AOTW: Grief is Messy
Article of the Week – Insights from Bill Crowder
“But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope.” (1 Thessalonians 4:13)
The film “We Are Marshall,” tells of the November 14, 1970, plane crash that took the lives of the football team of Marshall University, the coaching staff, and many community leaders of Huntington, West Virginia. 75 lives were lost in that crash that devastated the university and the community.
The film follows some of the lives marked by loss in the crash, including Paul Griffen and Annie Cantrell—their stories intertwined because Griffen’s son, Chris, was Annie’s fiancé. When Chris died in the crash both of their lives were plunged into a year of pain that seemed inescapable, even unbearable. Why? Because, as Paul Griffen told Annie, “Grief is messy.”
He was right, grief is messy. All of us grieve at one time or another in our lives—including those of us who are Christ-followers. For the believer, however, there is something beyond the tears, pain, and loss. There is hope. Writing to a church family that had seen loved ones taken in death, Paul acknowledged the reality, even the necessity of grief, but challenged them to not “sorrow as those who have no hope.” (1 Thess. 4:13) Loss and death are part of life, but believers can face those specters knowing that Christians never say goodbye for the last time. We can comfort one another (v.18) with the hope of reunion.
Read: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
Theme: The pains of death and loss can only be answered by hope.
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