Giving Pause

2 Corinthians 1:3-4 says: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God." (ESV) Many churches used to have cemeteries right on their property. Perhaps some thought the practice was way too morbid, a turn-off to visitors, and so the practice ended. But our forefathers in the faith saw it as a way to remind us that our loved ones lost had merely transferred their memberships from the Church Militant to the Church Triumphant. Walking past those stones also reminded us that the opportunities to serve God in the here and now were numbered and soon we too would take our places out in "the yard." But meanwhile brothers and sisters, we are called to lend our shoulders for others to cry upon, to be vessels and voices of comfort and consolation. As Romans 12:15 says: "Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep." (ESV) Samuel Chadwick put it this way: "Compassion costs. It is easy enough to argue, criticize, and condemn, but redemption is costly, and comfort draws from the deep. Brains can argue, but it takes heart to comfort." And so it does...

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