Learning to love the dying

Last updated on: September 14, 2016 at 9:38 am by Brad Roth

Learning to love the dying 2016-09-06T10:22:34-05:00 Brad Roth

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

IMG_3010-001

Shortly after graduating from seminary, I signed up for some unspecified “service” at a church convention in a big city. My assignment came in: go to the Alzheimer’s wing of a local nursing home and hang out with the residents. I had been imagining something with a little more pizazz–maybe playing with a bunch of vivacious and suitably multi-ethnic kids. I could go to the nursing home any day of the week. I wanted something more…life-giving. So I tried to change my assignment. Thankfully, the volunteer coordinator would have none of it. “We can’t change it,” she said. “You’ll just have to go.”

I’m embarrassed about it now. I had a lot to learn: about accepting challenges rather than avoiding them, about caring for people in all stages of life, and especially about learning to love the dying.

I mean dying people, who I loved in theory, but in this case, didn’t love in practice–at least at first. I figured it out with their help after a bit of crafts and halting conversation and singing. Their lives were just as valuable and worthy of my attention as any child’s. But I also mean all that is dying: dying dreams, dying plans, dying churches. Especially dying churches.

Think about this with me. The Church–the Bride of Christ–will never die. We’re good to go for eternity. God is an expert practitioner of resurrection. But local churches die all the time. Good people with good intentions watch as their congregations gray and dust gathers on the cry-room changing table. There’s a bang or a whimper or–if a few people manage to hear the Spirit–a gracious wrap-up.

What then?

I’m convinced that a core Christian virtue is learning to love the dying, including dying congregations. In fact, I think that a lot of the church-hopping that characterizes our contemporary moment has to do with a fear of being associated with death. It’s the same reason we avoid the cemetery and the nursing home. We don’t want death to rub off on us. We don’t want to be associated with decay and defeat. Check out that new church down the road with the smoke machine! They’re so young!

Here’s the thing: our faith in Christ is not that everything will work out, that if we believe the right things, our dreams for congregational resurrection will be fulfilled. We hold onto something a little subtler–and a lot harder. It’s this: that if you follow brokenness all the way down, it will always hit the seam of God’s love.

Previous Post

September 7, 2016

Blessing our first egg

Next Post

September 21, 2016 3 ways the Lord's Prayer changed my life

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month January 2023 November 2022 May 2022 April 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 April 2021 March 2021 December 2020 November 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What Christian group is known for its emphasis on "total depravity"?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Reformed (Calvinists) Orthodox Baptists Methodists

Books by This Author Books by Brad Roth

See All Titles »