Episode 60: How to Combat Grief

In the name of the glorious Trinity, Father and Son and Holy

Spirit forever. Amen.

Glory be to the everlasting mercies which sent you to us, O

Christ, the Light of the world and the life of all.

Give us wisdom by your law and enlighten our impulses by your

knowledge. Sanctify our souls by your

truth, and grant that we may be obedient to your words and may

fulfill your commandments at every hour.

O you who enlightens the rational with the knowledge of

your greatness, do enlight, O my Lord, our thoughts that we may

meditate upon your holy and divine scriptures at all times,

O Lord of all, Father and Son and Holy Spirit forever.

Amen. I want to take this time before

we begin with this episode to extend my sincere gratitude to

all those who reach out through many means, text messaging or

personally, you know, seeing me and talking about the the

episodes and and providing their feedback.

You know Messenger and what have you.

I thank you. But I ask one thing that you

ascribe praise, glory, honor and Thanksgiving to our Heavenly

Father. Because if it's not by the grace

of God, we can do nothing. And and I am encouraged and I

glorify God that somehow in God's perfect and amazing,

incomprehensible, unfathomable, unspeakable ways that these

episodes and the contents of these episodes are touching the

hearts and giving comfort to those and giving consult to

those who've been searching for a while and you know, and and

wanting to continue to grow in the word of God.

So let's always give thanks to God.

And I ask that you continue to pray for this, for this episode,

pray for my frailty, pray for the producers, my brother Steven

my sister Adrina and all those involved.

And let God be always glorified through what we do.

Amen. There is an Assyrian saying

during time of sorrow and grief when we, you know, extend our

condolences around concerns or when the fire engine is driving

past. Let me tell you, these episodes

are recorded at modern day Paris.

So you'll see this. It's a it's a corn, it's a

crossroad and there's always the fire engines and the ambulances.

So, you know, don't worry about that.

It's a confirmation that these these programs and what we speak

about are urgent. So there is a an Assyrian saying

during time of grief when we're extending and expressing our

condolences or when we want to you know a give comfort and

consult to those who are grieving.

We say Ala hamar haklokon minkulmar Amin kulpa shamta.

May the Lord God keep you distant from sorrow and grief.

And I always say that's not realistic, but we'll talk about

the connotation behind it, the message behind it.

We'll talk about that afterwards.

So grief and sorrow is what we'd like to I'd like to talk to you

about. And I'd like to present this

episode on how to combat grief. Now, you may be going through

this, you may be sorrowful, you may be in grief, in pain, in

suffering. Now we're going to more

concentrate on the 1. Circumstance 1.

Occurrence one event that really brings about grief, and that is

death. But this does not, does not

merely pertain to grief and sorrow over the loss of a loved

one. We know that grief is

inevitable. Sorrow and pain and sufferings

are inevitable when we read Psalm chapter 34, verse 18 as an

Psalms 34:18

encouragement which states the Lord is near to the broken

hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

Now it's giving us comfort but it's telling us, warning us that

there will be broken heartedness and crushed spirits.

There Will be sorrow, some 147 verse three.

He God praise his name, heals the broken hearted, and binds up

their wounds. If there was to be no broken

heartedness, no sorrow, no pain, no wounds, well the scriptures

wouldn't comfort us, because why would you want to comfort

someone who does not require any comfort?

So it's not a no no for Christians that grief and sorrow

and mourning Bashamta Ke$ha are not a no no.

For the Christians do not grieve.

If you grieve you lack faith. No.

Remember John Chapter 11, verse 35, the only perfect and holy

John 11:35

and complete man on the face of the earth.

Jesus Christ wept. He cried.

Let me read to you what the blessed theophilect comments on

that. The man who never feels

compassion or weeps is brutish, dry.

The man who cannot on the other hand control his anguish and

tears in is effeminate. You know there's a there is a a

sense of pride or taboo. You know when when men cry a lot

and and they continue crying, what do we say?

What is it? Naja Basakhana, you know you're

a man. All right.

Stop the stop the weeping and stop the mourning because you're

a man, right? Sharing our flesh and blood.

According to Hebrews 214, Christ experienced our nature, human

affections, but taught us their proper limits.

So yes, we can weep. We can cry, we can mourn, we can

feel sorrow and having the opportunity to grieve, or having

the permission, lack of a better term, to grieve.

But we are to grieve, not hopelessly but rather hopefully,

as Saint Paul instructs in one Thessalonian chapter 4, verse

13. And by doing this we affirm that

grief is a norm, is a part of life.

King David also declared in in Psalm chapter 55, verse four to

Psalms 55 · chapter mention

five. My heart is in anguish.

This is the man that was after the Lord's heart.

God called in my heart men butter Libby.

My heart is in anguish within me, and the terrors of death

have fallen upon me. Fear and trembling come upon me,

and horror has overwhelmed me. So grief, as we read the

scriptures, being a obviously a product of the fall of man

because of disobedience. When God created man, when God

created Adam and Eve, he didn't create them for sorrow and

mourning and pain and suffering, though he knew that man would

drop the ball, as I say, and be disobedient.

But it was because of that disobedience that pain, sorrow,

mourning, and grief entered the world, the broken world, the

fallen world. But this grief has a solution.

There is a remedy, and it's called comfort.

However, at times when we feel that there is no comfort is

because comfort, the eternal comfort, the true comfort, the

endless comfort awaits us. Beloved.

We are to be patient and to trust in the Lord and His

promises of comfort. Now, as I mentioned, one source

of grief is caused by the enemy. Now you may think the accuser,

Satan. Yes, he is the enemy of mankind,

and in particular the children of God.

But there is another enemy, and that is called death.

That's why we're concentrating more on the grief and mourning

and sorrow from the loss of a beloved one.

But death, you see, there's there's already a there's a

comfort there already. But death has a time limit.

And that's why each time we want to comfort someone who's

mourning over the loss of a blood one, we say there is

resurrection. We're going to talk about that.

Death has a time limit. This enemy will be abolished,

beloved, as Saint Paul instructs in one Corinthians 15/25/26.

For he is to reign, that is Jesus Christ.

Praise me to his name, until he should put all his enemies under

his feet. And the last enemy, the last

enemy that is death, will be abolished.

But until then sorrow and grief are normal.

Beloved, you see in the book of Acts, the Acts of the Apostles,

the the procedure and the and the book of the Church itself,

Saint Stephen, the first martyr, the Deak and the Shamasha.

After being stoned, we read that believing men gathered up and

buried Stefan, and they lamented over him greatly.

They lamented Yana, Billy, Iowa. They were mourning over him

greatly. We see this grief and mourning

and sorrow in the scriptures. So once again, we cannot deny

the existence, the reality of grief, pain, sorrow and

suffering. However, we cannot let it delay

in our daily life. So grief being inevitable and

the church accepting, acknowledging that during the

time of death in particular there is a lot of grief.

The church has in place some traditions with a capital T to

help overcome grief, to help ease the sorrow and the

suffering. For example, those who have had

a death in the family have probably gone through the

viewing process. The funeral parlor here at

Turlock Memorial has sets apart a day, a few hours for the

family to come and view the body of the deceased.

Now some will say, you know what?

Oh, it's done. It's finished.

It's gone. And you shouldn't worry about

it. No, it's not about the dead

person. It's about those who are

surviving who are truly suffering.

And you know, we encourage, you know, kiss Grandma goodbye, kiss

Mommy goodbye or kiss the dead, kiss Daddy goodbye.

Why? Because it's not because that

dead person feels that kick is and will be revived with that

case, but it emphasizes the departure.

There's a there's a the first step of a closure.

There's a first step of the ease of the grief that you know when

you kiss someone goodbye Bye. And yes, we say it's not

goodbye, it's see you later. Well, let's say goodbye or see

you later or what up, dude, whatever, right.

But we have in, in, in place traditions that begin to help to

ease the pain and the suffering. We have the burial.

We have the third day service. And again some will argue,

that's it. The person's dead, Gone,

finished. Let me ask you a question.

When a family pet dies, what do we do?

We weep, we mourn, we cry. And then we even sometimes

approached the church. And by the way, don't do this.

Don't approach me. Is there a prey you can say for

my dead dog? No, there's no prey, as we say

over animals. You know, in the Assyrian

tradition, we don't say mitlin, we don't say animals die.

We say sputlin. They're finished.

They're complete, done, finished.

No animal heaven. Now I'm going to rain on some

parades and I'm going to probably break some hearts, but

reality must be spoken. The truth must be spoken.

And I have. I tell you, I have an animal

pet. Everyone knows Thor and I call

him Torah because he's the size of a Torah.

And you know, sometimes we say, you know what happens when this

one finishes and it's gone And and my wife's arguing, We're all

arguing. No, no, we're not going to get

another one. No one, no pet, no dog will

replace Torah Thor, right? Because he's special.

He's God's creation. He was made for my joy and for

me to take care of and not to be cruel, as the Bible says.

So if I have so much love and and compassion for an animal

that was not created in the likeness and the image of God,

how much more for my grandmother, for my father, for

my loved one who is the image and likeness of God and is the

child of God. We have a second day service

which we don't practice, we don't serve, We have the burial

service. You know, we go to the funeral,

and for those who don't want to see the backfill, I don't want

to see dirt being poured over my these are all in place for you

to start to the the process of of the closure and the comfort

from the grief. I encourage you to stand and

watch. You know why?

Because if you think you have it all, you think you're

untouchable and nothing can affect you.

When you look at your beloved one being buried, the casket

being lowered, you're in pain and you're in grief and the

backfill happens that at that moment you should be saying, Oh

my God, is this my destiny? Is you know, all this trial and

all this suffering and all this, you know, working hard and the

image and the botoxes and the and and what I do is this where

I end up. And I spent 10s of them,

thousands of dollars. Is this where I end up?

It's good to stand there but mainly for that closure to begin

the comfort from the suffering and the grief.

One of the one of the prayers on the second day service.

Do not sorrow. O children of Adam Christ the

King has lifted your head. Do not sorrow owe you chosen

ones on the day of your departure, for death is asleep,

but it buy it. I'm sorry.

The good and the evil are rested.

It is a cup mixed with righteousness.

For the children of Adam. That means the mortal for which

all children drink equally. It is a bridge through which all

generations will pass from this world to the other, which has no

dangers in the Kingdom of heaven, no grief, no suffering.

Look and see, for every person will taste the cup of death and

no one will escape from its dominion and authority.

You know, face reality. That's why the Church Fathers

have written these prayers and the liturgies to begin the

process of comfort, not false hope.

Oh, your daddy is with God. He's with Christ and the Kingdom

of heaven. How do we know?

You know, let me tell you something.

When you tell a a person that the departed is now with God and

in the Kingdom of heaven. By the way, when we die, no one

enters the Kingdom of heaven under the until the Lord

returns. That's another episode.

Where do we go when we die? We'll talk about that.

So that person knows the the history of the person that is

passed. And you tell that person, well,

your your, your, your beloved is in the Kingdom of heaven.

Don't you think that the person you're trying to comfort falsely

will then see straight through you and say, well, you don't

know who this person was? So don't come in and give me

false hope. No, just come and tell me that

the Lord is suffering with you. That's why he suffered on the

cross, right. And and and the liturgy is

realistic, you know, giving hope, not false hope, but at the

same time beginning that process of comfort.

But then you may think, well, that's cruel.

Someone who's down, You're kicking them?

No, no. But then for the Feast of

Resurrection, we sing, And I'm going to sing it to you because

I love this hymn. It's the anthem of the chancel.

Stephen, you probably know this. You've been to the English Laza

for the feast of the Resurrection.

The Lord reigns. Let the earth rejoice, exalt and

shout, O mortals. The minion of death destroyed.

Christ by His suffering has conquered death and promised

life by His resurrection. The heavens and the earth. 3

Joys, companies of angels called glory to him who gives life

through his resurrection to the race of men which was perishing.

There's comfort, there's hope that yes, death is inevitable

through death, grief, pain, suffering.

But Christ has overcome and at times beloved during grief.

It's understandable and it's common.

Maybe silly, but common that we feel bitter at God, right?

Why did God do this? Why did God take away my

grandmother, who was 95, from me?

Because your grandmother was suffering.

Your grandmother wanted to go to the Lord.

You're being selfish there, right?

So it's all right. It's it's it's it's common.

Silly, but common to be bitter at God, even those who died.

Why did he leave me? Why did you?

Why did you leave me? What am I going to do?

Right? But that all depends on the

spiritual condition, the spiritual place, the spiritual

position of the person who is going through grief.

So how do we combat combat all of this?

First and foremost, John 15-5, I'm the vine.

You are the branches. You can do nothing without me.

Seek your strength from God. God will not give you false

hope. God will not be fake to you.

God is genuine. God is truth.

Jesus Christ prays between His name is truth, is genuine, is

right. Take courage from God.

Isaiah chapter 5053, verse four He himself bore our sickness.

Jesus bore our sickness and our pains that He carried.

You know what side note Isaiah 53 when we read it we should

replace the He with Jesus Christ because it's all about Jesus.

Praise me to his name and Jesus, taking all our sicknesses and

suffering, was victorious, and we too can be victorious over

our grief through Christ, through union with Christ.

So before you expect people to come and console and give you

comfort, seek the Lord. We love it because those people

will be there for you a few days or a week before the burial,

before the funeral, and then come back to you on the third

day and maybe the 40th day, but a few months down the track.

Those people have their lives to go back to.

But God is always there. So #1 seek your strength.

Seek your courage from Jesus Christ.

Stand firm on the fact that God loves you.

God does not allow grief. God does not allow for you to go

through grief and sorrow and and pain and suffering because he

doesn't love you. No, He loves you.

Now the Satan, the enemy will say, well, if he loves me, why

does he do this? Why did he allow me to go

through this pain? Why did he have to take away my

Yeah, that's the enemy, putting those thoughts and those

questions and those doubts in your mind.

But when you continue to trust, you continue to take heart from

God's love, then God's grace will begin to comfort you.

Pray for comfort. You know, we see posts going up

every day with a black ribbon on a picture.

It is with a deep sorrowful heart that we announced the

departure and the death. Or how you know, son, father,

relative has gone to the Lord. And then we continue.

We start posting oh, deep condolences, praying for you.

Are you actually praying for that person when you post,

praying for you and your family, you are all in my prayers.

Are you actually on your knees and asking God to comfort that

broken and that hurting heart, that pierced heart?

But you know, instead of relying on people's posts and let us get

on our knees and ask God to comfort me, Lord Thy will be

done. Praise and glory.

Beat your name. Help me, Lord.

I'm suffering. Help me.

I am shaking. My faith is shaking.

You comfort me, Lord Daniel prayed.

Or Shidrack Mishak and Abbot Nego, who ended up in the fiery

furnace. Look at what they prayed not.

Oh Lord, we've been so good. We've been righteous and we've

we've always fulfilled your will and we've done this and that.

They actually blamed themselves and said, Lord, we deserve this

because we are sinners. It's not you, Lord, You're not a

cruel God because we are sinners.

Because sin entered the world and obedience.

And how disobedient is the world today to Jesus Christ?

Sin has entered the world disobedience, and today we are

disobedient to you, Lord. That is the cause of my grief.

But help me, give me, and grant me comfort.

And when you do, pray for the comfort of others. 2nd

Corinthians 1 Three to four. Blessed be the God and Father of

our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and God of

all comfort, who comforts us all in our affliction, so that we

will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with

the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

Freely you gave freely, freely you received freely you should

give and be thankful, beloved. Yes, You know, one of my posts

was and and I had a lot of people asking a lot of

questions. What's wrong with Robbie?

What's wrong? I posted a long time ago,

Steven. I said, Lord, thank you for

nothing. No thanks for nothing.

And people thought I'm mad. Something happened.

What happened? I said why?

What's this Thanks for yeah. I don't need to thank God for

anything. I don't need to thank God for

something. I just thank him.

Thank you, Lord. What for?

Nothing. You're God.

Thank you, Lord. You are my creator.

Just thank you, Lord. Be grateful.

Be thankful to God for the comfort that He will give you.

Be thankful for all the relatives that come and give us

comfort during our times of pain and suffering and and hardship.

1 Thessalonia is 518 in everything, not when you

graduate with honors and you buy your 5th house and then you get

your 7th promotion and you find the best girl to marry.

When life's going great, your stocks are doing great.

Thank you, Lord, no in everything.

In the worst of the worst of times give thanks for this is

the will of God for you. In Christ Jesus, Beloved, there

is only one place, one person, one perfect comfort.

That person is Jesus Christ Glory between his name.

That place is the Holy Scriptures, is the prayer act,

is the Church, and that perfect comfort comes from an omnipotent

God who can do everything. A God who is willing to give

good to all those who love him and those who don't love him.

A God whose love is genuine and is everlasting praise and glory

between His name, now and at all times and forever.

Amen. We hope you enjoyed this week's

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sword until next time. God bless you all.