Feminsim, relationships, and poetry . . . from Cyberstones
That poem reads a little like an obituary.
Anything to be said about relationships defining our identity and therefore are the appropriate summary of one's earthly life? Have you ever read an obituary like this: "who owned x amount of land, had a bank balance of $x.xx, drove a 2006 (insert car here), and spend the extra money to die in a private room . . ."? How worthless would that be?
In fact, as we are all created in God's image, in the image of Love, we are created to be in relationships. In loving our neighbor we relate to them. When we give money to the church, we love our neighbor by keeping the church going so that they can come too. When we are married, become parents, work together . . . we are all in relationship. Such as it was in the beginning. It was not good for man to be alone (Genesis 2) so God gave Adam a "suitable helper" or to put it another way, God gave him a neighbor to love just as God created (and still creates) those whom He loves (all creation). Adam and Eve's believing Satan and eating from the tree severed the relationship between God and Mankind. But it is necessary (for our benefit) that that relationship be restored. So, God Himself steps forth and becomes Man Himself and does all things necessary to restore the relationship of love in which we are created.
How beautiful that in Rev. Peterson's poem he climaxes with his relationship to God: "lamb of Jesus Christ." Too often obituaries focus on earthly relationships at the expense of what gives us true comfort: God's relationship to us in Jesus Christ. How thankful I am that the new Lutheran Service Book (LSB) Agenda includes several sample obituaries that will leave no one wondering about faith of the deceased. When I was in the parish I wrote something similar to this and it was very well received. You read most obituaries and they end with "oh yea, they were sort of a Christian too." Try to track down a copy of the LSB Agenda and read those. Christ is at the center as He is in our lives. He is at the center in life and in death.
Jesus is our Companion on the Way through this life and He has blazed the strait and narrow way to Heaven, passing through all the darkest rooms through which we pass in this life and into the next illuminating our dark times with His most glorious light.
~Companion
Anything to be said about relationships defining our identity and therefore are the appropriate summary of one's earthly life? Have you ever read an obituary like this: "who owned x amount of land, had a bank balance of $x.xx, drove a 2006 (insert car here), and spend the extra money to die in a private room . . ."? How worthless would that be?
In fact, as we are all created in God's image, in the image of Love, we are created to be in relationships. In loving our neighbor we relate to them. When we give money to the church, we love our neighbor by keeping the church going so that they can come too. When we are married, become parents, work together . . . we are all in relationship. Such as it was in the beginning. It was not good for man to be alone (Genesis 2) so God gave Adam a "suitable helper" or to put it another way, God gave him a neighbor to love just as God created (and still creates) those whom He loves (all creation). Adam and Eve's believing Satan and eating from the tree severed the relationship between God and Mankind. But it is necessary (for our benefit) that that relationship be restored. So, God Himself steps forth and becomes Man Himself and does all things necessary to restore the relationship of love in which we are created.
How beautiful that in Rev. Peterson's poem he climaxes with his relationship to God: "lamb of Jesus Christ." Too often obituaries focus on earthly relationships at the expense of what gives us true comfort: God's relationship to us in Jesus Christ. How thankful I am that the new Lutheran Service Book (LSB) Agenda includes several sample obituaries that will leave no one wondering about faith of the deceased. When I was in the parish I wrote something similar to this and it was very well received. You read most obituaries and they end with "oh yea, they were sort of a Christian too." Try to track down a copy of the LSB Agenda and read those. Christ is at the center as He is in our lives. He is at the center in life and in death.
Jesus is our Companion on the Way through this life and He has blazed the strait and narrow way to Heaven, passing through all the darkest rooms through which we pass in this life and into the next illuminating our dark times with His most glorious light.
~Companion
posted by Companion on the Way at 1:09 PM
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