No one who loves life wants to...
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No one who loves life wants to die. Comedian Woody Allen said it well: "I'm not afraid to die, I just don't want to be there when it happens." Brave as some of us are about death, deep down we fear it. Former Apple CEO Steve Jobs knew this truth: "No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it."
American actor and director Orson Welles gives us insight about what makes death scary. Like any adventure, the reality of death makes us anxious. But what is worse is that when we are dying we go through it alone (or so it seems). We leave loved ones behind, and they lose us: "We are born alone, we live alone, we die alone."
Paul offers a word of hope and comfort reminding us that we do not die to ourselves. Martin Luther powerfully articulates the comfort this insight affords for understanding death:
Since it is certain that souls are living and are in peace [in death], what kind of life or rest is this?... Just as a mother brings an infant into the bed chamber and puts it into a cradle -- not that it may die, but that it may have a pleasant sleep and rest -- so before the coming of Christ and much more after the coming of Christ all the souls of believers have entered and are entering the bosom of Christ.
(Luther's Works, Vol. 4, p. 313)
Thinking about our passing in this way, as a child wrapped up in Christ's arms, death is no longer so scary and lonely a prospect.
American actor and director Orson Welles gives us insight about what makes death scary. Like any adventure, the reality of death makes us anxious. But what is worse is that when we are dying we go through it alone (or so it seems). We leave loved ones behind, and they lose us: "We are born alone, we live alone, we die alone."
Paul offers a word of hope and comfort reminding us that we do not die to ourselves. Martin Luther powerfully articulates the comfort this insight affords for understanding death:
Since it is certain that souls are living and are in peace [in death], what kind of life or rest is this?... Just as a mother brings an infant into the bed chamber and puts it into a cradle -- not that it may die, but that it may have a pleasant sleep and rest -- so before the coming of Christ and much more after the coming of Christ all the souls of believers have entered and are entering the bosom of Christ.
(Luther's Works, Vol. 4, p. 313)
Thinking about our passing in this way, as a child wrapped up in Christ's arms, death is no longer so scary and lonely a prospect.
