Today In Church We Talked About Death...

This is a picture of the front of a Mormon Church. It's the church we attend. It's not the typical Mormon church, at least not the ones the church has constructed for the past thirty or so years. No, this part of our church is old; it was built between 1861 and 1863.

Both of my parents had their funeral services in this church, my dad in the old chapel, my mom in the new. I suppose when my time comes, I'll do the same. Of course, no one known when or how that will take place--I'm hoping not for a while.

In today's Sunday service, the topic was death--not "death" specifically, but how we can look on the event with a spiritual perspective. And what better place to do that than church?

Exactly.

I think I'm like most people...I don't think about the subject too much. I must confess that it enters my mind more as I get older, especially as my next birthday looms. It's not an all-encompassing thought, but I think about it more now than I did twenty or thirty years ago.

And I find it weird whenever it comes up in conversation. I mean, our congregation has several hundred people in it. We have several senior citizen as well. I'm not a statistician, but there's a chance someone might not be in attendance next week, or next month. There's more than a good chance we'll have our ranks thinned by this same time next year. When people talk about death and dying, it seems like after they speak of it, someone passes away. Of course, had the conversations not taken place, it would have happened anyway.

In church today, the speakers spoke of the time we all will leave, but they also spoke of faith. In our church we believe we will live on and not only that, but have the opportunity to live together with our loved ones. I can think of no greater thought than this. One speaker talked of a time she attended a funeral where those attending believed they would never see their loved one again. I can think of no worse thought than this.

After the services, we all left and continued with our lives. I wonder what the future will bring.