I did my first funeral ‘under lockdown’ last week.
As you might surmise, the trauma of losing a loved one was only exacerbated by the Covid-19 trauma.
The dozens of friends and family members who would have come to comfort one another - were now limited to 10.
And those 10, who could have used the comfort of many more, went without.
And loved ones that perhaps would have cried under ordinary circumstances, now wailed.
And when it was my turn to preside over that emotionally-charged gathering, the only message that came, perhaps the only message that mattered was that of hope.
And not a human hope based on promises from politicians, doctors, or the people or systems we’ve grown to trust.
For, as this virus has forced us to wear masks, it has also unmasked our false hopes: those hopes are rooted in created things, not the Creator.
Friends, God is with us.
The Spirit is in us.
Jesus is inviting us to take him up on his promises that he will never leave us - and has even gone ahead of us to provide for us.
This pandemic, this lockdown, and this uncertainty around it all has many off our lives as emotionally-charged as that funeral.
We are all mourning, we are all wailing, we are all flummoxed over what the future might bring.
And into our midst comes God - urging us to let go, look up, and receive the hope on offer.
Friends, hope is here because God is near.
As we trust in God’s promises, we will endure, we will fight on, we will come through this thing with a new kind of shine-
Not because of what we’ve done - but because of what God’s doing - in our midst - in your heart and in mine - as we reach out - and grab hold of that hope we have in Jesus.
