We Are Not Alone

        There was a 1994 film that was filmed in Wilmington North Carolina that is remembered more for the accidental death of Brandon Lee, Jet Lee’s son, than anything else. During the movie, The Crow, one of the characters makes a remark, “If the people we love are stolen from us, the way to have them live on is to never stop loving them. Buildings burn, people die, but real love is forever.”

            I went to a funeral this past week of a man by the name of Jack Sherrill. Jack was an active member of my church and he was influential in my faith. His passing struck me as I was pondering this road of life. I am of the mindset that there is no greater honor than to be with someone in their final moments, or to remember them after they are gone. Frederick Buechner, the Presbyterian minister once preached in a sermon, “Christ came to us in the countless disguises through people who one way or another strengthened us, judged us, comforted us, healed us, by the power of Christ alive within them.” I often look back on my years and see the impact people had that now are a part of the Kingdom of God fully and completely.

            Death is scary. It is the reality we must face because it is a reality that comes to all of us. But there is a wonderful creed that says, “In life, in death, in life beyond death, we are not alone. God is with us.” In that reality we see on the horizon, we must live life with real love, love that is beyond measure. Maybe that love is for the partner we have in life, the church we call home, or the simple things that make us happy. I once was able to ask my favorite theologian some questions. One of my questions was about death. Dr. Stanley Hauerwas, professor of ethics at Duke Divinity School has studied dying, and I asked him how can we live prepared to die, he replied, “I’m not sure if Christians today can live lives such that they are ready to die. We simply no longer know how to do that. We can, however, keep before us people that are long gone. That can never be forgotten. Just to the extent that we remember this, we continue to have hope that we too will be faithful as we face death.”

            I can remember when I was little, my former pastor would notify us of a death in our congregation by saying the person transferred their membership from our church to the church triumphant. We too will transfer our membership, but that is something we shouldn’t fear, but embrace. Live life like we’re ready to die. Live because we are full of love.

            I would be remiss in my duties as a columnist not to mention the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, a movie series that helped define a generation ended this past week with the release of the final movie. There is this great scene in which Professor Dumbledore tells Harry Potter, “Do not pity the dead, Harry. Pity the living, and, above all, those who live without love." Dumbledore said it best… Love until you can’t love anymore, then your life will be worth living, and remember as Shakespeare once penned long ago, "Seeing that death, a necessary end, will come when it will come.”