Theologically speaking, we all know that today, the Saturday between the Cross and the Resurrection, is the longest day of the year.*
And, it pictures where we are in life. While we have a certain and fixed hope, we still wait for the return of Christ.
Nowhere is this felt more keenly than in the nursing home. I went to two different nursing homes today. The first lady I prayed with is near the end. This will most likely be her final Saturday before Easter. I read to her both the account of the crucifixion and the resurrection from Matthew’s Gospel.
But, my final visit was to a dear lady in our church who is still thinking clearly, and so wrestling with waiting in a nursing home. She tried to be positive; she told me they had a blessed Good Friday service and that the preaching was her favorite part.
She then confessed to me that she has been reading the Catholic devotional aloud to the Catholics. She said, “Pastor, they don’t have anyone who is up to reading right now, so I read it to them.” I gave her absolution for this (in a Protestant sort of way) and told her it is okay.
Still, this dear sister is very tired of being in the nursing home. I said to her, “It’s so much like waiting for Christmas when you’re young. It seems as though it will never get here. But, very soon, the resurrection will be here, and the dead in Christ will rise, and so we can be comforted with these words (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
).”
Is there someone who won’t be able to get out for Easter this year that you could encourage? Even tomorrow, it’s still Saturday in the nursing home.
*Repeated from 2010.
Oh Chris…thank you for this wonderful meditation. My mother had Alzheimers for 10 years. I looked after her care from assisted living to a nursing home. I was there for her as often as I could be with four young children at the time. There were so many lonely souls and it was a long Saturday for them. Some folks had children who had placed them there but never came to see them. It made me weep inside. As the Body of Christ, we need to remember these folks and lift them up.
On another note, I started writing meditations myself for those who had polio. I am a polio survivor and many of these folks cannot get out of their homes. I am fully mobile so I decided I would write to encourage them since they could not be in church. We all need to find ways to serve those in need using our gifts and talents as the Lord leads. Thank you as always for sharing the truth in love.
Dear Chris,
The flip side of this issue…We brought my 90-year-old father who has Parkinson’s out of a nursing home because they couldn’t keep up with his care anymore. There’s more to the story of why he was even in a nursing home, but for now, God had a glorious plan for my dad. He has been writing books since he has been home, and our whole family has been blessed from the interaction with him and caring for him. The only thing is, we have been taking care of him out of two different houses for 16 months. I am exhausted. I didn’t even want to go to Easter service tomorrow, but I am going to try! Thank you for your encouragement. The need is so great to minister to our parent’s generation.
Jill, thanks for sharing your experience. I learn from listening to experiences like yours. It reminds me of when my grandmother had Alzheimers (sp?) a number of years ago. There just wasn’t any easy solution to helping her with that awful disease. I agree that the need is great to minister to our parent’s generation.