Let me begin by saying how good it is to be back! I had a wonderful time away, Portland, OR is a very lovely city and Heather is the very best person to explore anything with.
So why would I preach about dying after a delightful trip? The usual answer works here too, because it is in the Lectionary. This week’s texts actually have two stories about dying and, what is more, resurrection too! Our Old Testament lesson is the story of Elijah “raising” a widow’s son back to life (the quotation marks around “raising” are just to remind us that it is God who raises people from the dead no matter who might be in the room). Our Gospel lesson also features a widow’s son being raised back to life, this time by Jesus (no quotation marks needed here).
These two stories tell us a few things about dying but the most important thing they tell us is that dying is in God’s hands; God is more powerful than death. The other thing they tell us is that God loves us. This one might seem, at first, like a bit of a stretch, after all, people die in these stories . . . but death isn’t all they are about.
Knox Presbyterian What does this say about dying?
St. Mark’s Presbyterian What does this say about dying?
Blessings,
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