Mystery of life, mystery of death

Philippians 3: 10-11

"I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead"

Several years ago, I was on holiday in a small seaside town in Tasmania called Bicheno. It was Sunday and the host of the chalet where I stayed asked me if I wanted to go to church with her. She was a Catholic and she drove me on that Sunday afternoon to a quaint church in that little town. The congregation was only about 25, mostly senior citizens. Yet there was a sense that they were looking forward to meeting God, as they sang heartily and participated in the reading of the Word.

In that year of my life, I was struggling with a significant 'loss'....it had been confirmed that I have a hereditary kidney disease, PKD (with no specific treatment) that will in time mean a loss of kidney function. For me, this was a rude awakening to the uncertainties and frailty of human life. I was brought face to face with a part of life that I have no control over. Of course it is an illusion to even think we have ultimate control over our lives....During the service, I was initially very much caught up in my own thoughts and not fully engaged in what was going on. The NT reading of the day was Mark 10: 35-45. But I can remember the words of the priest to this day...."Can we drink the cup of life...in other words can we embrace the mystery of life and the mystery of death?" In a flash it was clear to me....Jesus asks me to embrace both life and death (the end of life or other sufferings). All this while I had been fighting against the 'loss' as a most unwelcome and meaningless intrusion into my life.

Since then, I have thought further about this. How does the doctrine of the person of Christ really impact our lives? Apart from the salvation won for us, does his life, death and resurrection give meaning to our lives now? The reading from the apostle Paul tells me that he willingly lived his life in the light of both the death and resurrection of Christ. Drinking the cup of life means embracing both the negative and positive dimensions of our lives. Everything about our lives helps us to share either in the sufferings (and death) or resurrection of Christ. The negative dimensions of our lives take on new meaning: our day to day frustrations, our loneliness, our failures and sufferings ...all are ways we share in the death of Christ. The celebratory dimensions of our lives take on new meaning too: our joys, our loved ones, and successes....all are ways of sharing in the resurrection of Christ.

This is truly an authentic way to live the Christian life. Both comforting and challenging.

"Suffering and joy can go together. God can use everything in our lives, even the pain that never goes away. We can learn to 'claim our brokenness'. Poverty, pain, struggle, anguish, agony and even inner darkness may continue to be part of our experience. They may even be God's way of purifying us. But life is no longer boring, resentful and depressing because we have come to know that everything that happens is part of our way to the house of the Father." (Henri Nouwen)