April 11, 2010                                             First Presbyterian Church

         “I am the resurrection and the life.  He that believeth in me though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whosoever believeth in me shall never die.”

         Those are the words of our Lord Jesus Christ.  They bring to us the promise of eternal life: the fulfillment of our certainty that death has been overcome.

         I believe in that promise, and so I find it a privilege to journey in some small way with those who are standing on the threshold between this life and the next.  It is a sacred time.  And frequently as we talk and share and pray together, I am asked questions about what happens next.

         Now, in seminary they train us to talk about death and eternal life in nice, safe, abstract terms.  Theologians write involved arguments about the resurrection of the body and what it meant to the ancient Essene community and to various Greek philosophers and how those beliefs got translated into the early Christian faith.

         But at the moment when a person is standing on the edge between this life and the next, they are not interested in theological arguments or in vague discussions.  Death --- and life – are no longer matters of abstract speculation.  They are of vital, overwhelming importance, and what people want to know is “what happens next?”

         I confess to everyone who asks those questions, that I do not know in absolute, concrete ways what happens in the moment of death.  No one can know for certain.  And yet I feel compelled in those moments to share what I do believe, what I think the scriptures tell us – and to listen to their beliefs and their questions.

         The first thing I am generally asked is what it is like to die.

         I remember when I was a little girl, we had a preacher who told us that everyone had to die alone --- than no one could go with you.  The thought of that terrible aloneness frightened me.  There was even a song: “You got to walk that lonesome valley, you got to walk it by yourself.”  But I don’t believe that’s true.  I don’t believe that’s what scripture teaches us.  Instead, I believe God is with us every step of that final journey.

         I think that’s the message of the 23^rd Psalm that we all know so well: “Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me.   Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me. 

         In that moment of passage I believe we will not be alone.  We will be surrounded by the very love of God, comforting us as we travel along the way.  This sense of presence, of a guide through the valley, is frequently described in a variety of ways by those who have told of their near death experiences.

         I also believe that death will be but a moment --- a mere shadow in time --- just as the Psalm says --- a journey through a valley, a passing through to new life.  A life witnessed to by our Lord Jesus Christ in His own death and resurrection.  Again, we have Christ’s own words, as He spoke to the thief on the cross, “Truly I tell you, this day you will be with me in paradise. 

         But what happens next?  What kind of form does this new life take?  Will we be some nebulous spirit floating through space or do we become a part of some universal life force?  Do our souls live on while our bodies remain behind?  Will we recognize those who have gone before?  And will they recognize us?

         Again, I can only tell you what I believe and why I believe it based on the scripture.  I give no guarantee that I have the perfectly correct answer.  But given all of that, I can say that I do believe in the resurrection of the body.

         Oh, I don’t believe in the resurrection of THIS body --- this flesh and bone that knows pain and decay.  But I believe in the resurrection of a new body, raised in glory as Paul says --- an imperishable body.  I believe this, not because of Paul’s words, but because of the witness of Christ’s own resurrection. 

         Christ returned to show us the certainty of everlasting life.  He returned to greet those He loved   with love.  And He returned, not as some disembodied spirit that could not be recognized, but as Himself, with a new body --- a body of a different quality no longer bound by the laws of this world.

         And so, while I have no idea what shape or form the resurrected body might take, I do believe that body and soul are raised together as one, still recognizable to ourselves and to others.  I believe we will know those who have gone before and that they will know us.  I believe in that glad reunion in the time to come.

         Which brings us to the final question I want to briefly touch upon.  What will the life to come be like?  Will we really all have to learn to play the harp and spend eternity sitting on some white, fluffy cloud?

         Well again, we have no details, but I think there are some concepts that we can gain from scripture about what the kingdom of God will be like.  And most of these I’ve gathered from Christ’s parables about the kingdom and the images we are given in Revelation, John’s vision of a new heaven and a new earth.  John tells us of how there will be no more pain – no more suffering --- no more sorrow.  He tells us of how God will dwell with men and women.

         And for those of you who may worry about such things, at least according to John, there will be no long eternal church service where you are forced to sing unfamiliar hymns!  For he says, “I saw no temple in the city!”  A verse which I quite frankly took great comfort in since I could think of no more boring way to spend eternity than sitting around listening to one boring sermon after another.

         In fact, both John and Christ seem to tell us there will be little time to sit around in the city of God because it is not some place where there is nothing more to do.  Instead the images we have are of a creative, dynamic life to come where there will always be new things to learn as we continue to grow in the image of God and move from perfection to perfection.

         Those are the images I hold dear, but again let me remind you that none of what I have said this morning has been delivered to me on tablets of stone.  It is all my interpretation of scripture.  And while I believe it, I am more than willing to say that I might not have gotten all the details right.  In fact, I’m pretty certain I haven’t.  But one thing I do know, there is no separating us from the love of God, not in this life or the life to come --- and that love allows us to say with confidence that “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”  Alleluia and Amen