We live in a world that tries to deny death.
We smother funerals with flowers to add beauty and fragrance. We speak of the dead as having “passed away,” and we refer to the corpse as the “remains.”
Society tries to soften the impact and reality of death by using all kinds of euphemisms that seem to be less offensive or distasteful.
In contrast to the Middle Ages when there was a taboo against the topic of sex and a morbid fascination with the subject of death, today we focus our frankness on sex and try to put a taboo around the subject of death.
There has always been a concern for the meaning of life and existence in this world. We can deny death, but we cannot stop the fact that it will one day make a personal visit.
If there is no meaning beyond mere existence, then we might as well “break out the booze and have a ball, if that’s all!” as the song puts it. The Christian witness is to the contrary.
There is meaning to our existence that has its foundation in the proclam-ation of the victory over death through the resurrection of Jesus the Christ.
“I have come that you may have life and have it with abundance.” Jesus said. (John 10:10) It is not an idle hope but a certainty of faith.
It is not in fearing and denying death that we somehow find life to be palliative and filled with meaning. Rather, it is in the facing of death in all of its stark reality with the certainty and hope of the resurrection faith that we discover the answer.
That’s the true gift that is the foundation of our faith.
The writer of “The Rose,” sung by Bette Midler, puts it this way: “the soul afraid of dying never learns to live.”
The key to abundant living is not in the fear of dying, but rather in the facing of death in the spirit of hopeful and meaningful living.
The Rev. David Nelson is a retired Lutheran pastor.