| Death - article by Joel Hempel It’s seldom invited, but always alarming!
Sometimes death provides sought-after relief. Always it is painful for those of us who remain.
For our most recent friend and others who have experienced the suddenness of a loved one’s passing, death is an upsetting and unsettling thief. An imposture!
O death, where is your sting?1
Let me tell you, Paul. It is embedded in the loss. It is in the suffering and sometimes excruciating pain of not being able to be with the person again. It is the memory of regrets, the guilt of not saying or doing what should have been said and done. Where is the sting? In the heart, and often the soul!
Christians know what you were getting at, Paul. We have faith in the promise of our loved one being with Jesus. But for now, it is so very sad! Even angering!
And for those emotions, we thank our Lord. We thank him for the love experienced, which now leads to the pain – pain Jesus is all so familiar with. Pain, he cried out from the cross.
As we have heard multiple times from pastors at funerals, the emotion and emptiness need our respect and attention before we can experience the grace, the love of God, and the ushering of a son or daughter of God into His holy presence.2
We are told that death is part of life. We know it. We just don’t know it... until we finally do. And then, in time, we can be grateful, thankful to God, for the courage and strength we need to continue and eventually to thrive in His grace.
1. 1 Corinthians 15:55 2. John 14:1-6; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Luke 23:42-43. | 
