Transcript
I thank you that I am not like other people. Please be seated.
Death is hard. If you’ve heard me preach at a funeral in the past year, you know that is pretty much my only opening line. Death is hard. It’s hard because it feels so final. And on the other side of death is a whole bunch of I don’t know. Many of us have experienced death.
Okay, that sounded kind of weird. Also, many of us have experienced death as in the death of a loved one, grandparent or parent or spouse or sibling or friend or neighbor, someone we knew, spoke to, interacted with, who is no longer here living. Now, death is hard because it feels so final and so unknown.
My dad just finished reading Dan Brown’s new book, The Secret of Secrets. I guess it’s about what happens after death. Although, if you read the summaries on Goodreads or Amazon, it’s labeled as a mystery thriller novel. But my dad has repeatedly told me to read it. Spoiler, I won’t. My dad says because I might learn something about what really happens after death. Second spoiler, I won’t. Why? Because it’s fiction. Also, after a deeper dive into book reviews, I did learn that even Dan Brown didn’t really believe in anything happening after death while he was writing this book until he was done writing it. So maybe if you believe in nothing after death, this book might help you believe in something.
But we don’t believe in nothing. We believe in something. As Christians, we believe something happens after death. And while we cannot explicitly and personally and logically explain it, we are here worshiping the God of creation, the God of love, the God of all knowledge. We know that after death something has to happen because our God has promised it. And yes, when we are sitting with someone who is dying, actively dying, as I say, our imaginations can certainly wander. But our faith is what gives us the hope that there is something, something more than just this, something after this something next.
I certainly cannot tell you what comes next or at least not the next that happens after this life. And I wouldn’t even pretend to try, but I can tell you that it will be wonderful and glorious and love. In Luke’s gospel, while hanging on the cross, Jesus refers to what happens next as paradise. He tells the repentant criminal, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” And in John’s gospel, Jesus explains, “In my father’s house, there are many dwelling places. For not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?” So while I cannot say exactly what happens, I can give you some adjectives and I can also give you the comfort and knowing that you will not be alone.
Death means joining God the Father and Jesus Christ in a place of comfort and love. And yet, while that is what happens to someone after the end of their life here and now, what happens to those of us who are left behind? To the ones who are still holding the hand, maybe even holding our breath to watch and listen and feel the last few breaths of life. we are left behind. And sometimes I think the reason why death is so hard isn’t so much because it’s hard on those who die. We’re not talking about violent deaths here. The reason death is so hard isn’t because it’s hard on those who die. Death is hard because it’s hard on those who do not die, who are left behind, who are forced to suddenly face a world without that loved one. Then the question of what comes next is so much more loaded because we know anyone who has experienced the death of a loved one knows what’s next for those of us left behind.
There are questions. So many questions. Questions about what to do with the body. Questions about what songs to sing and passages to read in the service. Questions about how to maintain the household and find the will and the lawyer and the executive. own. There are questions like what now? Like how do I go on with my life when this one person I thought I could never live without is now gone? And how do I go back to quote normal when absolutely nothing feels normal anymore? Perhaps that’s another reason why death feels so hard.
Yes, it seems very final and it can be very isolating. Grief is very isolating. It makes us think that each of us are going through a loss like no one else has ever experienced. But that’s not really the case. Yes, grief is different and unique for every single person who could possibly experience grief. And also, every single person experiences grief.
Benjamin Franklin wrote the super famous line in a letter to his friend Jean Baptiste Doy in 1789. And you had to know if I was preaching about death during pledging season, I was definitely going to share this quote. Benjamin Franklin wrote, “In this world, nothing can be said to be certain except death and taxes.”
The Pharisee in today’s gospel reading thinks he’s special, thinks he’s different, even says, “Thank God I’m not like the other people.” And granted, Jesus says this parable is more about overassuming our own righteousness and regarding others with contempt. It can also be about all the ways we live our lives like we are different, unique, special in some way. As if our stories don’t all end in the exact same way. Death is hard and it’s the most inclusive thing anyone will ever experience. Just like grief, we can’t escape it. No matter if we are a Pharisee or a tax collector, a believer in God’s paradise after death, or not sure what happens next, a Christian or, you know, not.
And now I’m going to try to tie it all together, death and what’s next with stewardship and pledging season. A few months ago, I read an article in Psychology Today about the fear of death. There are plenty of reasons why someone may be afraid of death. I’ve even touched on a couple of them in this sermon thus far. And one of the common reasons why someone is afraid of death is because of legacy. Because if we are gone from this life, who in this life will remember us? Will all the things we do in our lives matter?
Do they make a difference in the world? This is scientifically referred to as symbolic immortality. The belief that one’s existence will or will not have meaning and continue after death. In the same article, it said on average someone will be forgotten after three generations. your stories, your identity, your legacy will fade by the time it gets to your great grandchild.
And that may sound depressing, but I don’t want you to think of it that way because there are so many ways that our legacy can live on past that. After all, look around. This might be all there is in life. And also this is here because those who came before us built it for us. And we don’t specifically know the who, but we do get to experience their hopes and their dreams, their visioning and their imagining, their faith. That what they did 50 years ago, 100 years ago, 400 years ago. We get to experience the fact that what they did then matters now. And we can have the same impact in 50 years or 100 years or even 400 years from now.
The people of St. John’s Church might not know who we are individually, but they will know that we love them. Loved and continue to love. The quote them who are the what’s next when we are talking about legacy. The quote them who are those who come well after we are gone. who quote them who will be St. John’s Church in the future because we are St. John’s Church in the now when we invest in what’s next. Yes, it’s about building something great for generations to come and it’s about leaving a little bit of ourselves behind to be part of the future that is next.
Death is hard because it means we don’t get to be part of that future. But everyone dies. Everyone must move on to the eternal life of unification with God. And what we leave behind that becomes the legacy, the investment, the way we say, “I love you and I want you to thrive to those who have yet to come.” Won’t you join me in that?
In the hoping and the imagining and the dreaming and the having faith that what we do now will last even until well after we are gone. invest in what’s next through prayer, through faith, through hope, and yes, through tangible giving to the future that will be because of the prayers and the faith and the hope that we have now.
Amen.