I want to share a short piece that my dad wrote this week. It really moved me, especially as we prayed this morning at our staff devotions for the many family members of ICSV staff who are suffering with cancer and other health issues.
Joy Comes in the Morning
Written by Douglas Johnstone, Pastor at First Lutheran Church in Long Beach, CA
Ruth is dying this week. Her pain is managed as best as can be expected, and there is always family by her bedside, but she is dying this week, and there is nothing any of us who love her can do about it.
If it were the only unsettling thing to happen this week, maybe the tears would not flow so easily in the dark night. How troubled is life with bombs, gunfire, and rage; with earthquake, tsunami, radiation; with bitterness and anger shown to those I love; hopelessness and despair; visits to ER, ICU, and hospice care; maliciousness and harm rampant in the neighborhood! Tears flow in the night.
Phyllis and I met Ruth as a young teenager in San Felix, Venezuela. A few years later, Mark, the man who became her husband, lived and worked with us. We watched Mark and Ruth fall in love, marry, raise Rebeca and Raquel. Again Mark stayed with us in Garden Grove as he faced some difficult decisions. He spoke to us at First Lutheran about ministry and caring for others. A couple years ago Mark even drove my car with kids from “Say Yes!” to a District church service in Irvine. Their grandchildren visited us in Long Beach. Now Mark and Ruth serve and minister at the seminary in St. Louis. But ... Ruth is dying this week.
Last Friday as Mark translated the explanation by her oncologist of the new development in her body of an aggressive leukemia, she responded “I am in the hands of my loving God.”
Jesus understood the tears which may flow in the night. Jesus understood a great mystery of the faith which the psalmists of old also understood, and which Jesus shared with his disciples in the Upper Room “I am telling you the truth: you will cry and weep, but the world will be glad; you will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy.” (John 16:20)
The psalmists discovered that things do not always stay the same, that where once there was trouble and sadness, something can happen that changes trial into triumph. The tears which may flow in the night will give way to joy when it comes in the morning!
They took his body down and buried him. So intense was their grief that they rose early on the first day of the week, when the Sabbath observance was over and went to the tomb where Jesus had been buried. And when they arrived, just as the darkness was giving way to the first light of the new day, they could hardly believe what they were seeing. Tears of sadness gave way to stories of joy.
Can we expect joy to come in the morning when our night has been stained by tears? As Christians with a resurrection faith, we can. For the external conditions of our lives do not need to infect and destroy the internal convictions of our lives. The gift of joy is ours for the taking. That’s what Easter is about.
Ruth is dying this week. The tears are flowing in the night. But as a follower of the risen Christ, joy will come in the mourning, and a new day has begun. She is in the hands of her (and our) loving God.
Update: Written by Mark, Ruth's husband
Ruth is in her Lord’s precious loving arms waiting for her resurrection to life eternal – just as she knew and confessed. She took her last breath, Wednesday, March 23 at 1:30pm (cst). On Tuesday evening, we had celebrated Holy Communion with Ruth, family and some friends. It was a very special time of singing, sharing and just being together. I spent the night with her and I began to notice her life slipping away. Though she was sleeping, I prayed with her and spoke of Jesus, her Lord and Savior, our love, our families, our lives and friends. Surrounded by her family, Ruth died Wednesday afternoon while her favorite Psalm 27 was being read. Her earthly remains have been cremated and will be taken to Venezuela for burial.
Joy Comes in the Morning
Written by Douglas Johnstone, Pastor at First Lutheran Church in Long Beach, CA
Ruth is dying this week. Her pain is managed as best as can be expected, and there is always family by her bedside, but she is dying this week, and there is nothing any of us who love her can do about it.
If it were the only unsettling thing to happen this week, maybe the tears would not flow so easily in the dark night. How troubled is life with bombs, gunfire, and rage; with earthquake, tsunami, radiation; with bitterness and anger shown to those I love; hopelessness and despair; visits to ER, ICU, and hospice care; maliciousness and harm rampant in the neighborhood! Tears flow in the night.
Phyllis and I met Ruth as a young teenager in San Felix, Venezuela. A few years later, Mark, the man who became her husband, lived and worked with us. We watched Mark and Ruth fall in love, marry, raise Rebeca and Raquel. Again Mark stayed with us in Garden Grove as he faced some difficult decisions. He spoke to us at First Lutheran about ministry and caring for others. A couple years ago Mark even drove my car with kids from “Say Yes!” to a District church service in Irvine. Their grandchildren visited us in Long Beach. Now Mark and Ruth serve and minister at the seminary in St. Louis. But ... Ruth is dying this week.
Last Friday as Mark translated the explanation by her oncologist of the new development in her body of an aggressive leukemia, she responded “I am in the hands of my loving God.”
Jesus understood the tears which may flow in the night. Jesus understood a great mystery of the faith which the psalmists of old also understood, and which Jesus shared with his disciples in the Upper Room “I am telling you the truth: you will cry and weep, but the world will be glad; you will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy.” (John 16:20)
The psalmists discovered that things do not always stay the same, that where once there was trouble and sadness, something can happen that changes trial into triumph. The tears which may flow in the night will give way to joy when it comes in the morning!
They took his body down and buried him. So intense was their grief that they rose early on the first day of the week, when the Sabbath observance was over and went to the tomb where Jesus had been buried. And when they arrived, just as the darkness was giving way to the first light of the new day, they could hardly believe what they were seeing. Tears of sadness gave way to stories of joy.
Can we expect joy to come in the morning when our night has been stained by tears? As Christians with a resurrection faith, we can. For the external conditions of our lives do not need to infect and destroy the internal convictions of our lives. The gift of joy is ours for the taking. That’s what Easter is about.
Ruth is dying this week. The tears are flowing in the night. But as a follower of the risen Christ, joy will come in the mourning, and a new day has begun. She is in the hands of her (and our) loving God.
Update: Written by Mark, Ruth's husband
Ruth is in her Lord’s precious loving arms waiting for her resurrection to life eternal – just as she knew and confessed. She took her last breath, Wednesday, March 23 at 1:30pm (cst). On Tuesday evening, we had celebrated Holy Communion with Ruth, family and some friends. It was a very special time of singing, sharing and just being together. I spent the night with her and I began to notice her life slipping away. Though she was sleeping, I prayed with her and spoke of Jesus, her Lord and Savior, our love, our families, our lives and friends. Surrounded by her family, Ruth died Wednesday afternoon while her favorite Psalm 27 was being read. Her earthly remains have been cremated and will be taken to Venezuela for burial.
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