Joys and Sorrows Kiss
Dear Friends,
This week my family is traveling to my mother’s hometown for her burial. It is a bittersweet trip with a family reunion, the celebration of new life, and a final goodbye. Yesterday, my oldest cousin took me aside and shared this short piece by Henri Nouwen. I am passing it along to you as a midweek message, which I imagine many of you will find as meaningful and as timely as I do.
Blessings,
Pastor Jen
Joys and Sorrows Kiss
Henri Nouwen
“When we speak about celebration we tend rather easily to bring to mind happy, pleasant, gay festivities in which we can forget for a while the hardships of life and immerse ourselves in an atmosphere of music, dance, drinks, laughter, and a lot of cozy small talk. But celebration in the Christian sense has very little to do with this. Celebration is only possible through the deep realization that life and death are never found completely separate. Celebration can only really come about where fear and love, joy and sorrow, tears and smiles can exist together. Celebration is the acceptance of life in a constantly increasing awareness of its preciousness. And life is precious not only because it can be seen, touched, and tasted, but also because it will be gone one day. When we celebrate a wedding, we celebrate a union as well as a departure; when we celebrate death we celebrate lost friendship as well as gained liberty. There can be tears after weddings and smiles after funerals. We can indeed make our sorrows, just as much as our joys, a part of our celebration of life in the deep reality that life and death are not opponents but do, in fact, kiss each other at every moment of our existence.”
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