Skip to main content

Death cannot destroy

For some reason, I'm thinking of both All Saints and the first law of thermodynamics today. 
Aren't you? 

Today is the Feast of All Saints, the day upon which we celebrate the lives of the faithful who have gone on to their reward. I want to be able to say that I am celebrating, but mostly I am missing people today. My grandparents, a mentor, friends, classmates... all gone too soon to my way of thinking. 

The first law of thermodynamics is that energy can be transformed, but it cannot be created or destroyed. I could talk more about heat and energy conservation- the principles of thermodynamics- but that's not what I want to say. 

Energy can be transformed, but it cannot be created or destroyed. 

There's no way to talk about this without seeming a little out there, but stick with me. Scientifically, I know that our bodies decay, but spiritually I believe death is not the end God intends for us. We are transformed in ways we don't understand after death. I can't speculate as to how or where or even when, but I have a hard time thinking that we are fearfully and wonderfully made for a span of a few short years and that's it. 

(Neither do I assume eternity is a like a long church service.) 

In thinking of the saints I have known, today I am pondering how God has transformed their energy. The work of their lives affected me and it touches people with whom I interact- sometimes daily. Their energy, in part, transfers to me and others who knew and loved them. 

And I think God is still using them- not just through the memories and works that remain, but in some way that is beyond our comprehension. 

In Revelation, the saints intercede for the believers who remain on earth. Perhaps they are praying for us. Maybe they are worshipping with us. Maybe they are doing work on a plane as yet beyond our understanding. 

However, on this day, I'm comforted by believing that their lives have been transformed, but not destroyed. That their energy is altered, but still powerful. That their lives continue to matter, even beyond our memories. 




Grant them eternal rest, O Lord, and let light perpetual shine upon them. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Latibule

I like words and I recently discovered Save the Words , a website which allows you to adopt words that have faded from the English lexicon and are endanger of being dropped from the Oxford English Dictionary. When you adopt a word, you agree to use it in conversation and writing in an attempt to re-introduce said word back into regular usage. It is exactly as geeky as it sounds. And I love it. A latibule is a hiding place. Use it in a sentence, please. After my son goes to bed, I pull out the good chocolate from my latibule and have a "mommy moment". The perfect latibule was just behind the northwest corner of the barn, where one had a clear view during "Kick the Can". She tucked the movie stub into an old chocolate box, her latibule for sentimental souvenirs. I like the sound of latibule, though I think I would spend more time defining it and defending myself than actually using it. Come to think of it, I'm not really sure how often I use the ...
2 comments
Read more

What is Best (Sermon)

Pentecost 15 (Year A)  Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-9; Psalm 15; James 1:17-27;  Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 I recently read a novel set in a post-pandemic, apocalyptic world. In the book, people were working to re-establish pockets of society. A traveling symphony moved from town to town in caravans- performing music and works of Shakespeare. Early in their travels, they had tried other plays, but people only wanted to see Shakespearean works. One of the symphony members commented on the desire for Shakespeare, "People want what was best about the world." As I read and since I finished the book, I kept thinking about that phrase.  People want what was best about the world. People want what was best about the world. That is true even when we’re not in a cataclysmic re-working of what we’ve always known. The very idea of nostalgia, of longing for what once was, is about wanting what was best about the world or what seemed like the best to us. One of the massive tension...
Post a Comment
Read more

Would I Do?

Palm Sunday Mark 11:1-11 One of my core memories is of a parishioner who said, "I don't think I would have been as brave as the three in the fiery furnace. I think I would have just bowed to the king. I would have bowed and known in my heart that I still loved God. I admire them, but I can tell the truth that I wouldn't have done it." (Daniel 3) To me, this man's honesty was just as brave. In front of his fellow Christians, in front of his pastor, he owned up to his own facts: he did not believe he would have had the courage to resist the pressures of the king. He would have rather continued to live, being faithful in secret, than risk dying painfully and prematurely for open obedience to God.  I can respect that kind of truth-telling. None of us want to be weighed in the balance and found wanting. For some of us, that's our greatest fear. The truth is, however, that I suspect most of us are not as brave as we think we are. The right side of history seems cle...
Post a Comment
Read more