God Has Looked Favorably on His People
- Jun 6, 2010
- Media Links
- Subscribe
Psalm 30 (NRSV)
It is still early in Jesus’ ministry—a great deal of it focused on healing people of ailments of body and mind. Just before going to the village of Nain, he was in Capernaum where he healed a servant of the Roman centurian.
Luke 7: 11-17 (NRSV) 6-6-10
God Has Looked Favorably on His People.
The boundary lines have fallen in pleasant places. From time to time, I walk in Springwood’s cemetery, meeting the saints departed in that beautiful garden and wondering what their lives were like, the hopes they had for their families, what brought them to Springwood. I often see members visiting the resting place of their loved ones, remembering precious times together—lamenting too little time. The flags that Bruce Andrews placed at the grave of every veteran last weekend bring memories not only of those particular veterans, but also of wars past and present, of women and men whose service sustains our freedoms, of dreams of peace when wars will be no more. Cemeteries hold more than graves. They are also repositories of memory, of dreams, and even of hopes for the future.
When we lay a beloved one in the cemetery, we go in sorrow--and we go in hope: in the firm belief that this is not the end for our dear one. Jesus the Christ is raised—the Holy Spirit has come—and God promises us life that continues in God’s eternity. We have a hope for a future for our loved ones and for ourselves, and we believe that in some way we don’t now understand, that also means we will know one another again, in that future. But even before our lives continue beyond death in what we call the kingdom of heaven, we have a future in his kingdom on earth, because he is the Lord of life as well as the Lord over death.
The widow of Nain didn’t have the kind of hope that sustains us in grief. The death of her son was the end. She was bereft of her child, as she was of her husband, and would be dependent now on the generosity of the community for her support. Life was difficult for a woman without a man in those days. Alive physically, she had no future other than sorrow and privation, until Jesus gave her a future by giving her back her son. The other mourners rejoiced: God has looked favorably on his people.
Christ overcame the young man’s physical death, and his widowed mother’s spiritual death. He gives new life to us. To symbolize that the power of death is broken, churches like Springwood were often built in the middle of a cemetery or near one, so that each time we come to worship, we see the graves and remember those saints who’ve died, and, we see the cross and remember that God has more in store for us.
So it is, even for churches. Not too many years ago, with worship attendance down to about 30, some of you wondered if Springwood might die. It hasn’t. Indeed, it continues to strengthen. Longtime members remain faithful in attendance and giving and service. New members find this a welcome place both to worship, and to serve God. God has looked favorably on his people.
Two years ago, the session began to dream about how Springwood might bring new life into this congregation and into the community by more fully serving God through our neighbors. We seek to do this in a number of ways, large and small already. But there’s more. The elders envision using some of this generous land to build a daycare center that could expand into a community center for the families living in the homes that have grown up in former corn and wheat fields. It’s an extension of the compassion Jesus expressed for people—especially children and young people—an extension of Jesus’ hands reaching out to heal and help. And wherever Jesus shows up, there’s the possibility of new life.
The vision for the daycare center is an extension, in a way, too, of the vision of Springwood’s founders. As I’ve walked the cemetery paths recently, I’ve wondered what they might say to us today. I imagine D.P. Foust ruminating:
“Well, well, well. I’m proud to have been part of Springwood’s beginning—and to get to watch it move into the future, too. When the Clapps, the Ingles, and I offered to donate the land where our farms abutted for the church, we wanted to be sure it was enough so the church could grow. Looks like it’ll grow by expanding outreach to the neighborhood. I like that. The members there claim, ‘At Springwood Presbyterian, we share the love of Jesus Christ through our actions toward our neighbors. I like that, too. That’s what Preacher Rankin tried to teach us. He was concerned about home missions and weak churches, and his passion to provide for them is the reason I left the interest from my estate to Orange Presbytery for that work, once my wife’s income and Springwood’s portion were paid. Since Cledora and I never had children, I felt the church and Presbytery were my heirs.
What goes ‘round, comes ‘round, they say. Some of that money’s come back recently from Presbytery to Springwood to build a new water and sewer system. We didn’t have anything like that here a hundred years ago—we made do with the well and privies. This sure is more convenient! But it’s mostly so they can take care of the children of the community while their parents work. That is home mission work, isn’t it?--God’s people living their faith and showing others the path of life, where there is fullness of joy, and pleasures forevermore from God’s right hand.”
For 142 years, through a tempestuous beginning, two World Wars and numerous regional wars, the Great Depression and several severe recessions, through growth and prosperity, deaths of beloved saints, changes in pastors, cultural changes too many to number, God has looked favorably on his people here at Springwood. Yes, God has looked favorably on his people!
