Last week, one of my seminary classmates lost his wife. The funeral was yesterday. It was awful and beautiful in the way that big life moments can be.

We celebrated Easter just two days before her death. We sang and said that Jesus has conquered death. We believe it. We live our lives in response to it. And death is still terrible. It separates us from the ones we love. It changes the fabric of communities. It creates holes that will never quite fill in again, at least not during this life.

What I saw yesterday was the pouring out of love upon love. Colleagues and friends came from hours away stand in line for hours to hug this man and admit that we had no idea what to say. All we could do was be there, so we were there.

His congregation stepped up in amazing ways. The worship was beautiful and the sermon well done. The reception afterwards had enough snacks for the end of the line to enjoy abundantly.

Love looked like a full parking lot, full pews, and, I’m sure, takeout containers full of leftovers to take home.

One of our seminary professors was there, too. He taught us Pastoral Care. One of the phrases I learned from him was, “Don’t just do something; stand there.”

Sometimes, all we can do is show up. Sometimes, we can’t make the awful thing less awful. We can’t heal the pain or bring back the dead. But we can stand there. We can make sure that no one suffers alone. When the time is right, we can remember together that God is the one who will take the terrible things away.

God is the one who will wipe the tear from every eye. God is the one who will promises new life to us, a life without the diseases of cancer and depression, a life without the tragedies of accidents and violence. Illness and injury, even death, are terrible but temporary conditions. Life keeps going, by the grace of God.

The good news is this: God wants to be with us. God is where we are, now and forever. Even death cannot separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

When you don’t know what to do, don’t just do something; stand there. Like God.