One of the many things I miss about Mom was her hugs. It was one of her ways to show us unconditional love. Of course, there were times when we kids tested the limits of her love, many times. Out late one Saturday night, she roused me the next morning. “I don’t care how tired you are, you’re going to church!” As Americans remember our mothers, we followers of Jesus have something more than memory. We’re looking forward. We shall again hug those we love.
Christianity was born into a society that did not believe in bodily resurrection. There’s a touching scene, to us Christians a sad scene, in Homer’s epic poem, the Odyssey. One of the adventures of Odysseus was descending to Hades, the place of the dead. There he saw and spoke with the ghost of his mother. Naturally, he was “longing to embrace her and tried three times, putting my arms around her, but she went sifting through my hands, impalpable as shadows are, and wavering like a dream. Now this embittered all the pain I bore, and I cried in the darkness; ‘O my mother, will you not stay, be still, here in my arms, may we not, in this place of Death, as well, hold one another, touch with love?’” (Odyssey, IX)
“If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.” “The dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality” (1 Corinthians 15:19, 52-53). “We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep… and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-14, 17-18).
“O Christ, do Thou my soul prepare / For that bright home of love
That I may see Thee and adore / With all Thy saints above.”
(Lutheran Service Book, 673:6)