My family is approaching the anniversary of my sister Deb’s death. We rest in comfort knowing Deb is with God. We have managed to laugh as much as – maybe even more than – we have cried. Deb left behind a boatload of delightfully funny memories. Still, we miss her profoundly, deeply, tremendously.

Even when Christians embrace the knowledge that our deceased loved ones are with God, we still grieve. As believers, we have faith in the words in Ecclesiastes 3:4 “A time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance.” We rely on the words in Matthew 5:4 “Blessed are they that mourn; for they shall be comforted.”

We experience the power of the Holy Spirit comforting us and we feel Jesus’ promise of leaving us with his peace. The peace of Christ is ours to experience and cherish. We know the truthfulness in our bones of Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 6:10 when he writes “We have much sadness, but we are always rejoicing.”

Walking with Jesus teaches us that we always can rejoice even in times of much sadness. We learn that we can experience joy when our hearts ache. This dichotomy is hard for nonbelievers to understand. The dichotomy does not make logical sense and contributes to nonbelievers thinking we are naive.

We Christians also live within the dichotomy of being in this world while we are living to be in the kingdom to come. We live within the tension of a worldly existence where death overcomes us while yearning for a heavenly kingdom where death is overcome by Jesus’ love for us. We live in our bodies yet we are deeply committed to our souls and spirits.

The author C. S. Lewis wrote, “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen; not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”

Seeing everything else may be the biggest dichotomy of all as Christianity gives us a clear vision of the interconnectedness of God’s creations. We see the sacred interconnectedness in worldly dichotomies.

As we grow in our Christian journey, we experience God in everything. I remember reaching the stage in my faith journey where I chose “and” over “or” in the sense of “God and Science” not “God or Science.” I wanted to see Science within the framework of God. I began to see God first and foremost in as C. S. Lewis writes “everything else.”

We can trust God with all of the dichotomies of this world. We can trust God with what we may not fully understand about the kingdom to come. My family can trust God to provide comfort as we grieve my sister’s death while we also rejoice in the pure joy of being children of God saved by God’s grace. Amen.