The dedication of a child is one of the unambiguously positive statements the church makes about children. As a minister few services give me more pleasure and reason for spiritual affirmation than holding a baby who represents the love of the parents embodied in a life, and now offered in gratitude and hopefulness, while a congregation sings the Aaronic blessing, the Lord bless thee and keep thee.
This weekend has been one of the saddest of my life. A young man who was killed in a tragic accident while doing his job, two days ago, was one such child, the focus of a church’s prayers and his parents gratitude, over 20 years ago. He was growing into all they had hoped – not perfect, and all the better for that. And he had such exciting plans for the next stage of his life training as a teacher. He would have been a brilliant acquisition for the teaching profession.
His entire family are desolate – and for now, no words describe, explain or anaesthetise their anguish. Ministry begins in the silence of shared grief. Pastoral support becomes the unspoken agreement that some questions are unanswerable but have to be asked. Now and again it’s important to encourage brave gestures of remembering, holding on to the reality and permanent importance of their now absent son, brother, grandson and nephew.
Somehow, the unbearable must be borne, and in the strength of the One who was also asked, "My God, why have you forsaken me"?
And we all know the Easter outcome of that.
But right now feels like Easter Saturday.
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