Joy, lament, anguishing grief. These are the extremes of emotion that our church family and community navigated through in the course of just over 24 hours this past weekend. The incredible nature of life on earth took us from one end of the continuum of human emotions clear to the other side, pausing for just a few hours at the space where gratitude, mixed with hope and sadness, mingle in the middle.
On Friday afternoon, the much anticipated new life that had been growing within Pastor Charmaine finally burst forth. At 1:27pm, the eight-pound package of God’s incalculable providence and blessing freed himself from the confines of the womb and entered fully into the realm of man. “Every good and perfect gift is from above” (James 1:17), and every new life is a testimony of the miracle-working Creator God intervening into the world that He designed. What a good and faithful God we serve! The shared joy rang out up and down the Hollow and down into the town as word spread through the community that a baby had arrived!
The following morning, Maplecrest buzzed with activity as family and friends gathered in the church to remember the long life of a local saint recently brought home to glory after 95 years of faithful service. Leonard John Vining Jr.’s celebration of life drew in a myriad of attendees, from far-flung family members to around-the-corner neighbors, all gathered together to hear and to share the many stories of Leonard’s loving kindness and legacy.
We “do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.” (1 Thess. 4:13-14)
While Friday had brought a great rejoicing for the miracle of a brand new life, Saturday turned our hearts and minds to celebrate the end of an earthly life well-lived, a child of God jubilantly welcomed into the arms of his awaiting Savior.
Then, the interruption came. An anguish and grief so stark and sharp that it stunned every joyful and lamenting heart into stillness, confusion, and disbelief. The news was all but unbearable and the brokenness of the messengers’ souls shown on their pain-stricken faces. The dearly loved and deeply loving family of Dennis, Debbie, Bill, and Stephanie Hitchcock had been in a fatal car accident, and Dennis was the sole survivor.
It is news like this that darkens every other thought and picture in your mind. The unthinkable crashes into our reality and jerks us so hard that everyday tasks take on a far-away feeling, and we don’t want to know what is real and what isn’t anymore.
In such a short time, we experienced deeply the thrill of new life, celebrated the gift of a long life, and were thrust into grief by the devastation of lives cut short. Our hearts were given the opportunity to swell with hope and love, and to fissure and break with grief, all in the space of just over a day.
Does the subsequent grief override the joy? Does the darkness of tragedy snuff out the light of hope? No, we can’t allow it the authority to do so. It is the joy, even the memories thereof, that brush like a cool breeze against our faces, whispering hope in the doldrums. And it is the ministry of a loving community that delivers these small winds of hope when we ourselves cannot remember them.
As the cool, brown, rushing waters of the Batavia Kill contrast with the slow and bright yellow sun, rising already warm over the mountains, we recognize that we must live in this world with its extremes and contrasts, for this is where we experience the fullness of life.
As Sunday morning dawned, people with eyes swollen from tears and spirits fatigued from heartache made their way to the local churches.
Through all of the events of those intense 36 hours, Friday to Sunday, we were a family without borders. The body of Christ on this mountaintop moved and lived as one unit, rejoicing together, praying together, setting up tables and chairs and washing dishes together. Crying together. And praising again. The church came to its fullness as the superorganism God intended for it to be.
When the people of Living Faith gathered that somber Sunday morning in the Hollow, God had already been at work making clear His plans for us that day. It was the morning of our annual “Apostolic Service.” This one summer Sunday we meet out back on the lawn, worshiping as the early church did – free from the confines of a church building and a set format. Free from expectations and religious practices. Free to follow as the Holy Spirit leads. And on this day, that divine Spirit led them clear across town.
From my recovery room upstairs, I could only glimpse some of the church family, gathered close in the grass, deep in prayer. I felt like I could see them bearing a burden together as they huddled in close. Then I got word from my husband that everyone was leaving to go be with our hurting brothers and sisters across town at the church our brother and youth group leader, Bill, and his wife, Stephanie, had called home. There was no plan – no meal to deliver or comforting message to carry – there was only the leading of the Holy Spirit to go and to be. My heart welled up and tears filled my eyes. The pastor is crying because everyone is leaving church! YES, the pastor is crying because her heart is overwhelmed with love and awe to see the church doing just what Jesus calls us to – to “love one another deeply.”
It has always been a privilege to serve as pastor to the Spirit-led people, the deeply committed people who truly seek and serve and gather at Living Faith Community Church. This particular morning, an awe came over me as I watched God work through this little flock – and I still feel that awe whenever I think about it. He had cleared our schedule many weeks in advance, then spoke through His Spirit to a people who were unified and ready to listen and follow – these humble saints of the Hollow.
When I reached out to thank the person who spoke up and led the group to leave, she humbly replied, “I just said what we were all thinking.” It was evident that they were one in Spirit and mind.
“The body rushes to the wound to impart care and healing.” – Tiffany Chase
This may be the best church “service” I’ve ever witnessed. The one where everyone left.
As we work through the hurt and confusion of this earthly life, we can be heartened in knowing that we will do it together.
We will “rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.” (Romans 12:15) We will minister to the brokenhearted, and receive comfort for our own pain. We will lend our faith when our fellow Christian’s is weak, and be edified by them when doubts rise up in our own minds.
God created us to be in community. It is when we love one another that God’s love is made complete. We can only experience the fullness of God’s love within the context of His family. A family that has no walls, no exclusions, no fear in love.
In the midst of one of the most devastating tragedies I’ve ever witnessed, I got to see God’s love manifest in full through the love of His people. It truly is an amazing grace, the grace that all people need in order to keep hope and faith alive in this troubling world.
If you’re not part of a local church family, go become part of one. Don’t wait until you feel ready, or until you find the perfect one. Trust God and obey His command to “love one another (that is your fellow Christian) deeply.” He commands this because HE wants to love you, and His children are the conduit for that love to flow through. Go love and be loved, be built up and build up others, so you can live in the fullness of life and God’s love.
“No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.” (1 John 4:12)
Charmaine Rusin 