Opening Remarks
At a time when most things are valued for their “disposability”, and when people love things done at a push of a button, it is a rare and prized opportunity to celebrate the life of someone who built something of lasting value – The Memorial Wall at our Memorial Garden.
Lasting value does not require massive undertakings or should involve huge expenses. One could point to the Memorial Wall here at St Paul’s, or the Little Mermaid at the Langelinie Promenade in Copenhagen, as something built on the ideal that lasting value does not need to be supersized.
Lasting value is built with the common tools of care, commitment, love and dedication. And we all have access to them. Memorial walls, little mermaids, and lives lived for the sake of others are of lasting value. We give thanks to God for those who build them.
“I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25)
It is one of Christ’s most familiar sayings. So familiar that at first glance it sounds fine. But at close examination, it seems to me, it is a little odd. Did Jesus got it all wrong? Shouldn’t be “I am the life and the resurrection?” Don’t we have first life, death and, eventually resurrection?
One may wish to dismiss the order of words as a slip of the tongue, or to one of those “lost in translation” moments. But, no. There is a reason why Jesus in fact said first resurrection and then life.
It is because by his own death and resurrection, our Lord destroyed the power of death and sin, enabling us to live a new life. One could even say that he changed the rules in the middle of the game!
In baptism we were granted a new lease in life, a new way to look at life with hope and confidence, in trust and in love. And, yes, as baptized Christians we can also face death with a new attitude.
I’m not saying that there shouldn’t be any sadness, sorrow or grief at the loss of a loved one. Jesus himself cried at the news of the death of his friend Lazarus.
But Christ’s resurrection allows us to face death not as the final act in our relationship with our loved ones, but as a transition into a new and permanent togetherness in the presence of Christ, our Savior – the Communion of Saints, which is the society of regular folks like Finn, and like you and me.
Death no longer is “The End,” but the beginning of another leg in our journey which will bring us all together again in the loving and eternal presence of our Lord, where God himself will “wipe away the tears” (Revelation 7:17) of our eyes.
“I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me have eternal life.” Amen.
Fr. Gustavo
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