Christian Comment with Rev John Thompson, Stonehouse

DEATH is not ‘nothing at all’ as a popular funeral poem claims.

Death is one of the two most significant events in life.

It can be the peaceful fulfilment of a life well-lived, or a final release from suffering.

More often it is seen as a destroyer of relationships, an end of hope.

A bringer of unimaginable grief.

Unimaginable maybe, but unavoidable.

When death seems untimely, as when my own father died suddenly aged 43, we can never be prepared – and violent death, as in a terror attack, is truly shocking – but in my near 30 years of pastoral ministry I am frequently surprised at how unprepared many people are to face death even after a long illness; even at a great age.

We more often say, ‘If anything ever happens….’ as though there was ever any ‘if’ about this most definite of outcomes.

To live forever, the only alternative to dying, might seem attractive.

That is as long as you enjoy reasonable health and sufficient prosperity and find life meaningful and fulfilling.

But a quick look around the world reminds us that too many people live in appalling poverty, face starvation, lack healthcare, sanitation and education.

There is no justice in their world.

Would you wish that they lived like that forever?

Humanity has never learnt how to share the riches of progress fairly.

Why write about death when you’d rather think about Christmas?

We especially don’t want to associate the two.

Yet at the heart of the Christian story is the belief that in Jesus, God came to his people to lift the fear and curse of death.

As somebody said: Jesus came into the world through a door marked ‘no entry’ [virgin birth] and left through a door marked ‘no exit’ [resurrection].

To open our eyes and minds to the reality of another place, heaven, where the pains and injustices of this life can hurt us no more.

In the words of a popular carol: ‘Now we need not fear the grave!’

A better gift than any you’ll be finding under the tree.