And I'll say to myself,
"Take life easy; eat, drink,
and be merry."
But God said to him,
"You fool! This very night your life
will be demanded from you".
Luke 12: 19, 20 (NIV)
Death and "Thanksgive-uration"
I suspect my friend is dying.
He was diagnosed with Leukemia about 16 months ago and during that time, he endured the agonizing chemotherapy treatments and bone marrow transplants that are prerequisite to remission. His doctors subsequently moved him to a cancer treatment center to keep a close watch. After about three months, he was cleared to go home for a lengthy but hopefully successful rehabilitation period...but these past six months he faltered, having to suffer repetitive and often urgent trips to the hospital to receive steroid treatments, blood transfusions and the most recent emergency, a removal of the spleen. His wife and two adopted children are attempting to remain calm but their letters are becoming increasingly desperate. Anxiety has crept in. The doctors are remaining relatively quiet. Either they are befuddled and do not want to admit it, or they are certain and do not want to expose it.
My friend is not a Christian: He and his wife stand somewhere in the nebulous arena between atheism and Deism. We have had many discussions but he has always maintained that his existence is no more significant than that of an ant crossing the floor of a Men's room; the only difference being that he has the intelligence to know that he is insignificant while the ant does not. And yet this insignificant existence (his words, not mine) is beginning to take on the cloth of fear, perhaps in response to the realization that there may still be some importance or purpose that must be accomplished, perhaps a higher calling.
There is a famous symphonic work by Richard Strauss called Death and Transfiguration. It is based on an uplifting German poem that describes an older man who is wrestling with the end of his life. In a fevered state, his whole lifetime passes before him; but then the parade relents and he peacefully awaits the cherished transfiguration from the infinite reaches of heaven, where "old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new" (2 Corinthians 5:17, KJV). He is gloriously and divinely redeemed. It would crush my heart to know that my friend cannot share this epitome of existence; to be with God. I have prayed for him...I pray for him...and I will continue to pray for him.What else can I do, or better stated due to the universal nature of death, what else can we do?
LET US LIVE! THANKSGIVING IS UPON US.
EVERY DAY IS A GIFT FROM GOD!
Every moment of every minute of every hour. Let us enjoy our health; enjoy the sunshine; enjoy our family and friends; enjoy our technology; enjoy our government; enjoy the changing of the seasons; enjoy the smiles on the children's faces; enjoy the dandelion that grows from the crack of the sidewalk. We are not ants. We cannot mindlessly store up things for ourselves of our own accord. All of our bounty, our cornucopia that runneth over, is his blessings to his children. What else can we do? There is only one other thing to do. Let us give thanks and praise to God for our astounding worldly existence, so that we may enjoy it all the more and share it to the fullest. But more importantly, let us give thanks and praise to God for his Son's sacrifice that guarantees the most magnificent gift of all: our heavenly existence to come until the end of time. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, we must commit ourselves to share that gift with all that will listen, and pray for those who won't.
Dear Heavenly Father,
Although we may flippantly adopt the attitude of "Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die", guide us this Thanksgiving to bestow the gratitude to you that is essential to our abundant lives as Christians. May we never forget from whom all blessings flow so that we can remain rich toward you. Amen.
Contributed by Donald
Sunday November 23, 2008
Liturgical Year A Week 52
Sunday Gospel reading:
Lectionary 34 (Proper 29)
Twenty-fifth Sunday after Pentecost