This morning I attended a funeral for a 90 year old church member. The family invited another minister to officiate so I was able to sit in the back, watch, and pray. I visited the woman at the care facility where she spent her last months. She had Alzheimer’s. I’d sit on the floor on the mat next to her bed and read Psalms to her. The funeral was of the best kind, with memories and laughter.
The minister described heaven as ‘a new dimension with new possibilities.’ I like that phrase. In my funerals I speak of ‘continuing an eternal pilgrimage.’ You have to work to describe life after death in ways that are not perfunctory.
In addition to the funeral, I made two hospital visits today, wrote newsletter articles, and finished Carrie Doehring’s book on pastoral care. Her discussion was technical and clinical, and much of what she addresses is beyond the scope of what I do. Still it was useful to read. For her, pastoral caregivers draw alongside people in a relationship of trust, listen to their stories, help them come to terms with loss and threat, and guide them in their quest to connect with God and rejoice in the goodness of life.
We joined two friends for dinner at Alpha Koney. I had a bowl of chili. The waitress had turquoise nails, and a man in a booth across the aisle carried a carved cane with a Native American dreamcatcher on the handle.
heaven as ‘a new dimension with new possibilities.’
Thanks for passing on that quote. I like it.
.. “contunuing an eternal pilgrimage”..thats good Chris,and comforting ….I think i’ve said here before that i have a fear of going through/experiencing the actual dying process.My ideal scenario of dying would be to just snap my finger (at the time and place of my choosing) and instantly be on the other side..I’ve had numerous experiences of strange heart palpitations where i thought for a second that my heart was going to stop beating and i was momentarily horrified/panic stricken at the prospect of expiring then and there,the last time this occured i tried to remain calm and told myself that i was only CROSSING (not dying!) into the heavenly dimension and would not,at any time, lose my sense of Consciousness,this seemed to psychologically ease the sudden onset of fear and panic …I find my experience curious,in that,i consider myself to have a healthy measure of God-consciousness,yet this has little effect on my fear of the dying process.
There must be a difference between knowing you are going to die in a theoretical sense, as we all do, and knowing you are going to die in a definite sense within a certain amount of time. Like anyone with a terminal illness. And it seems to me that the church, at least ones I am familiar with, does a thin job of helping people prepare for death. In its fear of being too other-worldly, the church has become virtually all this-worldly. CS Lewis said, ‘There are far, far better things ahead of us than anything we leave behind.’ It is worth reflecting on that quote.
Mike, presuming that your heart is healthy – have you had it checked? – I take it that you experience periodic panic attacks which can be very frightening.
Because you are on a spiritual path of self-improvement and healing, your psyche will be doing its best to purge and throw out buried emotions – negative emotional experiences that you have lived through in the course of your life journey. Many things can trigger these purgings – a persistent thought, a conversation, a chance meeting.
The spiritual path is not always an easy one. (Do I mean ever?)
…interesting analysis LC,it never occured to me that these heart palpitations might be mini panic attacks and/or emotional purges..you may very well be right…i appreciate the insight.
Mike,
Jung said grief is the pain of with held love… perhaps you’re feeling a kind of grief over dying. I have no idea what you might be holding in… Chris can probably help with that.
That said, the times I’ve been close to going on to what’s next I have been unconcious. Once, with a fever of 104.7, another time with lungs full of blood clots – I’ve just felt very, very tired. I have no memory of my heart stopping at all – or of it being started again, either. I have PVC’s (premature ventricular contractions). Sometimes when they hit I just stop, feel weak and rest. So far everything has started up again O.K.
“grief is the pain of withheld love”..thats profound Douglasah..and based on my experience of the passing of both my parents,I’d say sadly, there’s an awful lot of truth to that..