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Grace Church
257 Kendall Street
Burlington, WI 53105

(262) 763-3021

Email:
Pastor Scott Carson

Secretary Patti Hall

PASTOR'S PENS 2006

Grace Church of Burlington May 28, 2006 "No matter how long you nurse a grudge, it won't get better."             This Memorial Day weekend our nation is remembering our fallen soldiers. It’s a time of memory, reflection and gratitude. There are many this weekend, though, who also struggle with war wounds, not physical ones, but emotional ones. They are still bitter at wounds from a past conflict. Too many of them have been nursing them for years, even decades.             Recently, I was reading about Kurt Cobain. You may recall that he ended his life just over ten years ago. Cobain’s life was filled with bitterness and anger. He was the founder and lead singer of the group Nirvana. But his violent suicide prompted a lot of questions. "Why? He had it all…a great career, dedicated fans, plenty of money, a beautiful wife and a 19 month old daughter…So why did he kill himself?" To many it made no sense. But Kurt Cobain simply lived out his beliefs to their logical conclusion. He was a professed humanist and nihilist. He believed that there was no God and there was no meaning or purpose to life. He was the center of his own universe, and he was very bitter, so why stick around? His poetry (music) clearly showed what he believed. Kurt Cobain pioneered grunge rock, which has given us the alternative rock of today. And Cobain was very vocal about his bitterness from being a child of divorce.  He moved from house to house, and eventually was without a home. He felt that life was rotten and meaningless and his music often spoke of his anger and disillusionment. One of his songs was called Nevermind. Its recurring line was "Oh well, whatever, nevermind." Another song that he wrote was never released because it was too objectionable. It was called, I Hate Myself, And I Want To Die. Kurt Cobain may have died of a self-inflicted shotgun blast but in reality his soul had died several years before...of bitterness.             While I can somehow understand a Kurt Cobain dying of bitterness, afterall he was an atheist, I can’t understand how a believer can do the same thing. Yet, I meet believers all of the time who are basically the "walking dead." Something happened to them long ago. Sometimes it was in childhood, perhaps a parent died or their parents were divorced. Some were molested or abused. Some have been hurt in their marriages. Some are wounded by a past divorce. Others were hurt in a church. But they all have one thing in common, they are the "walking dead."             Like Frankenstein, bitterness is a monster which turns on its creator, and causes internal damage beyond compare. The other person continues theirlife, and may be happy and content, never even thinking about you, but because you hold bitterness for them, they continue to control your life.             A bitter person’s life is virtually consumed with nursing their wounds. What happened to them years, even decades ago, is constantly on their minds, often just below the surface. The pain of the past is so real for them it’s almost as if they enjoy it and even revel in it. Because they are still stuck in the pain, they are self-absorbed. Life for them is primarily about them – having their needs met, focusing on their agenda, thinking about themselves.             Friend, maybe you’re like that. Can I challenge you to take this Memorial Weekend and use it to bury the past, to get on with your life, to know the joy and fulfillment that God has for you that you will never find trapped in the rotting coffin of past wounds?             True healing does not come from thinking about how hurt or wounded I am. It comes from allowing God’s grace to fill my soul. It comes from loving and adoring a God that loved me so much, He gave His Son for me. True healing comes from allowing His grace and love to flow through me to help, to serve, and to minister to others.             Friend, you will never experience God’s healing by picking at your own old wounds. You will only experience His healing as allow His grace to fill your soul, as you turn your focus off of yourself and on to Him and on to others.             Do you need a Memorial Day to entomb your old wounds so that they stop poisoning your life? Do you need to bury some resentment? How about doing it today?