PRAYER MATTERS

Many of you know about the recent events that have happened in my wife’s family. On Easter weekend, Susan lost her aunt, and a week a later she lost her grandmother. Both of the deaths came out of nowhere, as death often seems to do, and interrupted our nice, set schedules. But in matters of life and death, well-laid plans are subject to change.
When you wait for someone to die, you spend a lot of time doing nothing but waiting. As you look upon them breathing, you wonder if this is it...is this the last breath, the last time we will see her? Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn’t. This is almost an addictive activity. You watch the chest cavity go up, hold for what seems forever, and then release with a shake. You find yourself wishing that this would be the last one, or maybe it'll be the next one, or the next one, or the next one. Soon enough, an hour has passed by...then two hours...then three hours.
My wife’s family, who comes from a long line of German Catholics, adds prayer into the mix of their waiting. They pray the rosary—sometimes silently, sometimes aloud—as they watch their loved ones pass on.
I know Lutherans respond with our Catholic allergy anytime we hear about Catholic piety, but perhaps that should be re-evaluated. In the midst of their powerlessness in the situation, my wife’s family turned to God in prayer. They didn’t grasp for words to articulate the situation, but joined with a company of people who have prayed this prayer for hundreds of years. As I joined them, I was reminded of a song that we sing called “How firm a foundation.” The second verse goes like this:
“Fear not, I am with you,
oh, be not dismayed,
For I am your God and
will still give you aid;
I’ll strengthen you, help you,
and cause you to stand,
upheld by my righteous,
omnipotent hand.”

Build your foundation of prayer now upon God before the hardest times hit you in life. It comes in handy, and it matters.