This text is part of a series. To read the previous text, click here.
Reading suggested by the author this week: pages 263 to 299.
- John Ames knew from the beginning of his letter that he would soon have to leave his church.
- His family and his own life.
- Marilynne Robinson exquisitely shows us the signs of the patriarch’s impending death through her growing need for sleep.
- Other physical symptoms and concerns.
- For those waiting for his death.
- Ames even began writing his funeral sermon.
- Hoping to free his old friend Boughton from trouble.
As death approaches, Ames talks about the past, which he describes honestly and painfully without incurring excessive sentimentality. He speaks of his love for his wife, the generous gift of a son and many other pleasures, including the joys and blessings of pastoral ministry. “Ah, how am I going to miss this world!” Exclaims. “Wherever we look, can the world shine like a transfiguration?(p. 297), as the Lord extinguished these poor gray embers of creation, and became radiant?(p. 296).
Does Reverend Ames also, like any pastor, regret the frustrations and disappointments of life, which are very numerous?(P. 286). He often wonders if his sermons were worth anything (p. 27), and you’re worried that it’s going to bother a lot of people for a long time?(P. 176). In fact, he wants his old sermon notes (an image of his own mortality) to burn. He often realized, “there, in the pulpit, at the very moment he was reading these words, how far they were from any hope. “I could have about them. And, in a way, were these sermons the work of my life?(P. 87).
Ames also regrets his failure, in certain circumstances, to offer the best spiritual counsel. “I stay up at night and think, “Is that what I should have said!?That’s what I meant to say!??(p. 54). But his greatest regret, no doubt, is to leave behind his wife and son, who unfortunately will not be able to meet their needs or share their lives with them as they grow up and age.
The Last Will
To deal with these pains, Ames sees two options :?(1) torment me, or (2) trust in the Lord? (P. 154). Waiting to die . . . with a heart at peace? (p. 219), he decides to put his ministry, his family, and his own life in God’s hands; instead of foolishly imagining that his congregation will not be able to move forward without him, he preaches that Christ Himself will be the One About His Son, he put into practice what he had preached in the history of Abraham and Ishmael, namely: every father, especially an elderly father, must end up abandoning his son in the wilderness and relying on God’s Providence. ? (p. 158).
Thus ends the life of a faithful minister, who tried to keep the gospel before him as a norm for life and preaching, and who remained faithful to his call in a single church for about 50 years. Galaad is his hometown, as well as the city from which he will return home. “Sometimes I even think that being buried here is one last act of delusional love,” he writes towards the end of his letter. “Will I also consume myself slowly, to the great final glare?( p. 299).
After this latest epidemic, there will still be many stories to tell. Robinson uses a beautiful analogy to describe the stories of life to come: “In eternity, this world will be Troy, I think, and all that has happened here will be the epic of the universe, the ballad that is sung in the streets?”(p. 73).
For reflection or discussion: Christ calls each of his disciples not only to live well, but also to die well, with “a heart in peace”. Who are the pastors, ministry officials, and other Christian servants you have seen end up firmly in life and ministry, what habits or commitments have allowed you to persevere, how do you convey a legacy of faith to others, are you ready to end well?
By: Phil Ryken. © 2013 The Gospel Coalition. Original: Dying with a Quiet Heart
Translation: Leonardo Bruno Galdino. © 2016 Faithful Ministério. All rights reserved. Website: MinistryFiel. com. br. Original: Dying with a Peaceful Heart
Authorizations: You are authorized and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format, provided that the author, his ministry and translator are no longer no longer modified and not used for commercial purposes.