“This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24).
My family and I thank all of you who shared expressions of sympathy upon our Mother’s home-going. Her visitation and funeral service were a real-life demonstration that when death comes into a family that has lived and breathed Christian faith, we “do not grieve as others do who have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13). How do some people dismiss Christianity as not relevant to life?
“This is the day…” was my mom’s favorite verse. Pastor Stephen Starke spoke insightfully about the verse in his sermon. Many know Pastor Starke as a prolific writer of hymn texts. Mom knew him as Vicar Starke from his internship at St. Paul’s, Chicago Heights, over 40 years ago, and they kept in touch through the years. As you read the quotation, notice all the reasons TODAY is a gift from God to you. Because of the “grace God continues to daily pour out upon us, because of the rock-hard strength of God’s Word with its many precious promises to us, and because of the sure comfort of the Comforter who continues to call us by the Gospel, gather us together as God’s people, who enlightens us with His gifts, who sanctifies us in Christ and keeps each of us in the faith each day, because of ALL this, we say with great gusto and firm faith and give our ‘amen’ of agreement to the words of Norma’s favorite verse… “This is the day that the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it.”
Bible verses call us to act. One of the places she displayed that verse was over the kitchen sink, not a glamorous spot but a place of routine, and when you’re doing something routine, you’re free to fret and worry. As a kid, I remember her singing as she was working at the sink, “O du froehliche,” “O how joyfully…Christmas comes with its grace divine.” Whatever this day may bring, it is first and foremost a day of grace that God has given us. “Let us rejoice and be glad in it.”