Pray Facing Death – Br. Luke Ditewig

SSJE Sermons

Br. Luke Ditewig

Psalm 139

Today is our monthly requiem in which we remember the dead, the dying, and our mortality.

Psalm 139 says: “Lord, you have searched me out and known me.” Jesus knows everything about us, both what we don’t mind sharing and what we try to hide. Jesus knows our sitting down and rising up, our thoughts, our ways. Jesus knows all the places we’ve gone, all the journeys we’ve taken and where we’ve stopped to rest. God knows all.

But we try to hide. We often shy away from God by denying death, pretending God can’t see or that we don’t need to speak. We like to think “the darkness will cover [us],” but as the psalmist says: “darkness is not dark to you [O God]; the night is as bright as the day; darkness and light to you are both alike.”

God sees all and invites us to risk praying it. What is dark and terrifying for you today? Perhaps it’s the grief of death, someone or something you have lost. Perhaps it’s the grief of dying, someone or something changing, being taken away. Perhaps it’s the grief of mortality, knowing what you hold today will have to be let go. Remember, too, our non-human neighbors who have died and are dying, for those endangered and hurting by our human greed.

Nothing is too heavy or difficult for Jesus. Risk expressing, praying your grief. Nothing is out of God’s sight or reach, certainly not you! Jesus is here with us. Let yourself feel and be seen. Let yourself be shaken and trust yourself to be held. Pray the hard with words such as writing freeform or your writing own psalm. Pray with silence such as coloring, collage, or gazing as light and shadows move. Pray with movement such as literally shaking and clenching, then releasing to stillness. Lean against a wall or lie down feeling your yourself supported and held.

As you pray in the dark, facing death, see the Light. Look to Jesus, the Sun of Righteousness, who has, who is and who will keep rising in triumph, raising us and all of creation to life.