Living Beyond Death (1)

My small group is going to focus on Living Beyond Death for a week.  Below is the first section of my handout for them.

Well brothers, this week we come to that most exciting of subjects – death! But really, rather than just look at death, let’s also look at beyond death. Since the death rate in our nation, and I assume the world, is 100%, it is something that you’d think we’d talk about more…but of course we don’t.

 

When is the last time you had a real conversation about death? What about a conversation about “beyond death”?

 

Why do you think we don’t talk about death and dying in our society?

 

Yes, I realize there is the Hemlock Society, and the question of euthanasia, and advance medical directives; but even when those subjects enter a conversation it seems the sooner we move on to another topic the better.

 

Death was a part of life up until around our parents’ generation. Folks often died at home, cared for by family and friends, and were laid out in the “parlor”. Unless death was sudden, death was a process, a journey, shared by the person dying and by family and friends. When Pope John Paul II was dying, he refused extraordinary medical care because he wanted to model “how to die” as a Christian.

 

When I was with E. Carlton Wilton years ago, Bernie, my number two guy in our finance/accounting department, died of a heart attack. I still recall the day of his funeral. We closed the office, went to the funeral, came back to the office and went back to work. As I sat at my desk and thought about it, it seemed surreal. You may have had a similar experience. Since that day, when I’ve gone to work – related funerals, I’ve tried to engage coworkers on death and dying.

 

Perhaps we don’t talk about death out of fear – if we pretend it isn’t there maybe it won’t happen. I’ve had two women friends who were afraid to get lumps checked because they were afraid they might have cancer. In both cases it was cancer and in both cases early treatment may have made a significant difference. While for sure we are all going to die, death does not mean the same thing for everyone – as we’ll see in our readings, those who are alive in Christ will not taste of death, they will lay one house down and move to a better neighborhood – it will be moving day – they will be living beyond death.

 

Another reason perhaps we don’t talk about death is that if we’re going to talk about death then we really need to talk about life – about the meaning of life, about how we should be living. Thinking about death can really help us live positive, enjoyable, and fruitful lives – because we know the best is yet to come! We learn to live in the light of eternity in Jesus Christ. This light becomes a present reality that grows brighter and brighter as we advance in age and in our relationship with Jesus Christ – we learn to look not so much at death, but at beyond death.

 

After all, if we are the sons of the Living God, and if Jesus Christ is our brother – then we have a bodacious homecoming to look forward to!