Three...

... is the number of memorial services/visitations/funerals I have attended in an equal number of weeks.  That is highly unusual for me and yet has been a source of some reflection as I think back over those three events.

One was a service for a two-soon-to-have-been-three year old girl who passed away after fighting a debilitating illness she had been with since her birth.   The second was of a husband, father and grandfather who died unexpectedly at age 71.    The third was of a friend who had lived to the ripe old age of 98 and up until a month ago was still playing tennis every week and getting around like someone 30 years younger.

It became clear to me that death was hugely disruptive in every case and something jarring happened in God's created order.   At the same time, death was not victorious for there was much to celebrate in these three precious lives and in each one's place in eternity.   God's purposes and plans were different for all three people yet we knew that His hand was evident in each of these three lives.

A good friend reminded me recently that our hope for the future gives us the courage and determination to live fully and abundantly in the present; to embrace all that life has to offer right now in this very moment.

I will include a short note I wrote to the family of the little girl who passed away as part of the comments to this post.

Still Point

A word from T.S. Eliot as we begin a new year.  

This selection comes from Burnt Norton (No. 1 of the Four Quartets)

At the still point of the turning world. Neither flesh nor fleshless;

Neither from nor towards; at the still point, there the dance is,

But neither arrest nor movement. And do not call it fixity,

Where past and future are gathered.   Neither movement from nor towards,

Neither ascent or decline.  Except for the point, the still point,

There would be no dance, and there is only the dance.

I can only say, there we have been: but I cannot say where.

And I cannot say, how long, for that is to place it in time.

The inner freedom from the practical desire,

The release form action and suffering, release from the inner

And the outer compulsion, yet surrounded

By a grace of sense, a white light still and moving,

Erhebung without motion, concentration

Without elimination, both a new world

And the old made explicit, understood

In the completion of it partial ecstasy,

The resolution of its partial horror.

Yet the enchainment of the past and future

Woven in the weakness of the changing body,

Protects mankind from heaven and damnation

Which flesh cannot endure.

                                     Time past and time future

Jim Crouch

Jim Crouch was a friend, mentor, coach and leader to many of us.  

Jim walked peacefully into glory on at 7:40 p.m. on Tuesday, November 4th, 2008 after a valiant fight against cancer.

This posting is one small way to remember his impact on my life and others he came alongside over the years.