[Daily Scripture] Daily Scripture Email – Devotion - Monday, 30
December 2013 – SCRIPTURE: And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
“See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them as their God;
they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe every
tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will
be no more, for the first things have passed away. And the one who was seated on the throne
said, “See, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this, for these
words are trustworthy and true.”(Revelation 21:3-5)
This semester I have been working as a chaplain in the hospital.
This has meant that on a weekly basis I meet people who are sick, dying, and
grieving. I sit with them in the emptiness, the darkness, and the pain.
Sometimes we cry, other times we laugh. Often we just sit in silence as the
reality of their suffering removes the words from our mouths.
Over these past few months, as I have experienced more death and
trauma than ever before in my life, I have begun to notice something I had
previously missed - hope. In the midst
of such suffering, God’s presence and grace is all too often obscured, but
never absent. While we may miss it in the moment, the tears shed over a life
ended are testimonies to the fact that a time is coming when “God will wipe
every tear from our eyes, Death will be no more... for the first things have
passed away (Revelation 21:4). We live in the age of cancer and car accidents.
A time of empty chairs at the table, and painful memories of those no longer
present.
These are the realities we experience during the holidays and
everyday, but the wonder is that underneath the pain, God is making all things
new. In an unsanitary stable in Bethlehem, Mary gave birth to the world’s hope
with the full pain of childbirth. On the
cross, that baby’s pain and death broke the power of Death and, with His
resurrection, inaugurated the time for which we
continue to wait.
PRAYER: God love, we thank you that you are never closer than in
the midst of our pain. In this season of waiting and expectation, comfort those
who are missing loved ones and help us all to look forward with eagerness to
the time when you make all things new. AMEN.
Drew Weseman
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Trinity United Methodist Church
4000 NW 53rd Avenue
Gainesville, FL 32653 United States
(352)376-6615
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