As the early bird that I am, at a funeral today, I’m sitting with my own fond memories of play together with cousins, our first best friends. Of course sorrow fills my heart, but as my cousin was as a lover of Jesus; I’m abiding in comfort and joy; the work on Earth is done for him.
For us, the hard part begins now; stunned at his death, a year older than me, it was a sudden, totally, unexpected death. But isn’t that what death is for us, sudden and unexpected.
No stranger to death in my circle of family and friends. As humans we want to hold onto life; it’s natural for us to want to live. Humans know how to be born and we know how to die, too, but because of cognitive awareness we tend to hold on to life with a firmer grasp. We just want to linger with those we love, and it’s during that time we love life just a little bit sweeter.
We profess our faith in the hereafter, death for many is frightening because we tend to see it as the end. But it’s not; baffled by what we believe and say about life after death, I wonder why we hold on to life?
Death, an experience, none of us might escape. A door only known to those who pass on. For me I see it as an adventure, what’s behind the door of death? I believe it’s filled with joyful living in newness, similar to our lives on Earth with friends and family.
Funerals are for the, living, the deceased has already departed as spirit. We have to adjust, make peace, mourn in the void of one so loved that the ache is unbearable. Some do well, others never make peace with death. No judgment on that; we rally around them, scaffolding them.
As a seminarian years ago, I studied for the ministry. I was particularly interested in world religions. As my life has progressed in experience and age I firmly believe: religion is not what we need; it’s filled with man made laws, judgments and comments allowing those they deem worthy of entering the doors of the church.
What we really need is knowing there is a higher power, a comforter, someone like a parent who holds us, needs us as we need him, loves us, welcomes us into the fold just as we are, as my beloved hymn ‘Just As I Am’ proclaims richly in wholeness and promise.
We need someone who will usher us into the hereafter is what we’re all searching for. For many it’s cultural, for others it’s a volcanic experience rocking their lives, some shout it from the mountaintops, others prefer to snuggle up
with it in the core of whom they are, my preference. That’s the one that attracts me; I see the spirit in them, quietly manifesting, solidly.
As I sit in the very last pew gazing upon the altar in such a lovely church where many of my relatives have married, had baby christenings and had funerals before their final resting places. Bells ring, sadness abounds, yet I feel a brush of angel wings gently touching me, a gentle whisper of hope, comfort, family, sense of place.
Mostly it’s the knowledge that love conquers all. In death such a truth is paramount as I share in my cousin’s beautiful celebration of life and going-home-to-be-with family, friends and Jesus.
My thoughts turn to his wife, son and other family members, as collectively and in each their own way, navigate the acceptance of his death.
…Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live…
The Barefoot Cajun 