Death part deux

Today I attended the funeral of my friend who died on saturday. His body lay in a very ornate silver casket. I didn't think of Lenin in Moscow, but I should have; not because my friend in life resembled Lenin, but because in death everyone resembles Lenin. Dead bodies are pasty, pale, flaccid and icky looking no matter how much makeup is applied.

On my graduation night from High School, one of my best friends was decapitated in an auto accident. His parents, being new to America were convinced that an open casket was the best way for people to remember their son. The mortuary did a very poor job of sewing his head back on.
and I will always remember the way his body looked in death more than in life.

I have seen my share of death and dead persons. I have a close friend who through two tours in Vietnam saw enough for a whole city. It is hardest when young persons die prematurely. The old are expected to die and so their deaths shouldn't be the shock that it often is.

As a denial society, Americans, who are allegedly preoccupied with life, spend most of their time pursuing things that bring about death. Alcohol, smoking, violence, sex outside of heterosexual, monogamous marriage, overeating, under-exercising and stress all lead to premature death. These are also the things which most spend their lives pursuing - often unwittingly.

At the funeral today, a young member of the deceased's family chastised the other, older members for not being a close-knit family unit. Some of his relatives, he claimed, had not been seen in years. He was visibly shaken by this and his speech was a good lesson in the things which are important - God, love, family, relationships.

Is it not odd that America which has the highest level of medical care in the world has one of the highest premature mortality rates and highest disease rates?

I have always wanted to open a Gen-X cemetary called, "The Bone Yard". The entrance would have neon pink and green flashing lights and dancing skeletons. The hearse would be a '69 lincoln painted lime green with fur on the dash. The caretaker would dress like Huggy-bear from Starsky and Hutch. Gravesights could also be lighted - for a fee, with neon signs and even animatronic creatures. The mausoleum would feature pachinko machines with cool prizes. We would raffle off one free gravesite per month. I bet the place would be filled in no time.

I mentioned this idea to someone earlier and they said I was nuts. I already knew that - but wouldn't having an eclectic place to visit and spend time thinking about a loved one be better than walking or driving to some wasted golfcourse land and staring at a piece of stone? Wouldn't it be cool if while you were visiting the gravesite of a loved one, you could get a diet coke from a machine? I bet less people would be sad. It would be pretty hard to be sad if your loved one was buried in a place that boasted dancing skeletons and neon lights. Beats the heck out of the undertaker motif most places have. Besides, how come only the living get to have fun?

I know that I will be accused of being irreverant and lots of people will email me and ask when I lost my salvation, blah, blah, blah. What is more irreverant than staring at a composite of dying tissue which in no way resembles the person who once resided in it? WHat's more insulting that staring at the dead corpse of someone we wouldn't give the time of day to when they were alive? What is more selfish than going to pay your respects to someone you never respected?

What if you died today?

No, I haven't taken an evangelism course from the Navigators, I simply thought it was an apropos question for today. Have you thought about dying? When I ask people this question, some quickly turn to small-talk or make a simple joke, but everyone is affected by it in a serious way.

As humans and certainly as Westerners, we do not like to think about death. Subconsciously, everyone knows it will happen, and yet most people spend their entire lives pretending it does not. Did you know that some of our most frequent customs stem from death? When sitting on a bus or in a restaurant and someone next to you sneezes, immediately someone will say "bless you". Ever wonder where that practice stems from? It actually stems from England during the black plague of the 19th century. Sneezing was seen as an imminent sign of oncoming death and to say "bless you" was to offer some spiritual guidance to a person one thought would die horribly very soon.

Death for all of us is just around the corner. For a friend of mine, it was literally, as on friday he was found dead in a room where he was painting. My friend was a God-fearing man who had a very close relationship to Jesus and so I'm not concerned for him, but he left behind a 19 year old daughter and a fiance'. What do they think about death?

As with everything, death in America is commercialized. In the middle east, some deaths result in violence especially if a person was killed in a crime or by a non-muslim. In parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, the dead are left where they fell in order for animals and time to wear them away. In Japan, the lack of space has neccessitated cremation as the main form of disposal of corpses.

We have a great movie about dead people "The Corpse Bride" and my favorite film contains lots of them; (The Nightmare before Christmas). What do you thing about death?

Rather, what do you know about it? You see, some things are acceptable to think of casually. "What will I wear today?", or "Will I visit someone?" or "What's for lunch?". Some things must never be thought of this way, and death is one of them. Why?

Because unlike everything else we encounter on earth, death is permanent. Has it always been?
For all but a few people it has been and continues to be. So, unless you are one of the very few persons throughout history that has returned from the dead, it is incumbent upon you to think very seriously about yours. What will happen when it occurs? We mustn't forget those who will be left behind (death insurance is VERY cheap - it is called Term Life Insurance) and we must prepare ourselves for this inevitible occurance.

How does anyone prepare for death? Well, I for one have a great need to be certain about my death. Not that it will happen, of course but of what occurs afterward. For those who think that one can't possibly know, you are mistaken.

If I wanted to climb the K2 summit of Mount Everest, I would first start by finding someone who knows how to do such an incredible thing. Reinhard Messner would be the guy. As the greatest mountain climber that has ever lived, I would ask Mr. Messner to show me how to do it - because he has already done it. To just set out on my own is an invitation to disaster for myself and anyone else I bring along; many, many people have died on the slopes of that mountain.

But, if I have the guidance, training and encouragement of someone who has already conquered Everest, then my chances of success are very great.

If I wanted to know how to die (and I do) then likewise I would consult someone whom I knew had already "done" it and succeeded and could tell me what I need to do. Unfortunately, there aren't a whole lot of those folks around. In fact, when I looked around for someone who had died, came back, was confident that death could no longer harm them, and could teach me about death so that it couldn't harm me - I found only one person. His name is Jesus Christ.

Jesus not only historically died, he also historically came back and has promised to do so again. He offers anyone who will believe in Him the same immunity to death that He experienced. I wanted this immunity and He offered it to me so I accepted. Now, because of Jesus I no longer have a fear of death; in fact in many ways I look forward to it.

A long time ago, St. Paul wrote in a letter, "to live is Christ, and to die is gain". In other words, if Paul said that if he kept living he would get to live for Jesus Christ who has conquered death and so he could live fearlessly and if he happened to die, then great! He gets to see Jesus face-to-face. We should live our lives this way too - it changes your perspective and makes one excited to wake up in the morning.