Jesus began to weep. John 11:35.

One of the most powerful sermons I know was preached on Sunday 23
January, 1983, by the senior pastor of Riverside Church, New York,
the Reverend Dr. William Sloane Coffin. The sermon began:

‘As almost all of you know, a week ago last Monday night, driving in a
terrible storm, my son Alexander – who to his friends was a real
day-brightener, and to his family ‘fair as a star when only one is
shining in the sky’ – my twenty-four-year-old Alexander, who enjoyed
beating his old man at every game and every race, beat his father to
the grave…

‘My consolation lies in knowing… that when the waves closed over
Alex’s car, God’s heart was the first of all our hearts to break… And
I know that when Alex beat me to the grave, the finish line was not
Boston Harbor in the middle of the night. If a week ago last Monday a
lamp went out, it was because, for him at least, the dawn had come. So
I shall seek – so let us all seek – consolation in that love which
never dies, and find peace in the dazzling grace that always is.’

God understands, and cares, and suffers with us.

‘See from his head, his hands, his feet, sorrow and love flow mingled
down. Did e’er such love and sorrow meet or thorns compose so rich a
crown?’ We are under the Mercy. Amen.