A Hospice for Sinners
One
of my pastor friends posted a picture of the old sign that was in front of the
church he is serving. They were getting ready to celebrate their 125th anniversary
and had just got the lights on the sign working after many years. Some thoughtlessly
commented on the condition of the sign. “It’s your 125th
anniversary, shouldn’t you get a nicer looking sign?” they asked, somehow
forgetting that they might be offending someone. Maybe this sign was the best
the congregation could afford. Maybe there was sentimental value. I was more
struck by the message on the sign than anything else: “A hospice for sinners.” What
a wonderful motto for a church!
Oh,
I know, when we think of the word “hospice” it conjures up unpleasant thoughts
and emotions: sickness, death, sadness, grief, mourning, just to name a few. But
what is the purpose of the hospice? It offers palliative care (comfort) to
patients whose medical condition is determined to be terminal and for whom no
further medical treatments offer hope for a cure or relief. It offers a time
for family to gather so that they might spend the last days and hours of a
loved one’s life on earth together, remembering good times, forgiving old hurts,
and telling each other we love them one more time. For Christians, it is a time
to reaffirm our faith in Jesus Christ and hold one another up in prayer.
Isn’t
hospice care an apt picture of the Church and our work here on earth? We are
all born with a terminal illness that leads to death: original sin. The wages
of sin is death. None of us, unless the Lord returns before, will escape death.
But as we gather with our fellow Christians, our brothers and sister in the
faith, we are giving and receiving palliative care. Christ our Lord is speaking
His Word, baptizing us into His death and resurrection, feeding us with His
body and blood. We are encouraging one another in the faith, lifting one
another in prayer. We are praying for and looking for a peaceful death, a
release from this vale of tears and the shadow of death into the presence of
the Lord. And we mourn and grieve, but we do not mourn and grieve as the world
does. For we have a hope that goes beyond this world and life. Physical death
is not the end. Christ is the firstfruits of the resurrection. We have been
baptized into Christ’s death and resurrection. Just as Jesus rose again from
the grave three days after giving Himself into death on the cross, we trust in
Him for the resurrection of our own bodies and souls unto eternal life.
Perhaps
we would each do well to think of our congregation as “A hospice for sinners.”
Comments