Holding on to Hope While We Wait
Luann Budd
My son said it was a sacred moment for him, watching Uncle Brian and me disappear into the little room to place the urn with my parents' cremains in its niche. My brother and I released Mom into the Lord's care. When we walked out, it was a God-moment. The older generation has passed. Brian and I are next in line. I reached out and took my brother’s hand, the first time since we were kids. Bruce Springsteen's version of O When the Saints Go Marching In was playing as I felt the sting of death:
Now some say, some say this world of trouble
Is the only world we'll ever see
But I'm waiting for that morning
When the new world is revealed.
Oh, when the new world is revealed
Oh, when the new world is revealed
Lord, how I want to be there on that morning
When the new world is revealed.
That's my hope for my mom and dad, my deepest desire for my kids and grandkids, for all of us. I want all of us to be there on that morning. But today, we are waiting in this world of trouble. We are waiting through cancer treatments and leukemia diagnoses, strokes and caregiving, waiting through mediation and ice storms, waiting through losses and sorrow, outrage at injustice, waiting and waiting for what's not right to be made right and Jesus to be revealed.
This month, we'll begin the weeks of Lent, learning from Jesus how to wait in the darkness of sin and the sorrow of Gethsemane. We’ll watch as Jesus enters our suffering on the way to the Cross. Jesus' invitation stands: "Come to me." As we wait in this world of trouble, stay close to Jesus. He will keep watch and pray with us until that morning when his new world is revealed.