Body and Soul, Both in Life and in Death
This past week has been one of historic disruption and trauma, laying bare before the watching world the darkest undercurrents of American civic life. I have taught survey courses in American history and American government to undergraduate students for years but never imagined we would see the disgraceful footage we saw within the Capitol on Wednesday. I will leave it to others more capable than I to provide a thoughtful and honest assessment of what has brought us to this moment. There will be competing interpretations, I am sure. But what is clear is that this display, and the forces and personalities that brought us to this point, have engendered revulsion within the American people. This is not who we are. Even more pointedly, we pray it is not who we are, nor who we will become as a nation.
But in my little world, the most urgent crisis was not in Washington, DC. It was on the other side of the country, in Escondido, California. I received word on Tuesday that my father was going to the emergency room for likely surgery on his brain. Suddenly, the agenda for the day went out the window and I was booking a flight for later that evening. I was certain I needed to be there, but was very much aware of the unknowns of what awaited.
Thanks be to God, the surgery went well and my father is now at home. My mother had been unable to be with him due to COVID protocols. I can assure you that COVID is stressing the healthcare system in California in ways that are troubling. But it has made me all the more grateful for the heroic doctors, nurses, and caregivers who are putting in extra shifts and serving with extraordinary skill, compassion, and joy. They were a regular demonstration of God’s grace to my father and to our family, even if via videoconferencing. And through it all, we were mindful of the many friends, colleagues, and loved ones who were praying for my father. When there is literally nothing you can do to give immediate care for those you most love, the prayers of other Christians become a particularly meaningful gift.
In all of this, the first question of the Heidelberg Catechism has come to mind.
Question: What is your only comfort in life and death?
Answer: That I am not my own, but belong with body and soul, both in life and in death, to my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ. He has fully paid for all my sins with His precious blood, and has set me free from all the power of the devil. He also preserves me in such a way that without the will of my heavenly Father not a hair can fall from my head; indeed, all things must work together for my salvation. Therefore, by His Holy Spirit He also assures me of eternal life and makes me heartily willing and ready from now on to live for Him.
Surely this is one of the richest expressions of historic Christianity’s confidence in God’s sovereign care for His people. It is a beautiful summary of biblical teaching. But it also lands in a particularly blessed way in moments of suffering, uncertainty, and destabilization. We feel it in our families, in our communities, in our churches, and in our nation.
None of us know what tomorrow will bring. We will stumble our way through life, making more mistakes than we can count and regularly needing to confess and apologize. We are frail creatures formed of dust, after all. So what a marvel it is that the Creator would so love us, so care for us, that we could be assured of his unfailing mercy and provision.
Whether in an operating room or in our nation’s capital, Christians can rest in the Lord. That is no call to cultural retreat or to a passive fatalism. But it does call us to a better way than that of the world. We are liberated from the perpetual handwringing of life and freed from the idolatry of political warfare. And we give thanks for a gracious Heavenly Father who uses neurosurgeons and nurses as instruments in His all-powerful hands.
“All things must work together for my salvation.” That’s quite a bold statement. That means, dear Christian, that everything that has transpired this week in your life is sovereignly superintended for your eternal joy in God. As a week like this one draws closer to its conclusion, surely that is a reminder we all need for the days to come.
