based on a medieval Antiphon:
In the very midst of life
Snares of death surround us;
Who shall help us in the strife
Lest the foe confound us?
Thou only, Lord, Thou only!
We mourn that we have greatly erred,
That our sins Thy wrath have stirred.
Holy and righteous God!
Holy and mighty God!
Holy and all-merciful Savior!
Eternal Lord God!
Save us lest we perish
In the bitter pangs of death.
Have mercy, O Lord!
I used to think "the bitter pangs of death" referred merely to facing our own last hour, but I think death's bitter pangs spread further than that. Here we are in the midst of the celebration of the Birth of Life and Joy and the Prince of Peace - and yet the ravages of death continue. Sicknesses rage on. Folks are hospitalized, preparing for surgery, and some are waiting for the end. And all around them are those that love them dearly. And the bitter pangs of death coil around THEIR hearts too, to squeeze out of them the life and peace and joy of Christ. Luther nailed it: it's in the very midst of life that the snares of death surround us, but it's only in Christ that we can find remedy to this. Sickness, death, the ravages of sin - they take no holiday, they observe no holy days. But we celebrate our holy days smack dab in the midst of them, in defiance of them:
In the midst of utter woe
When our sins oppress us,
Where shall we for refuge go,
Where for grace to bless us?
To Thee, Lord Jesus, only!
Thy precious blood was shed to win
Full atonement for our sin.
Holy and righteous God!
Holy and mighty God!
Holy and most merciful Savior!
Eternal Lord God!
Lord, preserve and keep us
In the peace that faith can give.
Have mercy, O Lord!
In the peace that faith can give... Grant that peace, Lord God, to all who are battling the pangs of death in these days. Amen!
2 comments:
Sickness, death, the ravages of sin - they take no holiday, they observe no holy days. But we celebrate our holy days smack dab in the midst of them, in defiance of them
This is a good reminder for these holidays. Sometimes we can think in terms that are too earthly and miss out on true life. We have a glory that awaits us and that far exceeds the momentary troubles we face. There's a new heaven and a new earth.
I believe it was C.S. Lewis who onece said that by looking to heaven we may gain both earth and heaven but if we turn our gaze to earth we lose both.
Along these lines, here's a link that I found worthy of meditation:
http://www.redeemer-fortwayne.org/blog.php?msg=8525
Pax.
You're quite right -- the pangs of others' deaths afflict us well before those of our own. And, amid the joys we celebrate, a check of a local TV station's website on Christmas reveals that the world and the devil take no Christmas break -- stories of a double murder, lives lost, including children, due to drunken driving and/or drunken arguments while driving drunk, plus the usual accidents and illnesses.
In that context, the words of the Lord, which the mass quotes just before communion, seem radical indeed: pacem relinquo vobis, pacem meam do vobis; peace I leave you, my peace I give you.
Leave. Relinquish, from the cognate. He is born, to die so that we may live. He could not leave peace, reliquish to us peace, give us his peace, if he were not peace itself. And so he has, not just in emotions to be desired and grasped, but amid the ups and downs of our emotions and what happens in a fallen world, concretely in Word and Sacrament.
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