Dear Church Family,
This past Tuesday 7-year-old Jackson Bauer made his transition. We have held Jackson in prayer for 2 months with his grandma, Collette. He entered the hospital, about the time we were beginning to shelter in place, to receive
treatments for a rare blood disease. While we are contracting our lives as we took shelter in place to ride out this wave of Covid, Jackson's family was expanding their world with hundreds, if not thousands of people joined in prayer for this little boy's healing. Their world expanded as a Go Fund Me was established and initially raised over $10,000 to help pay for the expenses incurred. Their world expanded as the local Latter-Day Saints (a church they were not affiliated with) brought prepared foods to nourish their family these many weeks. Their world expanded as specialists across the country were brought in to confer on the care and treatment of Jackson.
We do not imagine a world where this can happen - the suffering of a child, the anguish of his parents and family, the sadness of a community. And when it does, we are frightened. Sometimes we react with shock and anger, it rattles our understanding of God and how life is supposed to be. Sometimes we question God. Especially the image of God projected in the Bible that deemed good and evil. How could God allow this to happen?
I will not pretend to smooth these human emotions and reactions with a few comforting words. I believe what I teach. We are spiritual beings having a human experience. Yet our human understanding of spirit is limited. We are in this life to work through our limitations - there are few masters, all of us are students. Our Master Teacher, Jesus Christ, showed us that this physical life is a mere experience of our evolving souls. And in his humanness, Jesus wept and mourned when his loved ones transitioned from this life, too.
In this time of mourning, let us remember all the good that our losses have brought us. For Collette's family it is the outpouring of love, care, and resources to support Jackson and her son's family. Each of us has an experience where a profound loss has brought to us a deeper understanding of love, support, and healing. I wish it were not to be so painful.
The grieving process is an opportunity to surrender to grace - we surrender into the love, affection, sadness, and attention that comes from those around us. It does not take the pain away - it does not lessen the loss. However, it is a rock in the midst of a storm of confusion, chaos, and inner churning in which to attach ourselves to. I know you join me in providing Collette and her family a rock of love, kindness, affection, and resources as they navigate their storm of grief. In our hearts and minds we surround them with love and light, affirming vibrations of peace and comfort. We hold a vision of their healing and wholeness. And we hold out for the promise of good that will continually emerge from their (our) experience of loss.
We also hold up the soul of dear Jackson in focused light and love. The belief that many of us share is that our souls are eternal - they have always been and will continue for eternity. Our souls journey from incarnation to incarnation to learn, grow and to serve. Each of us are brought into service with each incarnation. In this lifetime Jackson touched many other souls - bringing us into awareness of God's Good. Jackson's human life was about elevating God's Good to others. We hold his demonstration of God's Good in our hearts and minds as we grieve and grow.
I am reminded of Jesus directions to his disciples about his impending death in John 16:22, "So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you."
Many blessings,
Pastor Robert