Ecclesiastes 3.1-4
There is an appointed time for everything.
And there is a time for every event under heaven –
A time to give birth and a time to die;
A time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted.
A time to kill and a time to heal;
A time to tear down and a time to build up.
A time to weep and a time to laugh;
A time to mourn and a time to dance.
There’s life in a nutshell. It really doesn’t get any simpler than that. Maybe this is the kind of material that gives us the best evidence that Solomon really was the wisest man in the world. He didn’t complicate anything; He just said it like it is.
This verse, which was put to music by ‘The Byrds’ in their song, ‘Turn, Turn, Turn’, seems to be the text for what our tribe, Orlando North Community Church, is currently living out in parable form.
As I type this blog a beautiful couple in our church, Christian and Lorie Coka, are meeting their first child, Colin, for the very first time as he’s making his entrance into this world. It’s a beautiful thing that we are all celebrating alongside them. A matter of fact, I can’t wait to meet Baby Colin and experience that new life.
It’s a time to laugh and dance.
Flip the page and our tribe is also experiencing great loss. On Sunday morning another beautiful couple in our tribe, Adam and Amanda Goldman, lost the baby she was carrying and were absolutely crushed.
Another family in our church is also experiencing loss. Gina Garcia and Matthew Williams are hurting as Matt’s brother-in-law, Jeff Morris, who was only forty-five-years old passed away yesterday following a heart attack. Jeff was the father of a seventeen and thirteen-year-old.
It’s a time to weep and mourn.
All around us there is life and there is death. It’s beautiful and it hurts. It’s a living, breathing oxymoron.
It’s the beauty and the hurt of relationships. As I posted on Facebook last week and said on Sunday – If we wish to enjoy the beauty of relationships we must risk the tragedy of loss. Relationships are beautiful because they are risky. With them we risk incredible pain. Without them we are certain of emptiness and solitude.
As the Goldmans and Matt’s family are mourning we mourn with them because of our relationship with them. They mean something to us.
As the Cokas are celebrating the life of their new son we celebrate and dance with them because of our relationship with them. They mean something to us.
We do not compare the two as one is just and one is unjust. We look at all the circumstances and simply respond accordingly. We love. We embrace. We support and we pray. Because life and relationships can be both exciting and tough. The ebb and flow of life can catch us off guard, but we are called to experience and feel deeply every moment of it – the good and the bad – together.
Church is not about a Sunday morning performance. Church is the love and support of brothers and sisters in Christ celebrating and grieving together. It’s experiencing these ebbs and flows together. It’s coming together as a family to worship on Sundays because it’s like communion in that we remember who’s holding us together in all seasons.
To all who are grieving, including the Goldmans and Matt’s family – we mourn with you.
To all who are celebrating, including the Cokas – we dance with you.
To Jesus – we trust you and put our hope in you.
