The whisper of death awakens life

Devastating phone calls and texts come when we least expect them.  Today, while I was operating as a field safety officer at an emergency exercise, I was alerted to a friend being in palliative care with only days to live.  The last time I saw him was for a pub lunch last year, and he was in fine fettle.

As I digested the news, especially being a pastor, you know what you must do.  I wanted to visit.  Because the exercise was two hours out of the city, it was going to be a late visit.

In the room with him, he was unresponsive as I’d expected.  I called another friend who is at work on site and put him on speaker—we both spoke to our friend about some of our memories.

Before this, I’d called my friend’s wife and we’d had two relatively long chats on the phone.

In my work, as I go around checking people’s safety, I often end up in what I call chaplaincy conversations.  Today was no different even in the flurry of a simulated emergency, because there are always some downtimes.

One of these chats we talked about army padres and how important they are—because I’m called ‘padre’ by this ex-army officer co-worker.  Next thing, after having discussed some of the death he’s seen, he says, “It’s scary to think what might happen after we die... I know it probably doesn’t worry you.”

We chatted about it.  I just said it’s my belief that after this life there’s a glorious Kingdom to enter, but that that Kingdom is accessed in the here and now—on earth as in heaven (remember the line from the Lord’s Prayer?).

I didn’t push it.  It was merely a short part of the conversation, and it led to even deeper revelations as I listened, and he shared.

Death rouses us.  The whisper of death awakens us to life.

My friend who’s in palliative care, who is unresponsive, was told nine months ago they couldn’t do anything more for him.  His body was dying.  But his mind and his heart were not ready to let go.  He’s a fighter, always has been.

When it comes to life, none of us want to give up the fight.  None of us want to die, because even those who do give up the fight do so only because life seemed harder to them than death.

Not only does the whisper of death remind us to fight for life, the whisper of death also connects us to the lives we’d otherwise continue to be disconnected from.

I wonder if you’ve pondered death and whether you fear it and why.  I think it’s understandable to fear death if it’s because you leave loved ones behind who will mourn your absence, or because it wrecks you that you’ll have to say goodbye.

The truth is though, the more we carry about the death of Jesus in ourselves, the more we’re alive for the life that stands to be lived in the here and now.  The fact we’re alive inspires gratitude, simply for the air we breathe and the hopes that propel us forward each day.

The presence of death can remind us that today is our opportunity to do what tomorrow has no assurance of.  The least we can do is tell our family and friends that we love them.

Photo by lucas Favre on Unsplash