Each year in May, we make the trek into Hood County, Texas to attend some very important board meetings ... for a couple of cemeteries.
We have become involved with the governing boards of two historic Texas cemeteries: one with the graves of our earliest Texas ancestors. The other cemetery holds the graves of folks a lot closer to us in time ... as well as our own.
And it’s the latter of these two where I annually face my mortality in a most graphic way. There, carved into granite, is my full name —all three names, like it would be reported if I was arrested for some crime— along with my date of birth. Of course, there is no second date ... yet. Perhaps you’ve heard someone say, right after shivering, “Someone must be walking across my grave!” Well, I’ve actually seen people walk on mine!
Someday, a second date will fill the remaining blank space on my tombstone. Until then, I will continue my journey, here, doing the best I can. Please don’t think I’m being maudlin or macabre. It’s just on my mind this time of year because our service to the community intersects some of our future plans. Plus ... it fits perfectly with the message of this week’s 1st John passage.
John keeps circling back to a few key points because he wants his correspondents to be crystal clear about what is important. And, perhaps the most important of them all is this: “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.”
We need never become too disturbed about that transit point we call the grave. That is not the end of our journey. There is much more to go ...
and our final destination isn’t final, at all.
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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Seventh Sunday of Easter (May 13, 2018)
https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts.php?id=93
Acts 1:15-17, 21-26
Psalm 1
1 John 5:9-13
John 17:6-19
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Join us Friday morning at 8:00 for DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast. It’s an unusual blend of scripture, laughter, prayer, and spirited discussion among friends. If that sounds good to you, then meet us at the Waco “Egg and I” restaurant. We’ve been meeting in their function room, around the back.
Blessings,
Steve
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