Brief thoughts on death and the hereafter

Perhaps during this time of being plagued with the coronavirus pandemic, some people are more inclined to think about death and the hereafter. This may also be the case for seniors—including me—who are among the highest population at risk of being infected with COVID-19. I have had my days of wondering if I have the virus; or if I will get it and possibly die from it.

    Thinking about death and the hereafter reminds me of the gift of faith, being able, by God’s grace, to trust that I do not have to fear death or what happens beyond it. I, along with countless other people of faith, find great comfort and hope in scripture passages such as Psalm 23, John 14:1-7, and tomorrow’s Revised Common Lectionary second lesson from 1 Peter 3:13-22—especially vv 18-19: “He (Jesus) was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison....” Some biblical scholars and systematic theologians have interpreted this reference “to the spirits in prison” as Jesus’ descent into “hell.”

    I am of a divided mind concerning hell. On the one hand, I can see the need for God’s justice to be exercised towards humankind—especially in light of those like Hitler and Stalin who caused immense suffering for millions of human beings. On the other hand, I also believe that God is an all-loving God, and the life, teachings, sufferings, death and resurrection of Jesus truly bear witness to God’s love. So, I hold these two possibilities in dialectical tension, without a satisfactory resolution. However, I do like this quotation from popular Presbyterian pastor and author, the Reverend Frederick Buechner (pronounced Beekner), first published in his Wishful Thinking, and later in his Beyond Words:

    “Dante saw written over the gates of hell the words "Abandon all hope ye who enter here," but he must have seen wrong. If there is suffering life in hell, there must also be hope in hell, because where there is life there is the Lord and giver of life; and where there is suffering he is there too, because the suffering of the ones he loves is also his suffering.”

Roy Bonisteel dies at 83

According to a Winnipeg Free Press news article, CBC broadcaster and journalist, Roy Bonisteel has recently died at age 83. Bonisteel hosted the current affairs program Man Alive from 1967 to 1989 and became a public speaker, writer and citizenship judge. The above book, although published in 1980, is well worth reading. We shall miss you Roy, God grant you peace eternal. You can read the whole article here.

A short, short story

Elias offers a prayer at the wall in Jerusalem for his people, especially the ones who live in daily fear of yet another bomb in the living room and children dead. 

   Abdulla throws rocks at the IDF soldiers who clear a path for a bulldozer to destroy his olive grove. He prays to his God too, that his enemy would be defeated and pushed into the Mediterranean. 

   A Coptic priest, named Joseph, prays for the safety of his parishioners, as their non-Coptic neighbours become increasingly suspicious by the day with the escalating conflict between the Egyptian army and the Muslim Brotherhood.

   Jews and Christians living for centuries in Arab nations are being ethnically cleansed and wonder what to do and where to go. Meanwhile, the Western media ignores them.

   All over Africa, Asia, and Latin America the little people like Lee and Kim, Seti and Ette, Jose and Maria are homeless and jobless thanks to large Western corporations developing natural resources for sheer profit, without any thought of the environment or the well-being of the peoples of these nations. 

   In the Western world, citizens like Harry and Janet continue to take their democratic freedoms for granted, shop til they drop, and buy cheap condos in warm and exotic places for the winter.  They can do this because they pay the least amount of money for groceries and clothing that come from nations that exploit their workers in sweat shops and slave labour agricultural estates owned by billionaires. 

   Meanwhile God continues to shed tears of sorrow at a world divided and falling apart, ignoring his love and super-abundant grace that envelopes the universe.
 

    

   

   

Life -Quality or Quantity?

In serving as a chaplain for many years, I witnessed so often how folks were willing to spend all of their money on staying alive. They may have quantity -more and more folks in our society live to 90 years and beyond-but alas, the quality is really not there. As the cartoon suggests, we are a death denying society and some folks will pay as much as they can to postpone it. I hope and pray that if I get old and unable to make decisions that my loved ones will not choose expensive, heroic measures to keep me alive.  

A Short Story

That damn phone, always rings at the most inconvenient time! You're in a hurry, late for work, over tired, have ten thousand things on your "to do" list - without fail, at times like these the phone rings. What to do, answer or let it ring? Finally, you convince yourself to pick it up.

   "Hello," you say with a slight tone of irritation in your voice.

   "Is this Sam?" the voice on the other end asks expectantly.

   "Yes, this is Sam, who I am speaking to?"

   "This is your long lost friend John." 

   "Which John? I know several by that name," Sam said, wondering by now if the unrecognized voice was some deceitful telemarketer trying to rob him of his time that he needed to spend other than on the phone.

   "Sam, you remember me, don't you? I'm your old friend from university days long ago, we graduated in the same class. You remained in Canada and settled into your teaching job in prison. I went overseas as a teacher-missionary at a church-college in Romania. I thought I'd be back in Canada after my three year contract was up. However, 30 years later, here I finally am." 

   "John! how good to hear from you after all of these years!" Sam now speaking with joyful surprise. "I had lost track of you, didn't know what happened to you."

   "Sam, I would really like to see you. I'm back here in the city hospital. Can you come up and visit me? I'm on the third floor, room seven of Compassionate Redeemer Hospital. Can you come today?" 

   Sam, again a bit surprised at both the location and urgency of his friend John, responded, "Why of course I'll come John. I'll see you in about an hour."

   Now in the hospital Sam is sitting on a chair close to John who is laying in bed. They have been reminiscing for almost an hour. Suddenly John abruptly changes the topic. 

   "Sam," he says with utter solemnity, "will you forgive me for that time when I took all of the credit for that research project we did together in university? Remember I was given an A+ and you were given a C+. That wasn't fair. You lost a scholarship over that and you had to take out a loan. Moreover, you even got rejected for that dream teaching job you had hoped to get because they chose another grad who had solid As. Please forgive me Sam!"

   At first a bit of the old hurt surfaced in Sam's heart. However it left almost as quickly as it came. "Of course I forgive you John!" Sam said with conviction. "In the long run, that episode in my life worked out for the better." 

   "What do you mean?" John asked. 

   "Well, as the saying goes, when God closes one door, he often opens up another one. That's exactly what happened for me. I thank God that I got that C+, and that so-called "perfect dream job" didn't work out. Instead, after my brother struggling with all of his personal problems and ending up in jail, I would go to visit him there. Eventually, I realised how much they needed teachers in jail. So, I applied for a position, and well, the rest is history. I was blessed with a three-decade teaching job in prison. If I hadn't worked there, who knows whether we'd be having this conversation John. After three decades of prison work, I've learned how important it is to forgive. Forgiveness has transformed the lives of so many prisoners. 

   "Thank you Sam," John replied with a sense of emotion and relief in his voice. "Now I can die in peace." Later that night, John fell asleep peacefully, never to wake up again.