The funeral down the road has been going on for three straight days now, rhythmic music keeping me company and the monks’ chanting waking me each morning. It is loud, it is an inconvenience to my desire for peace and quiet, but more than that it is reminder that this life is all we have on earth. Death comes and loved ones mourn and remember- sometimes the long life well lived and sometimes a young life tragically cut short.
All around me I see spiritual death too.
Empty eyes, broken hearts, no hope. People yearning for eternity without knowing that is the hole they desperately want to fill in their hearts.
We are considering the grave this week, the days of darkness before light broke through. We are making space to mourn the losses we have experienced, the dreams that have been buried, joy crushed by both the tragic and the ordinary in the places where we live. We are also preparing the way to consider what God will resurrect out of the ashes, the life that He longs to bring out of death.
As we look ahead to Palm Sunday and Easter week, what is God speaking to you about death? Share your thoughts and pictures with us on Instagram with the hashtag #VelvetAshesDeath. Write a blog post and link it at The Grove, or join us in the comments.
There’s a place for you this week.
