5-12-2021

 Good Morning All!

           1 Thessalonians 4:17; “Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.”

    I was listening to a grandmother share her latest story from her grandchildren.  Her grandchildren live about 3 hours away so they do not see them as often as she would like but she treasures the time that they have.  She was commenting on the last visit which was over a three-day weekend.  When they arrived, everyone was happy and hugging and jumping up and down and excited to see each other.  A couple of days later, it was different.  The grandchildren were sobbing, “we don’t want to leave! Can’t we stay here!”  Mom and dad kept herding them out to the car, but the wailing and the crying continued.  As they were all buckled in their seats and mom and dad made the last roundup of any missing phones, chargers, toys, clothes or medicine, grandma was trying to calm everyone down.  One of the grandchildren looked at his grandma and said, “Grandma, I sure like hellos better than goodbyes.”  Don’t we all?

    This is at the very heart of Christianity, saying “hello” to our loved ones.  This is why I so treasure this portion of Scripture from 1 Thessalonians especially at funerals.  It starts at verse 13 of chapter 4 and goes through verse 18.  It is Paul, earnestly encouraging the Thessalonians who are worried about some of the faithful who have died.  Paul tells them to grieve differently then those who have no hope.  Death is painful for those who are left.  Words that were said or went unsaid hang in our hearts and mind.  Dreams go unfinished, trips go untraveled, plans fall by the wayside.  We grieve, we miss our loved ones, and we experience the pain of death.  But Paul wants us to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  He declares to them the word from the Lord that He will return.  Jesus promises to return and fix everything.

    With a cry of command, the voice of the archangel and the sound of the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first and we, who are left, will be caught up with them in the sky to meet the Lord.  What a statement!  Can you hear the squeals of “hello!”?  Can you see the hugs?  Can you visualize the joy? All our loved ones who died in faith will be there and we will celebrate; celebrate the coming of Jesus and living in his eternal kingdom but we will also celebrate our loved ones rejoined, as family, forever.  Those who died too young, those who suffered, those who battled every day of their life will be made whole, made healthy and complete, made with a body for eternity.

    This is our ultimate hope.  That Jesus returns, puts an end to death, suffering and evil, and we are rejoined to all the faithful, who died in that faith, in the feast that never ends.  This is why we grieve but we grieve with hope.  It will be better, in fact, it will be perfect.  Christ will return in all his glory and the dead in Christ will rise first.  Those who are alive to see this awesome event will join them in the sky to meet Jesus.  Joy will abound and hope will be fulfilled.

Precious Jesus, we long for that glorious hello!  Keep our hearts always fixed on You so that in our struggles and pain, we may always know hope.  Be with those who are suffering today and keep them in your loving arms.  In your name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret