"INTO YOUR HAND"

For some time now I have often thought about death. Not in a morbid, depressing sense but with the realization that death is a greater reality to me than ever before. Both Frances and I have lost our parents and all but one of our 9 brothers and sisters. Also, we have outlived many long-time friends. And, of course, these old bodies of ours ‘ain’t what they used to be.’

At night I have a routine of reading for a while and then, after turning off the light, I often pray a couple of poems. One of them you know quite well. It begins, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want …”, and continues, “though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil, for you are with me.” The other is a modern poem by Jane Kenyon titled, “Let Evening Come,” (Jane Kenyon Collected Poems, St Paul, Graywolf Press, 2005)

Let the light of late afternoon

shine through chinks in the barn, moving

up the bales as the sun moves down.

Let the cricket take up chafing

as a woman takes up her needles

and her yarn. Let evening come.

Let dew collect on the hoe abandoned

in long grass. Let the stars appear

and the moon disclose her silver horn.

Let the fox go back to its sandy den.

Let the wind die down. Let the shed

go black inside. Let evening come.

To the bottle in the ditch, to the scoop

in the oats, to air in the lung

Let evening come.

Let it come, as it will, and don’t

be afraid. God does not leave us

comfortless, so let evening come.

Thinking about this, it occurred to me that Jesus had a poem on his mind in the hour of his death. The poem is Psalm 31. It begins, “In you, O Lord, do I take refuge.” It goes on to say, “You take me out of the net they have hidden for me, for you are my refuge.” And then comes the line he quoted as he hung on the cross: “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” With his dedication to the will of his father and his knowledge of the psalms, He must have prayed this same prayer many times throughout his life.

In doing so, he has given us a model for both living and dying. This is a prayer that all of us can say. Whether young or old, weak or strong, sick or healthy – in any and all circumstances – his prayer can be our prayer.

A few hours before going to the cross Jesus said to his disciples, “this bread is my body,” and “this cup is my blood … do this in remembrance of me.” What better way is there to remember him than to make his prayer our prayer. As we take communion today, we too can pray with him, “Father into your hands I commit my spirit.”