Loading...
Meditation April 19, 2019
The Rev. Rebecca S. Myers,
Good Friday Cross Walk, Newport, PA
How Deep the Father’s Love For Us Verse 2
How great the pain of searing loss
The Father turns His face away
As wounds which mar the Chosen One
Bring many sons to glory
I imagine most of us have felt the grief of loss throughout our lives. Maybe as children, we don’t experience it as much, although when a beloved pet dies, we certainly begin to know the grief.
We experience loss is so many ways. Sometimes it is the loss of a relationship. The romance didn’t work out the way we hoped or the friendship went awry. Sometimes we lose a job we love. Sometimes our bodies don’t work the way they did and we can’t do the things we used to do with ease. Sometimes we cannot do the things in life we always thought we would do. These are all losses and we experience grief in so many ways over them.
Of course, there are the even bigger loses we grieve when a loved one dies and is no longer physically with us. Even when death was expected or when we know the person is no longer suffering, our grief over the loss of this person important in our lives is immense. Our whole world shifts. Things just aren’t the same any longer. We rejoice for the love we shared and for the time we had together and yet no matter how long ago, we miss them still.
I don’t know about you, but I have lots of old photos around my house, reminding me of those loved ones that I miss terribly and can no longer see. Some would be over 100 years old, certainly not living, yet I wish I could see them one more time.
So we know grief. And God knows grief. Some would say God knows and understands the deepest human grief, that of watching a child die. The writer of this hymn, imagines the scene is so awful that God must turn away. God gave us the greatest gift – God’s child – and humanity kills him in the most cruel way.
Yet, the horror of Good Friday is not the end of the story. Here we are nearly 2,000 years later following in the footsteps of people all around the world in remembering this day…remembering what happened….repenting…lamenting…examining ourselves and waiting for the glorious Easter Day.
