Rejoicing and Mourning

"Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. " Romans 12:15

This past Saturday I attend the wedding of a friend and the next day I was at a memorial service for a very young member of IAC.

One day I was celebrating and the next I was weeping. As I went from place to place through the weekend I thought about this verse in Romans with it’s call to rejoice and it’s call to mourn. I was also struck by the extraordinary nature of the stories of the people I was celebrating and mourning. Neither of these two lives have unfolded in an ordinary way.

My friend Jan has always wanted to be married but has had to live a much longer span of her life single than she ever bargained for. As I have know her through the years real possibilities have come and then suddenly disappeared. But she has always remained open to her desire even while it hurt or even made no sense to keep doing so. And in the midst of her own suffering she has been a warrior and a face of hope to many who needed it. Saturday was finally the fulfillment of her long held hope.

The story of how she has waited made her wedding all the more joyfully.

Omaru, was one of the most loving and tender hearted boy's I've ever seen. I spent an afternoon with him several months ago. Mary Ellen and I took him, his youngest brother and some neighbor boys to the park. I watched him be with them like a father would. He was still playful and adventurous as a 15 year old should be, but tender and aware at the same time. When he saw another kid on the play ground who was needing help he didn’t look around to see who was minding him but just went to the child and helped. A woman who was standing near me watched as Omaru did this, she turned to me and remarked, “what a tender hearted boy, he’s really special.” His glory was so apparent.

The shortness of his radiant life makes the mourning so much deeper.

I was thankful for this command to rejoice with those who rejoice and to mourn with those who mourn. I wanted to be all there for my friends joy and all there for Omarus family in their loss. I was thankful for this lamp post that says the rejoicing doesn’t ignore the weeping and the weeping doesn’t overcome the rejoicing. You can freely enter, you can let your heart be alive to your condition all the way and you will not be consumed. Thanks be to God.