Monday's thoughts

"Deal With it: Death"
It may be the most important thing we learn to do; to die. It takes a lifetime to learn it. It takes dealing with the good times in triumph and trust and it takes the bad times to develop the resiliency to know that whatever happens we can handle it and whatever comes to us we can take it and make something important out of it.

I attended a funeral of a friend this past Friday. The pastor of the church said something that I thought was profound. Actually, Charlie's wife Mary Lou said it. "When Charlie died at Lutheran hospital in Wheat Ridge there is this thing they do. When a baby is born they put on some music that is a lullaby. At the moment Charlie died a baby was born and the hospital played a lullaby. It said, "lullaby and good night".

Isn't that what life is really about. It's about being born and facing death and doing something important in the interval in between?

In the sermon and in the class I am teaching on Thursday afternoons at 4:30 I am trying to develop a "theology of death, dying, and living".

Somehow we have to come to terms with our finitude; we have to come to terms with our death. We must do that and we will want to do two things:
1. Avoid being afraid of death. We cannot face death if we deny it.
2. Avoid being preoccupied with death. If we are preoccupied with dying we will never live the full life we are born to live.

I hope to work between the tension that calls for the denial of death, on the one hand, and a preoccupation with death, on the other hand.

If you have thoughts on this subject write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to have others read your thoughts click on the box below.

I look forward to hearing from you.


Charles Schuster