Lament

My heart is heavy today.

A member of the congregation had their grandchildren in town visiting for a few days. The family was at the pool yesterday. At the pool, a two year old grandchild was in a drowning accident. The child was taken to the hospital and then lifeflighted to Children’s Mercy downtown. The child died today.

Other pastors have been more heavily involved in the situation, but it weighs heavy in the air and on my heart. I want to share an excerpt from Lament for a Son by Nicholas Wolterstorff. It is a book that I first read in seminary in a class called “Providence, Evil and Suffering.” It is a profound expression of grief, emotion and struggling with the question – why? Wolterstorff lost a 25 year old son in a climbing accident. The book is as the title indicates – a lament for the loss of a son. There is hope, but for now lament:

“It’s so wrong, so profoundly wrong, for a child to die before its parents. It’s hard enough to bury our parents. But that we expect. Our parents belong to our past, our children belong to our future. We do not visualize our future without them. How can I bury my son, my future, one of the next in line? He was meant to bury me!”

— Nicolas Wolterstorff from Lament for a Son.