re not there yet! We have some grieving to do. Grieving . . . grief. Some of you may remember our all-church retreat three years ago. The theme was Good Grief! That was the year full of grief! Many of us lost a child, or a parent, or a spouse, or a friend. It was almost too much for us. We used this book -- Tear Soup – A Recipe for Healing After Loss. The illustrations are excellent! One page has a row of pots and pans, all the way from little "That’s not fair" and "Bad news" pans, through "Big Disappointment" pots, all the way to huge "More than I can bear" kettles. And on the shelf above the pots and pans are all the kinds of grief – death of spouse, death of friend, divorce, house fire, retirement, prized possession stolen, flunked geometry, unfaithful spouse, death of pet, loss of status, and move from one place to another, watching Kansas lose to UCLA. The list of loss goes on and on. You name it, we’ve lost it!

2. We spend much of our time grieving. Every day we lose something or somebody. It might be as apparently insignificant as losing a phone call. Imagine that you’re waiting for important news. The phone rings three times and you run to answer it. But it quits ringing. The caller has hung up. You pound the table with your fist, utter something under your breath, and fuss at the caller for not letting it ring longer. Then you get mad at yourself for not being quicker on your feet. That takes maybe 30 seconds or a minute. Then you shrug and say, "Oh, well, if it’s the call I’m waiting for, they’ll call back." Every loss we experience goes through that same process. The more serious the loss, the longer it takes. Even if it’s good news – like a promotion, or the birth of a baby, or the sale of our house – our lives still change. We lose the way our lives used to be. And the question we ask is, "How do we grieve so we can move on?"

3. A good model for us is the story Rogers read about the time Mary poured expensive perfume on Jesus’ feet. She called it nard. In our day and time, nard might be compared to Imperial Majesty , the most expensive perfume on the market. It sells for slightly more than $2,000 per ounce. Mary poured perfume as expensive as Imperial Majesty on Jesus feet. There are lots of questions we can ask about this story, because it seems to combine parts of similar stories in Matthew and Mark. And there are many lessons we can learn from it. But the lesson for us at this point in our lives is a lesson about good grieving!

4. Some bad news is always what starts us grieving. In the verses before these, Jesus received bad news. Word was out on the streets that he would be the one person sacrificed so the Roman government wouldn’t destroy the whole Jewish nation. The disciples knew he would not be with them much longer. Mary felt the way we do when we learn someone we love has a terminal illness. We start preparing for the inevitable. We get ready for death. Some get involved in frantic activity so they don’t have to think about it, like Martha who was busy serving the meal, and Lazarus who was busy eating it. Others start counting the estate, like Judas who was busy figuring out how to make money. Still others begin grieving, like Mary who gave the very best she had to give to the one who would soon be gone. She grieved well. She immersed herself in tending to Jesus.

5. We’re old hats at this grieving stuff, aren’t we? After all, we’ve been grieving since last June, ever since we learned the Little Light House was interested in buying our property. We’ve followed the grief path, and our actions have even paralleled this story. Some of us have stayed busy so we wouldn’t have to think about it. Others have counted the money a sale would bring. Still others have focused on the issue at hand: What would Jesus have us do? What good news do our neighbors need to hear, and how can we be that good news? What do our own people need so they can grow in their journey to follow Jesus? What is the size and shape and location of the building we would need to enable us to love God, love our neighbors, and love ourselves? The Focus Team worked hard for several months, and discovered that our building is more of a liability than an asset to our ministry. They recommended to the Session that we sell them our building. But the final decision is yours to make. As soon as I pronounce the Benediction, I’ll convene a meeting of the congregation. You will hear once again what their offer is, you will learn what the appraised value of this property is, you will find out what plans are being discussed to allow us to grow into the future. Then you will vote. "Yes" or "No."

6. Then what will we do, then, after we decide? The best answer to that question is "We move on!" The words God spoke through the Prophet Isaiah give us hope:

Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters:

"Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old.

I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?

I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert!"

Talk about good news!

7. In a few minutes, we will "move on" in a very different kind of way! We will baptize the Pauli’s 7-month-old granddaughter, the daughter of Kirsten Pauli Voss and her husband Jack. Everything I’ve said about loss and grief and pressing on to a new life applies to them as well as it applies to us! They have lost their freedom to do what they want to do when they want to do it! They’ve lost sleep when they needed it most. They’ve "lost" the money they could have spent on all sorts of things on baby clothes and diapers and baby food and doctor bills. They have lost their way of life as they knew it. But God speaks to them as God speaks to us: "I am doing a new thing; I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert."

To navigate through the web site, click on the buttons at the top or on the side of the pages or on any links within the page.  Use your browser's Back button to return to the previous page if that page does not appear in the buttons available.  External hyperlinks should open in a new window - close it to return to this page.