WS Update: Joy and Grief

July 19, 2021

This past week was one that brought both joy and grief to our extended church family. Joy as we celebrated our annual Vacation Bible School (VBS) where the children of our church laughed, sang and celebrated the joy of Jesus. Grief when the husband of our Children’s Ministry Director died suddenly on Monday night, leaving behind his beloved wife and two young daughters. It was a reminder of many things, including that to follow Jesus is to live with both sorrow and joy, who gives voice to both. Jesus is a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief (Isaiah 53:3), one who weeps with us and through his Spirit brings comfort in moments of loss.

But as children in particular remind us, it’s in the power of stories that we find hope and meaning. And as the children celebrated the story of God again last week we were reminded that death and sorrow don’t get the last word of the story of our lives or this world. God gets the last word and that word is love. A love that sent Jesus into the world. A love that culminated in Jesus’ death on the cross. And a love that reminds us that though sorrow lasts for a moment, joy will come in the morning and one day never end.

Come, Lord Jesus.

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.
— Romans 8:18-19