Mourn With Those Who Mourn
I hope you’re able to enjoy this beautiful fall day a bit. Go out for a walk and appreciate God’s good creation. Also – tomorrow is Halloween – so thank you to all who are going to give out candy here at Central (as well as those who donated it). It’s a great chance to be a light in our town. (Also note: Sunday is Daylight Savings “fall back”!)
The big news of course, which weighs heavily on all of our hearts, is the loss of our beloved sister Beverly Camp. She died in her sleep between Saturday night and Sunday morning. I’m still a little shocked, and as I continue to sit with the news, I find myself more and more sad. Since I sent out the news of her death, I’ve received emails telling me about the impact that Beverly made on people – especially on new people: how she was key in welcoming them to the church, making them feel at home, and making them feel seen and known. As I shared previously, that’s exactly what she did for me and my family. What a loss for us all.
This week, I’ve been privileged to spend a lot of time with many of you, reflecting on Beverly’s life and sharing stories. At our women’s bible study on Tuesday, we spent the entire time sharing about Beverly, laughing and crying together, and hearing scripture and praying together. We spent time like that this morning with the men at their bible study as well. Remembering her like that, along with thanking God together, is a wonderful way to honor her…and it’s a wonderful way for us to be the body of Christ. It’s part of “discipleship”. I encourage you to do more of that for one another. That’s what the church is meant to be like in times like this.
Paul tells us this in his letter to the Romans,
“Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.”
– Romans 12:15
Even Jesus models this for us when, at Lazarus’ tomb, he wept at the very fact, reality, and tragedy of death. Even though we know that Beverly is “with Jesus, which is far better” (as Paul puts it in Philippians 1), we mourn her loss today, we cry, we miss her – we grieve – and that is ok.
It’s ok to be sad.
It’s ok to grieve.
It’s ok to not be ok.
God is with you (always), and so are your brothers and sisters here in the body of Christ. That’s why Paul says what he says. We mourn with those who mourn because, as Paul says just a few verses earlier, we “belong to one another” in the church (Romans 12:5). So I encourage you to be there for one another, support one another, uphold one another, care for one another, love one another.
The details for the visitation and funeral service are found below. Her obituary will be put on the Pfleger website by the end of the day.
I wanted to share one last thing in regard to Beverly’s death: unfortunately, I will not be present for the funeral. My family is going to visit my parents in Florida on Friday, and will be there for a week (a related note: please keep my mom in your prayers, her lymphoma is back unfortunately). We feel terrible about missing it, as Beverly was so meaningful for us, but I am glad that Beverly’s good pastor-friend Lorraine Carroll will do the service along with Beverly’s brother, Rabbi Ira Book. It will be a wonderful service!
As always, please reach out to me if you want to talk, share about Beverly, help in any way, or anything in between.