Morning Devotion for the Season after Pentecost
July 8, 2022
Invitatory
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.
Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness: Come let us adore him.
Reading: Psalm 16:5-11
O Lord, you are my portion and my cup; *
it is you who uphold my lot.
My boundaries enclose a pleasant land; *
indeed, I have a goodly heritage.
I will bless the Lord who gives me counsel; *
my heart teaches me, night after night.
I have set the Lord always before me; *
because he is at my right hand I shall not fall.
My heart, therefore, is glad, and my spirit rejoices; *
my body also shall rest in hope.
For you will not abandon me to the grave, *
nor let your holy one see the Pit.
You will show me the path of life; *
in your presence there is fullness of joy,
and in your right hand are pleasures for evermore.
Meditation – Peter Vanderveen
I have recited these words from Psalm 16 more times than I can count. The latter verses are said during the Committal after Burial services. They are spoken as people are gathered around a casket suspended above a dug grave or just before family members kneel on the ground to place an urn of ashes an arm’s length below the lawn.
Burial services consist, primarily, of memories. People speak of the persons they knew and of lives that had distinct spans. And whether or not anyone speaking has a deep or orthodox faith, eulogists will imply that, at very least, those they are remembering have a continued existence in a meaningful way. They remain who they were. Death has merely ushered them into another, even better realm, where the things that they had enjoyed most in their allotted time are now available to them with infinite profusion. That’s a lot of golf or backgammon or gardening; which, so projected, makes grief seem anachronistic.
Memories are not as present at the Committal. Bodies take precedence. Bodies sealed up in boxes. Everything is physically determined: carrying remains (shorthand for all that is left of someone) to the burial site; lowering them into the grave; and, ultimately, walking away and leaving these remnants behind. There’s no escaping the fact that this is our recognition of an ending. The dead are completely inert. A committal is a rare moment of unquestioned truth, without ambiguity. I’ve stood at graves in churchyards and cemeteries resisting the biting cold or feeling mud wash over my shoes from heavy rainfall or listening to birds sing on bright, sunny mornings and, in spite of all the variations, there’s always a firm and unavoidable sameness to committals: earth to earth.
And it’s in this context that we dare to speak contrary words. The Psalmist trusted that God would not allow harm to come to him; he would not be abandoned to the grave; his life would be spared. We have the audacity to put the Psalmist’s words to use in a different sense, as our claim is that God will not abandon us at the grave. We posit our words against all that seems irremediably real, right there and then. They declare something greater than everything that we cannot change.
“My heart, therefore, is glad, and my spirit rejoices; my body also shall rest in hope.” Over and over I have set these statements directly against the physical witness we cannot avoid. There’s such a beautiful boldness in this speaking because it refuses to refuse a future to the dead – to the dead. I’ve never not marveled at this. I’ve marveled that God has given us this promise, and I’ve marveled that we’ve been given the ability as creatures to pronounce this promise and, thus, can live accordingly. In this way we demonstrably bear the image of God.
The Lord's Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy Name,
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those
who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.
