1 August 2006

Another look at death and the theology of the cross from Douglas John Hall in his book "The Cross in Our Context."

The theology of the cross "calls the thing what it actually is." Death is death, not sleep, not an automatic translation into the realm of the immortals, not the after-all quite beautiful thing that the funeral industry on this continent has so cleverly made of it. Death is real. For biblical faith it is perhaps even God's creature and servant, like Satan... Like the Bible's other negatives - evil, sin the demonic - death too can serve, under God, life's positives. Where would love be without death? it belongs to the heart of love to know that the beloved like oneself is mortal, that we love only under the condition of chronos and mortality. Genuine love, as distinct from mere infatuation or passion, contains a large measure of compassion born of the recognition of our common finitude. So death is not wholly despised in this tradition - which is why we do not end up with a dualism, life/death, darkness/light, and so forth.

I can simply go out into the flower garden outside our house. What were beautiful spring flowers are dried out and brown stems with leaves struggling to make it in the now August heat. But oh how some of those now dead and gone flowers provided such life and color...and more than likely, their seed will provide a plush patch of flowers come next Spring. The reality of death makes me think of what is next for me. It is an opportunity to look at what it is to become a responsible part of the world and the relationships to which I am committed. Usually I cannot speak of death in such a positive manner. It is still the thief...it still brings that sting. And yet, that is precisely the way it must be seen. That is a realistic way to view death. It is also realistic to view it as the enemy that has no power over us. It is much needed for perspective and to encourage life at times...and yet it is that traitor that steals what is so often so beloved - even life itself.

Connection: I've always found it important to say that someone has "died." Other terms don't make it for me - like: passed away, passed over, s/he's gone. As hard as death can sound and feel, it carries that potential for life renewal for those now ready to press on as followers of Jesus whose lives are full of the signs of the Reign of God.

By your great love and compassion, O Lord, you have taken on death so that we will not fear its power - but rather find within its domain the limits of our lives and also the grand vision for life that unfolds even as death is embraced. Walk with us, through every valley of death so that we will face its sting and yet, lean into your power of new life. Amen.