LIFE AFTER DEATH?

 

The Sermon

In today’s reading from St. Paul you have heard the most complex readings in all scripture. Here is a taste of it again.

35 But someone will ask, ‘How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?’ ³⁶Fool! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. ³⁷And as for what you sow, you do not sow the body that is to be, but a bare seed, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. ³⁸But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body.

It gets even more complex.

Fear not I am here to tell you that I can’t figure it out either.  What is death like? What kind of life is there after we die?

Nobody knows. Nobody. I like the words of Thomas Cranmer, “We have a sure and certain hope” of some life after death. A sure and certain hope. That is the best we can do.

So go ahead and worry about it.

I worry about it a bit more these days. I became 91 years old last Wednesday. I have lived a long time and rejoice in that gift given me.

All that is left to do is to live fully.

27 ‘But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, ²⁸bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. ²⁹If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. ³⁰Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. ³¹Do to others as you would have them do to you.

Story - Bill was a parishioner of mine close to death from HIV infection. He was in some pain but alert. He said, “I don’t want too much morphine. I want to be there when I die; to see what happens.” 

Story - A parable about death. A boy had a ripe pear. He looked at it, smelled it, rubbed it on his face and noted its weight. He said, I want to see what’s inside.”

Prepare for your death. Yes, as the Boy Scuts say, “Be Prepared.”

If i were Vicar, 

First, I would not let anyone into church until I had seen their last will and testament, leaving chunk of that money to SJE.

A will is what you want done with your money or property after you die. You should make that decision now.Don’t make someone after you die make those decisions. Consult with me if you have questions.

Second, I would not let anyone into the church until I had seen their burial plan. A written burial plan instructs some family member or friend what to do with your dead body. Burial, cremation, church service, casket, funeral home, money? You make that decision and not make some others try to figure what you want done with your body after you die.

I have had to do that for people who died of AIDS in the 80s and 90s.

Ann and I have our will and burial plans completed. The hardest part of my burial plan was to choose which of my 40 favourite hymns to be played at my funeral. An still hasn’t chosen hers.

Making a will and burial plan is another way to love your neighbour and take responsibility for yourself and your body.

If you are not prepared to die, you are not prepared to live, so says the old cliche’.

The funeral Eucharist helps point us to the promise of everlasting life. It uses the sad occasion of the death of a loved one to remind us that the Eucharist is always “a foretaste of the heavenly banquet,” The funeral liturgy is “a kind of counterpoint to the grief. It doesn’t erase the grief, but it is a hopeful, forward-looking ritual.”

So we go on to love and serve. Love God and bring love and compassion to our neighbors and the world.