for the money—always performed in and for the public. So I’d feel apologetic when I stole time to write from my public contracts. Moreover (my Teutonic heritage?), to sit and do nothing made me anxious. Don’t waste time: produce. So it would aggravate me to come upon some knot in a novel. But now time, rather than dimin- ishing, has grown expansive. I can solve problems as slowly and as fully as I please. A problem is not a drudge. Its solution is discovery, which discovery tastes as good as corn grown and plucked and shucked and eaten. How fortunate I am that my disease is lingering and that death comes a-creeping. A quick death would cancel this next blessing: slow time grants me the opportunity to realize a quality of my faith I had not known before. “Quality”—not necessarily its “strength.” Believing is trust. Believing is a relationship whose weave is too complex to be calculated by “strength” alone. And I confess that I don’t alto-
gether understand what “strength of faith” means in various mouths. Maybe it wants to reduce death to one thing alone: an enemy to be battled and conquered. Yes, many a believer may rest in the arms of a present Savior. On the other hand, one’s faith may exist and may sus- tain him even when (especially when?) there isn’t a scrap of evi- dence that God exists at all. There: even under such conditions as that, the quality of the dying Christian’s faith is revealed. And here’s a further blessing
granted by the length of my dying: I’m given the opportunity to act as a witness to Christ and his dying, to Christ and his rising again. When death is imminent; when the cause of it is already busy in one’s body (or when the cause has been initiated
by powers political or prejudicial, condemning the believer to death); and when one becomes aware of the cause and the imminence—from that point until the end, the dying itself may be a witness.
Who can count the ways by which the faithful manifest the radi- cal reversals effected by Jesus’ death on the cross? Many and many and more than I can know. But one way has been clear and certain ever since the apostles lived and preached: it is how they died. It is how we die. So significant were the martyrs (those who made a “witness” by the way they died) that stories were recorded of them and their memories marked by days of the year. But one needn’t die a violent
death to be a witness. No matter the cause, it’s how we each live our own particular dyings that manifests faith and the signs of Christ. Before a thousand cures were R-and-D’d
and before the presumptions that lives need not die, the devout spent as much attention on Holy Dying as they did on Holy Living. We needn’t reach all the way back to the early church to find Christians preparing to make a holy witness by the ways they die. What was, is.
One more thought: our witness to and of the crucified Christ need not be made in public. It is the “how” that reveals faith, not an audience to measure it. However private (in the company of a few who love us?) it nonetheless remains a spiritual event and thereby can infuse the world. Already once, when my can- cer was first diagnosed, I had the opportunity to discover the quality of my faith. It was a dear revelation and altogether a gift—both to have and to know such faith. But I like Lazarus am granted a second go at it. There: that’s a blessing worth grin- ning about. M
Beauty. Friends. Happiness. Security. All right here in your new backyard.
It’s just amazing how many wonderful things can come your way when you make the move to Trinity Oaks. Like a spacious, maintenance-free cottage in a neighborhood so naturally beautiful, you hate
to leave it. And then there’s all of the new friendships you’ll make. Not to mention the delicious meals, state of the art fitness center, and indoor pool. And, most importantly, peace of mind. Join us for a visit and lunch soon. To learn more, call (704) 633-1002 or (800) 610-0783.
728 Klumac Road | Salisbury, NC 28144 |
trinityoaks.net December 2011 31
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52