Gravestones
by Rev Thomas Paulsteiner
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Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms (John 14:1,2).
The devotions for the coming week are taken from LCA International Mission’s 2021 ’40 Days – a Lenten Devotion and Prayer Guide’ and are written by mission partners around the world. LCA International Mission invites you to pray for God’s global mission and churches beyond our borders. You can download an electronic copy of the ’40 Days’ guide at the LCA International Mission website or request a printed copy by emailing lcaim@lca.org.au or phoning 08 8267 7330.
Maybe it sounds a bit strange if I tell you that I love strolling around cemeteries. It is not because I have a hidden desire to die but because I love looking at gravestones.
We know what gravestones look like and what we can read there. It is usually the name, date of birth, day of death, ‘RIP’, or sometimes the person’s profession. Sometimes we can find symbols of life, like a branch of a palm tree, a cross or even a Bible verse. Gravestones speak their own language. Some messages go much deeper than many long sermons.
On the stone of a 16-year-old girl who died in a car accident, I noticed there were none of these Christian symbols. There were only a few capital letters, chiselled with heavy hammer blows: ‘WHY?’. At the age of 16, life is only just starting – finishing school, dating, looking for a job. All the despair, impotent anger and grief of this family cried out of this one little word: ‘WHY?’.
More than 30 years ago, I discovered a very different gravestone at the cemetery in Neuendettelsau, Germany. Shaped like a simple cross and at the bottom, you can read the name and the dates – nothing special. But what impressed me was one single word, written at the crosspiece: ‘Daheim’, translated as ‘At home’. Not a long sermon on a resurrection – only the German word meaning ‘At home’. What a deep peace and comfort that flows out of here. Of course, the relatives of that person were crying and mourning as well. This farewell was definitely not easy for them. But they had a view and a perspective that reached further than six feet under.
What enables and drives people to turn a gravestone – the ultimate sign of death – into a sermon of life? Hope in the presence of grief – this is what Christ brings into this world and what we celebrate at Christmas. Life in the presence of sickness and death – this is what we celebrate at Easter. Christ is not the great magician who spirits away all our doubts, difficulties, challenges, sickness and death. He is the one who comes into our life. He is the one who walks with us side by side like with the two disciples on their way to Emmaus. He is the one who leads us through. He is the one who promises to take us home.
What do you want to be chiselled at your gravestone?
Prayer: Pray for Christ to lead you through life in the presence of doubts, difficulties, challenges, sickness and death. Thank God that he promises to take you home.
Rev Thomas Paulsteiner is Head of Department for Papua New Guinea/Pacific/East Asia, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria.
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