To have been present at the death of someone you have loved is to have witnessed life — a life ended, a life begun. But it is also to know loss and to feel what it is to be lost. Not so much a feeling of where am I to go, rather how am I to be, how am I to live?
We are stunned by having no sense of a direction, no way of being, no path forward in the aftermath of death. We look for guidance.
In the scripture readings for today, Jesus seems to offer the guidance we seek and, yet, it is more than guidance, it is a direction. A direction to choose life in the face of death, to choose good when confronted with evil, to love the Lord, to walk in his ways, to obey his commandments, to open our hearts to him.
Jesus offers us guidance and direction even as he predicts his own suffering and death. He offers us a way of being and a clear path to discipleship. It is a path that leads to love and comfort and renewal and resurrection. It is a daily discipline.
For to walk in his ways is to find our own way.
Thursday, February 11, 2016
Deuteronomy 30:15-20
Psalm 1
Luke 9:18-25
