Changed, not Ended

For to your faithful people, O Lord, life is changed, not ended; and when our mortal body lies in death, there is prepared for us a dwelling place eternal in the heavens.

The above sentence is from the proper preface in the Eucharist for the commemoration of the dead. Life is changed, not ended. Yesterday I had the honor of sitting with a friend as he was changed, not ended when his mortal body lay in death. Life is a mystery and it is fleeting. Eugene Peterson in his paraphrase of the Bible, The Message, gives us this from the Book of Ecclesiastes: "Life, lovely while it lasts, is soon over. Life as we know it, precious and beautiful, ends. The body is put back in the same ground it came from. The spirit returns to God, who first breathed it." We've all had the experience of saying goodbye to those we love. And we always say goodbye too soon. We've all had loved ones die suddenly and sometimes tragically. We've all known those who are by anyone's account, too young to die.

But sitting with my friend yesterday as he was changed illumined a great truth. It is an act of God when we come into this world. A birth is a majestic, wonderful miracle. There is hope and there is happiness and there is so much in store for this new life. And when we die, when we are changed, despite the tears and bodily absence - there is hope and there is happiness and there is so much in store for this new life.

Celebrate today and give thanks. Let us enjoy our relationships and the love that binds us together. Let us remember that life here is but a short while, but life when we are changed - is forever.

Fr Steve+

PS: Ellen won the imaginary prize! Pentecost is 50 days after Easter.