Ode to Claire -- article # 4
Sept., 30, 2006
For Claire
Death and life --- inescapable and seemingly profoundly at odds with one another. For many, it makes little sense to be born, to grow and learn , to be excited about life and then die.
Opposing realities (death and life) that are thoroughly reconciled in Christ. And where we cannot always speak of the solution, explain that solution to others or put into print its theology, we who are partnered with Christ can have the assurance that as these two realities race against each other -- life and death, we who stand at their intersection will not be destroyed because, Christ, at the last minute, in His perfect time, swallows up death in life and we are saved !! As failing man, we find ourselves positioned “in the gap,” at this intersection. On each side, racing against the other, are these opposing forces. But Christ, on the cross, has placed Himself at that intersection. We now stand in the gap, at the very moment of destruction, in (eis) Him, and we are saved.
Col 1:19-23 tells us that all things have been reconciled in Him, unto Himself, in the body of his flesh, at His death. All that seems to conflict, life and death, faith and reason, sin and obedience, law and love – all these things and more, have been fully reconciled in Christ.
We are saved, in Him, not because the contradictions, these opposing forces, cease to exist, but because He has woven death into the fabric of life and in so doing has taken away its sting and its victory. Death has been swallowed up in victory. We continue to experience it but, in Christ, death is reconciled to life and life is made the richer for it !! And that works for every single person in this building, believer and unbeliever alike.
Claire Wilken lived only six months. We can get lost at the intersection of her life and death or we can admit to the reconciliation of those two opposing realities and be better served in life than if Claire had never been born. Claire’s death proclaims both the immediacy and the terminal nature of this life. It is not death that is immediate, it is life because we are living it. Because of Claire Wilken, we are gathered together reaching out in tender compassion to Jesse and Nancy. For a moment in time, the distinction that is "believer and unbeliever" is gone. Because of Claire, we , today, all of us, experience in community the sadness and the continuing hope of this wonderful couple. Because of Claire, we can leave this service today with a renewed motivation to love the unlovable that exists in the lives of all those for whom we care. Because of Claire Wilken, many of us will leave this building with a renewed vigor for life and the expression of love
Claire Wilken’s life is resolved in Christ. And the purpose of her life, because of this time and this gathering, the purpose of that little six month old life is profound. If this service does not deepen our resolve to minister, to love, to share, to reach out to others, to move closer to God in Christ, to finish the work that must be done – whatever that might mean to you, to bring husbands and wives and parents and children, brothers and sisters closer together, if it does none of these things,< style="mso-spacerun: yes"> then I am only a fat man talking to a house of fools.
It is in death that life is proclaimed and even renewed. Imagine, if you will, this world just as it is, in this present economy, after the fall, full of suffering and disappointment but without death. Our world without death. Where, in that world, is there room for God? There is no escape, as it were, without death. We are here and God is there without death. Man is given opportunity to transcend this world of tragedy in the function of death. A world without death would be even more a curse. And so I say, it is in death that life is proclaimed and even renewed. And that is why death was the chosen vehicle for Christ’s redemption of this world. Yes !! Why didn’t Christ just issue a proclamation that absolved us all of our failings? He could have done that but He didn’t. Because that wouldn’t have gotten the job done. There is no lasting effect in the mere shouting out of words. But when the Word is offered up in death -- the effects are forever. He chose death, reconciling it to a resurrected life. And the power of life lived, if even for a few days, is a profound statement for change and heightened resolve. Claire has given our family a closer walk and has joined the Wilkens and Fernandes and Smithsons and Housemans and Helms in a bond that is of deeper value than before Claire was born. In the midst of the tears, and many more will be shed, we need to surrender to a deeply felt appreciation of life as Claire Wilken, laying silently at our side, proclaims the need t o live life in the most expressive of terms.
We can turn our sadness inward and lose sight of the connection we have with those around us or we can admit to the purpose of her life and ours and live for one another. We can choose life and love and community and caring and living for something other than ourselves and own material lusts. And if that demands a change, then make the change. If that means asking someone for help or offering help to someone in need, then get after it. Do not leave this building with an unspoken resolve because it is that response that robs Claire of the purpose for her life. I know that I am a better granddad, a better hu sband, a better father and a better person than before Claire was born . She is forever the 12th grandchild in our family and the lesson of her life will live with us forever.