The Waiting Ground

The clock was ticking toward eight when I arrived at the cemetery this morning.  In my volunteer life, I am the caretaker for the local cemetery which means that I sell cemetery plots.  I was going early to meet a couple who wanted to have things in order for that day when a grave would be needed.  What grabbed my attention as I drove up was the morning sun brightly shining against the grave markers which stood like some ancient solar panel seeking to capture the brilliance of the eastern sun rising up against the far horizon.   

While some may not know, folks, at least in these parts, are buried facing the eastern sky.  It is a tradition that has its roots in the Scripture.  In Matthew 24:27 the Words says, "For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man."  His coming again is reiterated in the first chapter of the book of Acts where angels speak saying about the ascended into heaven Jesus, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven?  This Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw Him go into heaven."  (Acts 1:11)    

Graves face the east not only to catch the light of the rising sun, but the Word declares that they will also be captured first by the rising glory of the returning Christ in the eastern sky.  Long ago Paul wrote about this moment as he wrote to the early church, "For the Lord Himself, with a loud cry of command, with the archangel's call and with the sound of God's trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first."  (I Thessalonians 4:16)  This great mystery is more than this finite mind can grasp and hold, but the image of the domains of earth being split open by the triumphant sounds of that moment of resurrection's power and glory stirred this soul of mine as I went across that waiting ground.