Speaking of Dying

I was recently challenged to think of the last time I heard a good sermon on the topic of death and dying.  And after thinking about it for some time, it finally occured to me that I couldn't come up with an answer because I simply can't remember the last time I heard any sermon-- let alone a good one-- on the subject of death or dying.  I've heard some sermons on resurrection, usually around Easter time.  I've heard a funeral homily or two, which provide some comfort for those who greive, but usually have more to do with giving thanks for a person's life than they do making sense of death. I don't know if I've ever really heard a regular, Sunday morning sermon on the subject of dying.

As a pastor, I can think of several reasons why this might be so.  For one thing, we preachers tend to want to inspire and motivate people with our sermons.  We want people to feel uplifted and revived for another week-- or at least I do.  Which isn't to say that every sermon has to be a "feel good" sermon.  But I do think we tend to shy away from topics that seem too dreary or sad.  And maybe part of that comes from our pastoral instincts.  Throughout the course of a week, we visit with members who have lost mothers, fathers, spouses, and siblings.  We talk with the wife whose husband is running out of treatment options.  We counsel the member who is struggling in their marriage. We hear from the woman who is terrifying she may lose her job.  Or her children.  Or her home.  Maybe we fear that to talk about death on Sunday morning is too much.  Amidst so much suffering, we feel it is our job to offer a word of hope-- not dwell on a topic that will only cause us more pain.

But then, perhaps that is exactly where the problem lies.  We don't seem to think that a sermon about death and dying could also somehow be a sermon about hope.  We seem to have abandoned the idea that the Christian story could have something important and meaningful to say about death. In the words of Fred Craddock, we have "outsourced" death and dying to doctors, hospitals, and modern medicine and technology.  But what about the old story that says in our living and in our dying, we belong to God?  That from before we are born until after we are gone, our souls are cared for and loved by God?  That dying is a natural part of life, not something to be feared, and indeed, merely the beginning of another incredible journey?  We seem to have given all that up.  Maybe because it doesn't fit into the modern American narrative that sees death as the ultimate defeat to be avoided, rather than a natural part of life to be faced with integrity and hope.  

I'm not sure how we got so far away from speaking about death as part of the Christian story.  And I'm not entirely sure how to find our way back.  But it seems to me that we must.