Try not to be jealous when I tell you this, but a few days ago the pastor husband and I took a romantic stroll through the church graveyard. #relationshipgoals
I was driving to my friend Becky’s house to drink boxed wine when I decided to stop by church. I knew the PH would be home late, so I left a love note on his car that read, “You make me sad when you are not at home. And for this, I’m mad at you.” Then I used my art skillz to draw the crying emoji. And I left the note on his car and turned around and there he was.
And after not quite four years, he’s accustomed to my “passionate personality” (read: mood swings) so he carried on, business as usual. He made me take a walk with him- stretch his legs after a day of sitting and before a night of more sitting.
Our church has been around for almost 200 years. We have two separate graveyards and one cemetery a few miles away. Fun fact: the difference between a graveyard and a cemetery is that a graveyard is on a church property and a cemetery is not.
My rose has climbed the garden wall and blossoms on the other side. tiny William Leslie Harris, 22 days.
These pictures were taken in the older of our two graveyards. People who died previous to 1865 are buried on the original church property a few miles away.
We recognized many of the names on the headstones. Some were our friends’ grandparents; some were our friends’ children. For some, the death brought a sense of relief, as it often does when we see a grandparent suffer. For others, it is a reminder that God doesn’t always answer our deepest prayers and that life, simply, is unfair.
Be merciful to me, Lord, for I am in distress; my eyes grow weak with sorrow, my soul and body with grief.
Growing up, I had trouble believing in Jesus because of how willingly He went to His own horrific death. I thought that only a true madman would do something so bazaar.
Jesus had a disquieting disregard for His death. When Pilate tried to give Jesus an opportunity to save Himself, He didn’t take it.
John 19:9 He took Jesus back into the headquarters again and asked him, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave no answer. 10 “Why don’t you talk to me?” Pilate demanded. “Don’t you realize that I have the power to release you or crucify you?” 11 Then Jesus said, “You would have no power over me at all unless it were given to you from above.”
“Don’t you realize that I have the power to release you or crucify you?” Oh, Pilate. We have the unfair advantage because we know how the rest of the account will play out. Spoiler Alert: all power is from God. We know that Jesus has the power to raise Himself from the dead. May we know where all power comes from, and that our God will always have the final word.
17 Carrying the cross by himself, he went to the place called Place of the Skull. 18 There they nailed him to the cross.
Jesus could go to His death because He knew He could conquer it. He knew death doesn’t have the final say. He wasn’t afraid of it because He had power over it. He rose again, and because of this, we do too.
In a few more days, the PH and I will get up before sunrise and go to our original church graveyard. There, we will hold sunrise service on Easter morning.
In California some churches hold sunrise service on the beach. Some churches have it in the mountains. But in St. Louis we have ours in the graveyard. Because when all is said and done, Jesus didn’t come to change beaches or mountain tops.
He came to change graveyards.
W hen we’ve been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun, We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise, Than when we first begun.
His own death and resurrection shows us that death does not have the final say. Because we are created by God, we will never not exist.
John 14:1-4 “Don’t let this throw you. You trust God, don’t you? Trust me. There is plenty of room for you in my Father’s home. If that weren’t so, would I have told you that I’m on my way to get a room ready for you? And if I’m on my way to get your room ready, I’ll come back and get you so you can live where I live.”
So, my friends, we can always say with certainty that the best is yet to come. His resurrection ensures our own.
No matter where you are in life, when you know and love Jesus, it will always get better. Maybe not in our earthly bodies, but in the room He has prepared for us.
May we see those who have gone before us as simply living in a distant room. A room Jesus Himself prepared for them. We hear their voices and feel their touch in our memories. And one day when our room has been prepared, we will walk into that room, and be more alive than we have ever been.