The Toughest Questions

August 28, 2012

Dear St. Paul’s Family,

Even after three years of formal seminary training and nearly fifteen years of church ministry, I still at times feel ill prepared to answer the deepest faith questions that people ask.  The tough questions aren’t the ones that emerge from casual dinner conversations or around coffee at the Copper Cup.  The difficult ones are those that keep us up at night, prompt long solitary walks, and make us stare silently into the glass darkly.

Such a question came to me after a worship service a few weeks ago, as I was greeting folks at the door.  One of our Sunday school kids, walking out with his family, shook my hand and then leaned in.

“Does God know when we are going to die?” he said.

Right out of the blue. He looked me squarely in the face for an answer as he walked in pace with the greeting line.  I had hardly a few seconds to digest his question, surmise his back story, and cough out an answer.  I would have wanted more time, of course.  I would have wanted to hear what prompted his question.  A nightmare?  A tragic news story?  The death of a loved one or a family pet?  Regardless, I knew that I couldn’t quite give him what he really wanted:  a succinctly packaged theological answer wrapped in a tidy catch phrase.

I did, in the end, fumble out a quick answer.  I wasn’t satisfied with it, but he seemed contented, given his smiling nod.  His question, however, has continued to linger, as most good questions seem to do.

This Sunday, we conclude our series on the Apostles’ Creed with the last two lines:  “I believe in the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.”  Systematically, we understand why the Creed must end this way.  It begins with creation, after all, and therefore it must end with hope.  “Maker of heaven and earth,” concludes with “Life everlasting, Amen.”  Genesis, to Revelation.  But like this young boy’s question, these last two affirmations invite more mystery than finality.

        If we believe in the resurrection of the body, what kind of bodies will we have?
        What happens to our eternal bodies if we are cremated?
        What can I really know about heaven?  Will everyone I love be there?
        Do my deceased loved ones communicate with me?
        Will my pets be in heaven?
        And, of course, does God know when we will die?

These are the questions that will form the basis of my sermon on Sunday, and I will attempt to address them the best that I can.  Certainly, part of what prompts this message is the massive popularity of the bestselling book Heaven is for Real, a story of a four-year old boy’s experience of Heaven, which several of you have offered me to read.  I’ll reflect on his story a bit, along with N.T. Wright’s Surprised by Hope, one of my favorite books on the topic of resurrection and eternal life.  And, I would be very interested in hearing your own comments and questions on the matter.  Feel free to respond to this Mid-Week with your reflections, and I may want to address them during the sermon.

There is a timeliness to concluding our Apostles’ Creed series on Labor Day weekend.  On a holiday when we celebrate the gift of work, and our ability to fill our days with meaningful labor, we would do well to remember the advice of Marcus Aurelius, the standard bearer for stoic courage in the face of our mortality:  “To live each day as though one’s last, never flustered, never apathetic, never attitudinizing – here is perfection of character.”

I think therein lies the hidden gift of the Apostles’ Creed.  It is less a body of evidence about life’s unknowable mysteries, and more an invitation to belief.  Its intent is not to offer proof for the inexplicable, but a reminder that God steps in at the limits of our understanding.  It is a courageous conviction echoed by John Wesley on his deathbed, whose last words capture the joyful freedom that comes from a life anchored in faith:

"The best of all is, God is with us."

Grace, Peace, and Hope,

Magrey

The Rev. Magrey R. deVega
St. Paul's United Methodist Church
531 W. Main St.
Cherokee, IA  51012
Ph:  712-225-3955
Email:  mdevega@sp-umc.org


1 Corinthians 15:42-44, 51-57
42  So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable.
43  It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power.
44  It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body.
51 Listen, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die, but we will all be changed,
52  in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
53  For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality.
54  When this perishable body puts on imperishability, and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled:
‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’
55  ‘Where, O death, is your victory?  Where, O death, is your sting?’
56  The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
57  But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.



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