"Your Departed Loved Ones Are Alive"

Religion in Daily Life By the Rev. Edward Chinn, D.Min. Rector, All Saints' Church 9601 Frankford Ave. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19114 (215) 637-5225 Written 5 November 2000

A doctor called on a man who was seriously ill. As the doctor was about to leave, the patient said, "Doctor, I'm afraid to die. Tell me what lies on the other side of death." Quietly the doctor replied, "I don't know." The doctor was holding the doorknob. From the other side of the door there came the sound of scratching and whining. As the doctor opened the door, a dog sprang into the room. The doctor said to the patient, "My dog has never been in this room before. He did not know what was inside. He did know that his master was here, and that was enough for him."

On the other side of the door of death is our Master, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus told his friends, "Let not your hearts be troubled; trust God, and trust me. In My Father's house are many resting places. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you." Behind the words "resting places" ("mansions" in the King James' Version) is the Greek word John used. It is the word "monai." These "monai" were inns where caravans stopped to rest at stages along their journey. Travelers sent their guides ahead of them to make preparations at the next resting place along the road. Jesus pictured himself as our guide. Life is a journey that continues through the event we call death. What a dynamic picture of our departed loved ones' progress as they are alive in life's next stage!

At the bottom of a pond, a group of water beetles discussed how they had seen members of their group crawl up a plant stem, pass through the water surface, and disappear, never to return. Despite promises to return, none of them did. Above the surface, the water beetle undergoes a change, sheds its shell, and emerges as a dragonfly with fragile wings that shimmer in the sunlight. The empty shell falls back into the water and sinks to the bottom. The other water beetles gather around it and shake their heads. Meanwhile, the dragonfly now lives in a new world and is unable to return to his old world. Isn't that how it is with our departed loved ones who are alive in the Unseen World?

Two events confirm that our departed loved ones are alive. In one, Jesus prayed while friends stood by. Suddenly, they saw him in a new light. Two long-dead leaders of Israel appeared beside Jesus. They were not dead, after all, but intensely alive in the Unseen World. In a second event, Jesus was on the cross. A man crucified beside him asked to be remembered when Jesus returned as King. Jesus answered, "I promise you that today you will be in Paradise with me." Jesus promised they would be alive and together in the Unseen World of the Departed. Paradise was one of the many names the Jewish people used for the "intermediate state," the stage after death and before the Resurrection.

In our Episcopal Prayer Book, we pray for our departed loved ones who are alive in Paradise: "And we also bless thy holy Name for all thy servants departed this life in thy faith and fear, beseeching thee to grant them continual growth in thy love and service" (The Book of Common Prayer, page 330).