Moving to the Front of the Room

I haven't blogged in a bit because my Mother-in-Law died last Friday and my wife and I are on an unexpected trip to Chicago. It's been an interesting few days as we've navigated through the traditional rituals surrounding death in this culture.

As strong believers in Jesus Christ both my wife and I find this to be a time of great joy as her mother was struggling with dementia and has been steadily losing her capacity to remember anything for the last few years. Her sudden and unexpected death from a perforated bowel was such a blessing and a release from the slow death from Alzheimer's that we were expecting. That and our certain knowledge that she's been released from this temporal life of pain to an eternal life of freedom in God's amazing presence made for more celebration than mourning.

Lots of people...even fellow Christians...don't quite get that. How can you be okay with the death of a parent? The simple truth is that none of us gets out of this existence alive, physically anyway. We will all die. It struck me more this time than any other, that we're all moving to the front of the room. (For those who've not attended any funerals, the front of the room is occupied by the dead body in the casket!)

If scripture is true, those who truly know Jesus are actually longing for the day when they get to the front of the room. There's an anxious longing to be shed of this body and to get on with eternity free from the pain and oppression of sin we experience here.

I wonder if the church were doing a better job of expressing the joy, peace and freedom that is ours both in this life and in the life after this one if there wouldn't be more people excited about moving to the front of the room. If we were really living out the incredible life Jesus accomplished for us on the cross there might be more celebrating and less mourning when our faithful loved ones make the transition from this life to the next. Churches should be full of people living out the victorious life regardless of physical circumstances and eagerly awaiting their turn at the front of the room. Since that's not usually the case, I'm left to wonder...yet again...if those who lead our churches are doing all they can to help us fully grasp this truth.