Reunion: where every tear will be wiped away...

Communion of Saints by Ira Thomas

Reunion with those who have gone before us in death is among the most consoling promises our faith makes.  I wonder how those who do not trust in this promise can face and live through the passing of those they love.  Reunion with family and friends the Lord has already called home to himself is a gift I long to claim should the same Lord judge me worthy.

But this is not simply a reunion.  It is our coming together in God and so it is communion forever in the life of the Trinity.  And this is why we pray for those who have gone before us and for ourselves, now and at the hour of our death.

In November, the month of All Souls, think, for a moment, of those who have gone before you...  Perhaps you'll take a moment to write down their names... and certainly, in your heart, you can lift them to the Lord in prayer with these words:

God of all consolation,

in your unending love and mercy for us

you turn the darkness of death

into the dawn of new life.

Show compassion to your people in their sorrow.

Be our refuge and our strength

to lift us from the darkness of this grief

to the peace and light of your presence.

Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ,

by dying for us, conquered death

and by rising again, restored life.

May we then go forward eagerly to meet him,

and after our life on earth

be reunited with our brothers and sisters

where every tear will be wiped away.

- from The Pastoral Care of the Sick
 

(Links to prayers and reflections for the month of November)

Subscribe to A Concord Pastor Comments