Sugar Coating Death

April 6, 2011

Dear St. Paul’s Family,

I still laugh to this day about my most embarrassing moment in ministry. I consider my relationship with you all mature enough that I am willing to share this story without fear of merciless teasing.

(Alright, who am I kidding? But I’ll tell it to you anyway.)

Several years ago, while serving a prior congregation, I received a call from a fellow pastor letting me know that one of our church members was going to have her father taken off life support the next morning. This was going to be a difficult moment for the family, and a pastor needed to be with them. I told my colleague that I would be willing to join them, and that I would call them right away to let them know.

It was 10:00 at night when my colleague called, long past the time that this particular preacher has any coherent thoughts, let alone speaks them aloud. I called the family and prepared to fumble through a conversation with them, only to be caught off guard by the sound of their voicemail recording. I'm generally not one to leave the cleanest, most concise answering machine messages, even when my mind is alert. But in the late hours of the evening, I was a mess from the moment I started talking. Without thinking, I launched into my message.

"Hi, this is Magrey from the church. (From the church? How many other Magreys do they know?). I hate to be calling at such a late hour, but I wanted you to know that I was going to join you in the hospital in the morning. I understand you all are….umm….you all are....”

My brain totally froze. I had started a sentence without a clue as to how to finish it. Somehow, the proper phrase, “removing your father from life support,” totally escaped by mind. In its place, a flurry of inappropriate phrases fluttered into my head. I understand you all are “pulling the plug.” (No, no. I can’t say that.) I understand you all are “putting your father to sleep.” (Really? Is the doctor a vet?)

So after what seemed like an eternity of awkward voicemail silence, I finally stammered out the end of my sentence.

“….I understand you all are….doing a disconnection tomorrow.”

Doing a disconnection tomorrow? I slunked my shoulders and closed my eyes as soon as the words left my lips. I fumbled out the remainder of my message, clicked the end of the call and beat the phone against my forehead.

My kind, supportive wife overheard my message from down the hall. Struggling to contain her laughter, she called out:

“Who do you think you are? The cable guy?”


EUPHEMISMS FOR DEATH

I receive minimal solace from the fact that when it came time for the gospel writers to describe the final moments of Jesus’ life, they were careful to find the right words. At the time of Jesus’ death, none of the four gospels come out and say, plainly and clearly, that “Jesus died.” Mark says that Jesus “breathed his last breath.” Matthew and John say that Jesus “gave up his spirit.” And Luke, perhaps to cover the bases, said that Jesus gave up his spirit and then breathed his last.

In fact, the phrase “Jesus died” occurs only one time in the whole New Testament. (1 Thessalonians 4:14). And while Paul uses the phrase “Christ died” a number of times, he is also quite fond of saying that when believers die, they merely “fall asleep.” So there you go. Maybe the veterinarian metaphor was not so awkward after all.

Why all the euphemisms associated with death? I’ll admit that as a pastor I have used my own fair share of them when talking to family members about their deceased loved ones: passed away, stepped from this life into the next, transferred their membership into the church universal, now experiencing God’s eternal embrace. It’s not that I shy away from saying the words “death” or “dying.” I certainly use them freely and frequently. But in the most tender moments of grief and loss, the other words seem more soothing. Perhaps the gospel writers felt the same way.

But where the New Testament might choose euphemisms to describe our physical deaths, Paul is quite direct when it comes to talking about our spiritual deaths. Consider Romans 6 as an example:

What then are we to say? Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. For whoever has died is freed from sin. But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

That’s fourteen instances of dead, death, and die in only eleven verses. The Bible is very clear: when it comes to living the kind of life God desires for us, we only have to die.

That’s really what Lent is all about. It is a time of deep introspection about the decaying, diseased parts of our lives, and letting them breathe their last breath. Put to death our old ways, die to our old self, and identify with the death of Jesus. Merely sleepwalking through the faith won’t do. Daydreaming in our discipleship won’t work. Only the full demise of our former ways of thinking, behaving, and relating to others will lead to a resurrection that offers new life.

By the way, I met with the family the next morning to be by their father’s side. They did not mention my phone message; they had other pressing matters to attend to. They were grateful for my presence, but I was more grateful for them. Together, we witnessed in somber silence the grand mystery of another life slipping into death, with serenity and peace. We mourned their father’s death, and dared to claim the promise and power of the resurrection together.

That is the promise that awaits us, just around the corner. This Sunday, we begin our final approach to the cross, to experience the power, passion, and drama of the week that changed the world. Let’s euphemize neither the death of Jesus or the way we are called to identify with his death. Without sugar-coating, short-cutting, or side-stepping, let us confront the cold, hard reality of Christ’s death straight on, and be unafraid to go all the way to the cross.

See you on the journey,

Magrey

The Rev. Magrey R. deVega
St. Paul's United Methodist Church
531 W. Main St.
Cherokee, IA 51012
Ph: 712-225-3955
http://www.cherokeespumc.org



TORNADO RELIEF
We are receiving initial reports from the District and Conference Disaster Coordinators regarding the 27 tornadoes that hit various communities throughout Northwest Iowa on Saturday night, particularly in Mapleton. They are asking churches to begin assembling volunteer teams to go to these disaster sites and start the urgent work of clean up. There is an immediate need for strong, able-bodied persons to head down to Mapleton, and there will soon be a need for others to help with other kinds of recovery efforts. If you are interested in taking a day trip down to Mapleton or some other affected area, please let the office know. We may have some people in the church willing to lead a crew.

If you are unable to help with physical labor, perhaps you can contribute items for the assembly of a cleaning bucket. These buckets are immensely useful to people in devastated areas, and you can find the items on the UMCOR website: http://gbgm-umc.org/umcor/print/kits/floodbucket.stm. Bring the completed buckets to church, and we’ll make sure they get to the people who need them.

SOLES4SOULS
After delivering our latest shipment of donated shoes to Soles4Souls, the grand total of our contributions in just 12 months is 1,486 shoes. What a phenomenal response! Thanks, St. Paul’s! Many of the recent contributions will be delivered to people in need in Japan.

BUILDING RENOVATION UPDATE
Our recent Capital Campaign has brought in about $260,000 in pledges. We are grateful for the congregation’s faithfulness and generosity! Although it is short of our goal, it is sufficient to move forward with the first parts of our renovation plan. The Building Committee met last Tuesday and is putting together plans to move ahead in phases rather than all at once so as not to incur significant loan indebtedness at this time. Plans are to begin with the replacement of the boiler with a high-efficiency unit, and we will be working with both Denny’s and Modern to secure estimates. Next, we will be moving ahead in retiring the debts associated with the new parking lot across the south alley. These plans will be recommended to the Administrative Board perhaps early next month, and we will keep you posted on actual costs and further refined plans as they develop.

NEW MEMBERS
We give thanks to God for the eighteen new members who have joined our church. Please wear your name tag over the next several weeks to help them feel welcomed.

Brian Benson
Roberta Bevington
Wade and Mary Cowan
Monica Cowan
Joyce Groff
Jessica Hunecke
Chris and Missy Jenness
Mitch Knippel
Kent and Nicci Lundquist, and sons Levi, Steven, and Trevor
Alan Piatt
Craig Schmidt
Richard Weathers


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For more information about St. Paul's United Methodist Church, visit our website at http://www.cherokeespumc.org
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