Today was a difficult day in the life of our church. We had to bury a church member who died Saturday unexpectantly. One line of my funeral message was that “In the midst of life, we are in the midst of death.” I’ve heard this phrase before, but I don’t know where. Well, I learned today that the phrase expressed in reverse can also be true. “In the midst of death, we are in the midst of life.” Let me explain.
The man was 62 years old when he passed away. It was quite unexpected. He’s never been in the best health since I met him a year ago, but he’s always been strong and I never would have thought for a moment that we would have to say good-bye so soon.
The man’s wife is also a church member. She’s the kind of person who is a mother figure to all of us. She gives us hugs and tells us she loves us. But today, it was our turn to take care of her. And our church really stepped up. I’m very proud of how so many people gave of their time and abilities to show this recently-made widow how much we love her and how much her husband meant to us.
That’s what the church is supposed to be. We are to be a people of whom it can be said, “They truly love one another.” When death showed its ugly face, our church showed just how full of life we are.