Knowing when it is time

Yesterday I went to the funeral of a woman who had spent her whole life serving others, who had found her life's love 14 years ago, and who knew when it was time. She suffered from diabetes, had the toes of her left foot removed, then part of the foot, then part of the leg. When her kidneys went into renal failure, she simply said enough. Her loving husband took her home, and their loving church supported them, giving him time to be with her as she died, and supporting in other needful ways as well. That is a wonderful picture of the way church should work for all - one big, loving family, ready and willing to learn with each other, support each other, and offer both shared laughter, and shared tears.

The story of Jesus and the woman suffering from 12 years of internal hemmoraging was the text for the message, and as the preacher noted, it really seemed to discribe this amazing woman. She finally had had enough poking, prodding and trying one more thing, and as the preacher said, she reached out to touch the fringe of Jesus' robe. Through that difficult-to-understand, difficult-to-accept transition called death, her Savior made her well, made her whole. One of her classmates in a program to prepare lay members of our churches to assist in ministry and deepen their own faith, spoke of the same passage as the one this lady chose to preach from in the preaching class - where her transformation in the power of God became most evident - where she "blew us away with the Spirit-power of her preaching," putting all her own feeling of frustration with medicine into illustrating reaching out full of longing and hope to touch the fringes of the robe of this great healer, said to give hearing to the deaf, sight to the blind, mobility to those unable to move and life to the dead.

Again, what wonderful imagery of what our Christian life is to be about. Those are NOT simply stories, they are the stories of our lives as we struggle with things that don't make sense, disease that just cannot be healed, anger, hatred and life-crippling despair that controls a life that wants more. These are the stories to help us discover that Jesus is still here, though perhaps in the guise of a 55 year old woman who died from complications brought on by diabetes, or a soldier in the middle of a war-ravaged land who decides that little child with such a serious health problem deserves better, and uses all his or her pull and connections to get mother and child or perhaps family to a place where care can be given to at least this one small, desperate child of God.

May the joy this woman knew in her faith, the courage she showed in her determination of the end, and the serenity of her trust in her Savior become a real and lasting part of all our lives.

Peace!