Death and Dying

Over the past two weeks I have come into contact with the relatives and friends of three people who have died. It has hit me hard. Now I know you are going to say that I am a priest and this is January, and many older people die in January, what do I expect? But these people were similar in age to me, their lives were snatched, they had children who are not yet adults and parents who have now lost their children. And I have cried, a lot.

However, life continues for the rest of us, whether we feel it ought to or not, and I have been thinking about the service on Sunday. It is all age and I have been wanting for ages to try a Nooma Video at that service. Somehow this week seems the right week and for no apparent reason I have chosen the one above - Tomato.

It is about how we need to die to find life. How there are parts of us that are choking us, like the desire to be well thought of, and when we admit to someone that we don't know, when rather than deceiving, we admit the truth of who we really are and what we are really like, and it is a sort of death. Somehow watching the movie has changed my mood a little, reminded me of the paradoxes of the Christian faith - you have to lose your life to gain it, the death of Jesus bringing life everlasting, blessed are they who mourn for they will be comforted.

I am often asked whether I struggle with my faith, and the answer is unequivocally yes. Faith, is something that can't be held onto any more than life can be, or our loved ones, it is continually dying and being born anew. So in the midst of all the death and dying, actual or metaphorical may I allow myself to die to the ungodly stuff and be born from above.