Who's Buried in Grant's Tomb?

I may be among the very few when I say this, but I like cemeteries. There is something about them that is both mysterious and hopeful. I enjoy them for their history, and I especially like them for their architecture.

Some thoughts come to mind when I think of cemeteries. I remember playing in one when I was a child. My brother and I went on a walk for several hours one afternoon when we were visiting my grandmother in New Jersey. We had a great day, exploring not only the Greenwood Cemetery but also Kiddy City, that day’s Toy’s-R-Us. We had fun until we were gone too long, my grandmother sent the Sheriff looking for us.

I think about some older cemeteries that I’ve visited over the years. When I was at Allegheny, I would visit a cemetery close to campus. Meadville has a fascinating old cemetery that actually was both a park and a burial ground at its inception. A former Supreme Court Justice, several former Allegheny Presidents, and some other notable figures are buried there. When I served in Titusville, I’d visit Woodlawn Cemetery. Woodlawn has oil tycoons, and even the grave of Ida Tarbell who wrote about some of them in her work on the Standard Oil Company.

I enjoy driving and even walking through cemeteries. It is fascinating to look at the markers, think about a person’s place in history, and even wonder about what would have been. Flags often mark the location of a fallen hero, sheep mark the location of small children lost far too early.

The evolution of burial practices is complex, and I should not dare attempt to distill it into one page. Unfortunately, much of what we think about, particularly this week is shrouded in fear. Halloween and the practices that surround it, often cause us to think about cemeteries as bad places. It takes us back to some of the medieval ethos that caused people to be gripped with fear. Far too often, they cause us to be fearful of death. Death in those times was often a threat used to discipline the living.

But part of the reason that I find some solace in a cemetery is because of my strong sense of hope that I find in our Christian faith. Cemeteries not only allow me to reflect upon those who have gone before me, history, and things of nostalgia, but also upon hope.

This Sunday, we remember those who have gone before us. We move past the fear of Halloween that our secular society clings to, and cling to something more lasting and more hopeful – and that is everlasting life. We celebrate life, we celebrate the saints of the church on All Saints Sunday.

Today, I’m thinking about those who have gone before us, not only from this year, but all those I have seen only through the words of a headstone. Some of them I know, some of them I have only heard of, most of them God knows. And as I remember, I remember the words of scripture that say, “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain. But if it falls into the earth and dies, it will bear much fruit.”

In Christ, we will live again. And for that, I give God thanks.

I hope to see you in worship this week as I share a message entitled, “Unrevealed” and we share together in remembering those who have gone on to life eternal. Following our time of remembrance, we will share in communion. I hope you will join us for worship.

Please pray for me, and know that I am praying for you.

Brown Grass

Today, they are predicting rain. Some might grumble a little bit. We’ve had a pretty good run on nice weather as of late. The temperatures have been pleasant. There have been some warm days, but all in all it hasn’t been too bad.

The only down side of the good weather that we have been experiencing is the lack of rain. It has caused the lawns to take on a nice brown shade.

I listened to a garden and lawn expert the other day say that often times we think that our lawns are dead. This isn’t the case, he explained. The lawn is merely dormant. With the lack of rain that we’ve experience over the past few weeks, lawns go into a dormancy faze. Grasses have the ability to go dormant for varying lengths of time depending on genetics, health of the grass, and sometimes the strength of the root system.

“Not too worry,” was the explanation. “All it needs is a little water.”

That got me thinking a lot about the ritual of the summer season in the church and the very real possibility that many of us have gone dormant spiritually. Often times we take breaks in the summer, we fall away from our spiritual disciplines, and we find the latest and greatest excuse as to why we didn’t come to worship.

When we go through those seasons, we tend to go into a spiritual dormancy. Everything is going really well on the outside. It’s sunny and warm. But in reality, we are not getting the things that can sustain us and so we turn brown and brittle.

You can make a good case that all is not lost. The psalmist writes that those who plant themselves by streams of water will prosper and bear fruit (Psalm 1). If you have good genetics, a good root system, and you are relatively healthy – all you need is a little water.

Jesus once said, “If anyone is thirsty, let them come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within them (John 7:37b-38).”

Are you in a spiritual dormancy? If you are, maybe all you need to do is reconnect and reestablish your relationship with Christ. Are you thirsty? Maybe all it will take is a tall drink of the water that will bring streams of living water from within you.

Now is a great time to come out of that dormancy. Fall programs are beginning and ministries in churches are coming back to life. Tap into something, it won’t take long for you to brighten up.

Today, they are predicting rain. I hope that we get a lot of it! And I hope that you get drenched.

Please pray for me, and know that I am praying for you.
Greg