A House Not Made with Hands
"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unssen is eternal. For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands... For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is
God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come." 2 Corinthians 4: 16-5: 5
I want to get old like Dibbie, our 89-year old church matriarch. She is as salty and sweet as they come. She was not a looker in her youth, but as time and age have burned away both her virtues and her vices, she has become radiantly gorgeous.
Which doesn't mean things doen't hurt, as her body gradually wears out. "It's not easy getting old," Dibbie often says, not complaining, just stating a fact.
She says this in between driving her friends to church or to the doctor in her zippy red sedan, watching every single Red Sox and Patriots game (and sometimes swearing at the television), and serving a community meal for the homeless from our church kitchen every Monday for the last twenty four years. Every Monday. Because it's what Christians do, without expectation of reward.
Dibbie also reminds us, frequently and sternly, that we are to wear white, and not black, at her funeral when she "goes to glory." She knows exactly what Paul menas when he says that God has given us the spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. Dibbie is living, really living, as long as she is alive, but as her earthly tent gets tattered and torn, she is also very much looking forward to cashing in her deposit on life eternal.
William Barclay wrote, "no one needs to fear the years, for they bring us closer, not to death, but to God."
Jesus, help me to give thanks for my body, a part of your body, even when it hurts. And help me to live my life in such a way that I will be all used up when I die, and go to glory. Amen.
Molly Baskette is Senior Minister of First Church Somerville, UCC, in Somerville, Massachusetts.
| 