We drove home yesterday, on the heels of the deaths of a famous mother and daughter this past week: Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia from Star Wars) and her mother, Debbie Reynolds - an actress from my late father's favorite movie: "Singin' in the Rain." (Lest I forget about George Michael: 80's pop singer who died on Christmas day at the age of 53). As we drove across the rolling hills of Missouri, we passed by the Wheeling Cemetery. It isn't much of a cemetery: an aging wrought iron fence surrounding it, numerous tombstones marking the final resting place of a few hundred deceased who have been buried there over many years, and so on. But it had the unique distinction of being right off US 36, and thereby directly visible to us as we drove west.
Now perhaps as a pastor, and one who has buried many people over the years, I notice things like this much more than the non-pastor, but what I saw immediately set me thinking. The blue awning from a funeral-just-concluded was was being taken down, and I'm assuming they had either just sealed the vault or were preparing to lower the casket into the ground, as the last of the cars exited the cemetery from a service that had freshly concluded. Not seeing the graveside service itself, it's hard to conjure up an image of how many folks were there, but given the handful of chairs I observed, I would guess an "average" group of - say - between 30 and 50. I immediately wondered how many people even were aware of the passing of the person who was just buried, or for that matter how many cared. And yet their death was inevitable - whether from natural causes, accident, murder, or whatever, they were going to die - eventually.
For some reason, our society believes that 2016 has been a horrible year because of the number of celebrities - "famous people" (like Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds) - who have passed away. Now many of them died as a direct result of a questionable lifestyle - the drugs and alcohol abuse of fame that can lead to a shortened life span. Indeed many famous people have died this past year. And yet should their death matter any more than the nameless, faceless death I witnessed the conclusion of yesterday? Society seems to think so. I don't. People have been dying since the dawn of time and people - celebrities included - will continue to die in 2017 as well. Guess what? Some of you who read this might die in 2017. I COULD DIE in 2017. My point is that death is the great unknown in life and it is going to happen to all of us eventually. It could be due to accident. It could be old age or natural causes or disease. It could be any number of things, but death is the final outcome of this life, and what makes the anonymous person's death and burial yesterday any less important or significant than George Michael's? I believe that the death of the anonymous person in Missouri, whose funeral I saw conclude yesterday, is every bit as significant as the death of Carrie Fisher. And I believe that each death matters not because of how important they were in life, but because it is a personal crossroads that, once crossed, cannot be undone.
You see, that so many celebrities died this past year about to be concluded is not nearly as important to me as whether or not they knew Christ Jesus. If they didn't they were lost, and that saddens me deeply. Despite all their flaws, or despite mine, or despite the flaws of the anonymous deceased in Missouri, if the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus as Lord and savior is not included, it truly is a sad day, and - celebrity or not - that is what we should truly mourn. Not death, not the loss of any icons in our lives or from our childhoods, because it has all happened before us and it will all happen again after us. The real question to be asked is are we going to learn from this reality and accept the reality of what God's plan has truly been for us? It is not in murder and the destruction of those who differ from us, but in knowing and trusting that God has our best interests at heart in providing salvation for us. It is in the example and witness of Christ Jesus making us better, more compassionate people in this life and letting the salvation offered us in His name usher us into the next when this life ends.
I'm beginning to believe that one of the reasons society in general is so uptight about celebrity deaths is that we've lost sight of what truly lies beneath death or beyond life - society simply doesn't know how to handle death because we've lost the hope that overcomes it through Christ. For me, 2016 was a great year. Yes it was marked by all manner of personal setbacks and tragedies, but the Chicago Cubs (my team from when the barber threatened to cut off my ears if I wasn't a fan when I was 5) are FINALLY World Series champs! On the negative side, I didn't get out to finish a hike started years and years ago, due to my own advancing age (I'll admit that is ultimately what was at stake in it). I, like everyone, have had ups and downs in this past year: those mentioned and many left unspoken. Some deaths yet some celebrations as well are included. I choose to focus on the positive, not the negative. I plan on being positive again next year and look forward to seeing what it might bring. But no matter who may live or die next year, one thing is constant: Jesus is still King of kings and Lord of lords. I pray that this will make me a better person in 2017, and I pray that more will come to know this truth in the coming year.
This is what I reflect on as this year comes to a close. May you all have a prosperous 2017, no matter who lives or dies, because people will die in 2017 as they have each year prior. May more people come to know Christ in 2017, and may it impact their lives in a positive way, and may that impact change those around them for the better as well.
No comments:
Post a Comment