Lessons from a Cemetery ~ Pastor Andrew

There’s a little cemetery on 12 Mile Rd just north of Ilderton that I bike past during the spring and summer. Littlewood Cemetery is the final resting place for many longstanding Ilderton families – Armstrongs, Charltons, Bloomfields, Paisleys, and a host of other familiar names.

Littlewood is a beautiful spot in the summer. It is quiet. The trees are mature and provide wonderful shade. And the tombstones reflect the history of the village.

Martin Luther once counseled fellow Christians that they should “think much about dying while living so that [they] might think much of living while dying.” Having done dozens of funerals and having spent hours in cemeteries, I’ve often thought of Luther’s advice, and the ride past Littlewood Cemetery makes me stop and think about eternity.

Today, we live in an age that values youth, vitality, and happiness. Death confronts us with the transience of each one of these modern pursuits. “Dying with dignity” no longer is about suffering well, but choosing when and how to take your life. We use euphemisms about death as we attempt to avoid discussing it. People “pass away” or have “been called home” or have “crossed the great divide.” The finality of death is hard to accept.

Yet accept it we must. Each one of us will one day face our final days. We will look back on our life and evaluate it with a different eye than we do now. Is it any wonder, then, that Ecclesiastes 7 is filled with an encouragement to think much about dying now? “Better to go to the house of mourning than to a house of feasting” (Eccl. 7:2). “The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of the fool in a house of pleasure” (7:4).

The Bible keeps in mind an eternal perspective. A comedy might be fun, but the jokes are soon forgotten. A tragedy might be heavy, but it impacts you deeply, causing reflection.

Spiritual progress usually comes through failure, disappointment, and hardship more often than through success, laughter, ease, and triviality. No one wishes for hard times, difficult days, or tough issues. But through them, something better comes – wisdom. Wisdom isn’t being smart, but living in light of God’s good design, in accordance with his ways. And is there any better way to live than to be walking in the path of God?

Join us this Sunday as we pursue the wisdom of God, reflecting on his eternal ways and how we might have joy even in these challenging days.

~Pastor Andrew