CHRISTMAS AND CLOSURE

I thought I'd pass on the "Director's Dialogue" from NICE Executive Director, Earl Brubaker...

"On Monday Shirley and I were privileged to attend a memorial service for Anthony Vietti, one of three climbers recently lost on Mt Hood, and the son of NICE missionaries Jon and LaDonna Vietti. Jon stood before hundreds of people and spoke about his son’s death. I admired his composure, appreciated his reflections.

Jon told us he had spent a good deal of time pondering a news reporters question about how the families of the 2 climbers whose bodies have not been recovered could find closure. He then recalled that two days before receiving the call that Anthony was missing, he had led a men’s Bible study that included these verses.

Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?"

John 11:25-26

Jon commented that, since a believer who dies will live and one who lives and believes will never die, putting this death behind us and getting on with life is not an appropriate response. In Christ, this is not the end from which we begin anew, it is but another page in God’s great plan -- another page for the Vietti family, certainly, and a glorious page for Anthony. It would be totally inappropriate, Jon went on to say, to look for closure at

the end of one chapter of a book. Closure comes at the end of the book. The book ends when we see the plan of God as it reflects His great glory. Anthony’s death, painful as it is, is the end of a chapter, not the end of the book.

At the memorial service, person after person spoke about Anthony’s life and his impact upon the people around him. People of all ages agreed that Anthony loved God, loved life, and loved people. He was preparing for service as a medical missionary when the page of his life turned and God called him home long before we thought the time was right. We do not know what the next page contains for the family who mourn Anthony’s unexpected death while rejoicing in his unexcelled joy in the presence of Christ whom he loved and served. We do know and trust the One who writes the book and turns the pages.

As I listened, I thought how the birth of the Christ child was a page in the book of God’s plan of redemption. As those pages turned they led to the cross and Jesus’ cry of agony in separation from the Father. That agony is followed by the glory of the resurrection. The page turns and in the next chapter we enter the church age. We watch the pages turn with eager anticipation of the return of Christ.

The final pages of 2009 include our annual celebration of the birth of Jesus. We wonder what, whether joy or sorrow, triumph or tragedy, will be on the pages of 2010. We only know that God writes those pages according to His plan and for His great, eternal glory -- and in that we rest as we anticipate the pages of a new chapter."

Earl Brubaker