One of the old wives’ tales is that death always comes in threes. I am not a big believer in superstitions or folk wisdom, necessarily, but there are times when it seems true. This winter has seen the deaths of many saints at St. Stephen’s: Carvel Glenn, Evelyn Franklin, Dave Knoll. Their deaths remind me of the complexity of human life and its fragility.
Death and resurrection are the truths of our common life. As the Prayer Book reminds us in the burial of the dead rite, ‘in the midst of life we are in death.’ Both are real. Life is inherently ambiguous.
There are times when I would love clarity. Death or life. Resurrection or crucifixion. I don’t like this mix and match nature of our humanity. But then I contemplate how sterile our world would be without ambiguity. As Paul says, ” For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of Go.(I Corinthians 1:18). Our faith is is rooted in paradox.
Reverend Lisa Hunt, Rector