Resurrection

Today I am grateful for resurrection hope.  We bury and have the service for our dear brother Ron Cummings today.  I am so glad for the hope we have in our baptism of dying with Christ and being raised again.  That Ron believed this.  That one of his last projects was in memorizing the Nicene Creed and learning about the difference between it and the Apostle's Creed. 

I am so glad we all have the hope of being raised with Christ.  That death is not the final word for any of us.  That we face death with hope.  We sang "What wondrous love is this" at the clergy retreat just a few weeks ago.  One week before Ron died.  As we sang the last verse "...and when from death I'm free, I'll sing on I'll sing on, and when from death I'm free, I'll sing on.  And when from death I'm free, I'll sing and joyful be and through eternity I'll sing on, I'll sing on and through eternity I'll sing on."  I thought how fitting.  Because Ron is free from the pain of these last few weeks, free from everything that made him sick, free from all the questions of this life.  He's free and singing!