Dad, age 91, died in 2012. He set a longevity record for Bostroms.
A few years before Dad’s death, his visit to Helena included our touring grand Helena Cathedral. The builders, using as a model the Votive Church of the Sacred Heart, Vienna, Austria, began construction in 1908. Services commenced November, 1914. In 1921, Dad began.
Those of you who have visited Helena Cathedral know there is a lot to see. The stained-glass windows begin with Genesis 3:15, the “protoevangelium” – “God’s first announcement of the Gospel.” To a universe newly wrecked by sin, God foretold the serpent’s destiny. The serpent would strike the heel of the Seed of the woman and that Seed would crush the serpent’s head.
Friend, the protoevangelium gives a multi-millennial trailer for those who trust God before and after Jesus’ hard-won triumph on the cross.
Eventually, Dad and I arrived at Joseph’s chapel. The first window shows the angel divulging to Joseph: “Do not fear taking pregnant Mary as your wife.” The second features Joseph and Mary fleeing with baby Jesus into Egypt, escaping Herod’s wrath. The third highlights young Jesus helping Joseph in the carpenter shop. But, I especially wanted Dad to see the final window. There the young man, Jesus, is standing beside Joseph’s bed. Apparently, Joseph is dead.
Reader, what Scripture would you use to caption that poignant scene?
Psalm 116
Some wise artist or Biblically knowledgeable consultant suggested: Psalm 116:15 “Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.” Perfect.
As a young pastor, Psalm 116:15 helped me as I sought to comfort the grieving. It provided a window into God’s sometimes inscrutable providence in death.
The Hebrew word translated “precious” can be translated as: “costly, precious, matchless, splendid.” Twenty times of the 35x it is used in the Old Testament, it describes costly stones – rare jewels. What an analogy!
Despite appearances, the anonymous psalmist wants us to know the deaths of those who belong to God are not haphazard or meaningless. In a world where we see too much wickedness and injustice, we are called to trust God. God sets our final value. What mystery!
Somehow, before the great clarifying act of God’s love on the cross, this psalmist wrote: 116:10 “I ‘believed,’ even when I spoke: ‘I am greatly afflicted’; 11I said in my alarm, ‘All mankind are liars.’” This is overcoming faith!
Earlier, when faced with his own death, he had written: 1 “I love the LORD, because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy. 2Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live. 3The snares of death encompassed me; the pangs of ‘Sheol’ (the “grave” or “hell”) laid hold on me; I suffered distress and anguish. 4Then I called on the name of the LORD: ‘O LORD, I pray, deliver my soul!’”
“Precious…” is the result of the Holy Spirit teaching the psalmist – filling him with hope – as the singer meditated upon his own death.
Dad also believed the love of God is triumphant, even over imposter death.
More Comfort
Reader, here’s another story, this from the days of my NC ministry, 1988-2006.
During his 40’s, church member Bob’s physical distress necessitated a liver transplant which, ultimately, failed. During college years, who would have guessed this star quarterback, top student, and dedicated follower of Christ would face such combat?
Entering Bob’s dimly lit hospital room, his wife told me death drew near. Bob hadn’t said anything for some time.
I quoted Scriptures about hope in Christ. I prayed. Then, I pulled from my pocket Archibald Rutledge’s (1883-1973) slim volume, “Life’s Extras.”
“Once, I had a curious experience with a star.”
“I was driving home, in motorless days, when I was overtaken at dusk by a storm of hurricane violence. Inky darkness shrouded the world. I could not see the road ahead or behind. Thunder and lightning were appalling. Finally, a bolt struck a pine not twenty feet from my buggy. My horse had stood a good deal from this storm; but, now he made a sudden dash. He broke away through the forest. I could not hold him. In a moment, he had run between two pines standing close together, smashed the buggy and torn loose. Into the howling darkness he vanished.”
Listening to the master story teller’s tale, the room quieted. Even Bob, somehow, seemed attentive.
“The rain came down as if to make a joke of the Flood. Thunder blared. Lightning became most uncomfortably intimate and intrusive. Near me, great trees went crashing down in the fury of the tempest. Alone, I was defenseless in profound darkness.”
“Through the heavy arras of rain, to my amazement, I saw a little rift in the storm-rack, hardly bigger than my hand, in the very heart of which the evening star gleamed in dewy-silver solitude. In all the stillness of felicity, it shone serenely, saying to my heart: ‘This storm is an imposter. It is momentary. The sky is here, and the stars; all shall be well.’’
I looked up and saw Bob, eyes closed, give a glimmer of a smile.
“Amid all the desolation about me came a celestial message. Shining through the storm-rack, its light reminded me of something past our world. Taking heart, I waded out to the road, found my horse, rode homeward through the breaking storm, reaching the house in full, calm starlight.
Stars fill me with a sense of God; the heart cannot help being grateful when it remembers that the beauty and the wonder of them may be accounted things not to enable us to exist, but gifts of love to make us joyous” (41-44).
Bob quietly whispered: “Thank you, pastor.” His words still ring in my heart.
Not much later, Bob died, in Christ.
Christian, let’s see past perturbing predicaments. Let’s trust God, the star-maker who sent Jesus for us. In him, “All shall be well.” Even in hard times, God brings comfort.
Note: 1 Reader, if you visit Joseph’s Chapel, you will see, high up in the window depicting Joseph’s death, a miniature of Cain and Abel just after Cain killed Abel. Apparently, the artist wants us to ask: “Was even Abel’s death by his own brother ‘precious’ to God?”
Note 2: The day before Dad died, he too was in bed. He whispered: “Steve, read Romans 8 to me.” As a college student, this passage convinced Dad of the Gospel. “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” After hearing this stellar passage again, Dad almost inaudibly whispered: “Wow!”
Note 3: In 1928, times were hard. For $50, Rutledge sold the copyright to his popular book, “Life’s Extras!” So, although Henry Ford gave each of his 25,000 employees a copy, someone else profited.
Note 4: Stonewall Jackson: “Captain, my religious belief teaches me to feel as safe in battle as in bed. God has fixed the time for my death. I do not concern myself about that, but to be always ready, no matter when it may overtake me. Captain, that is the way all men should live, and then all would be equally brave.”
