Here is today’s reflection from the Visual Commentary on Scripture.
The theme this week is lament, and today’s image is a powerful artwork of a body in an open grave with flowers sprouting from the corpse. The rather grim subject matter is transformed by the image of new life coming from death and decay.
For many, being confronted by our mortality is a real challenge, and any consideration of it is pushed out of sight. Understandable in many ways. The Psalmist, though, repeatedly introduces a sense of our mortality, though, alongside images of God’s care for us. Psalm 90 talks about how we come from dust and to dust we will return, urging us to live well in the fleeting moments of our lives, but also reassuring us that God’s care is there for us through life and beyond. The Christian hope in Resurrection is a further message that even though we die, we live.
Perhaps those who opt for woodland burials are on to something: out of decay comes the beauty of new life.
As you reflect, here is a setting of Psalm 90 by Ralph Vaughan Williams: Lord, thou hast been our refuge, sung by the choir Tenebrae.
Place of Wondering 