Can you imagine a world in which wasps had no sting? With their pretty black and yellow stripes we might view them in a similar way to ladybirds or butterflies.... with great affection. It is the sting which makes us afraid of them.
Now imagine a world in which death has no sting. How would we view death? Well, it would certainly be without fear, though maybe not with actual affection. Tonight in my time with God I pondered on the words of Paul's first letter that he wrote to the Corinthians (chapter 15) and I listened to the movement of Handel's Messiah which uses the words from this chapter, 'Oh death, where is thy sting, oh grave, where is thy victory?' I felt overcome with the strength of God's love for us and the truth of this word. The power in the sting of death is in our own sin, and as all that has been dealt with on the cross, death loses its power. The way Handel treats this material is in a duet, where the singers repeat one after the other, 'Oh death, oh death, where is, where is thy sting?' It really is as if he is poking fun at death.
Many of us have been hurt by death. I was introduced to it at the age of seven when my mother died. I felt rejected and abandoned though only realised the extent of this as I grew older. But for me, now, there is no more sting. Just for now we live with the separation, but we know that it is only temporary. When I say goodbye to my daughter as she goes off to University, I know I will miss her but I carry her in my heart always, and know that we will be together again soon. So it is with friends who've passed on....
it's only for a while.
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