Categories: uncategorized
Date: 09 March 2006 11:42:05
That was the headline that grabbed my attention on the BBC website this morning.
Unfortunately, its not a story showing how the church is trying to subjugate worshippers but a story relating to the collapse of a church roof onto the congregation. The story that raised an initial smile led to the death of 27 people. A big sacrifice to cheer me up.
Yet, as we go through life, we find that we often smile in times of pain and mourning in order to get through. It's not in an attempt to belittle the suffering of others but a form of defense to keep the hurt at arm's length.
I must plead guilty to not taking death seriously. I've always felt that it is one of life's most over hyped events. As a Christian I belief that death is not the end but a pause; a chance to draw breath before an eternity of worship and communion with God.
The only really depressing funeral I've ever been to was that of a friend's mother. She had grown up in Northern ireland and seen the destructive and devisive side of Christianity at first hand. That led her to a lifelong belief that we are here and then we are nothing.
I found the Humanist service to be the most depressing event of my life. Not that her life wasn't celebrated but that she, and her family, believed that that was it. There was nothing for the family to cling onto. No hope in the afterlife. No rejoicing in salvation and the future.
Over the last year I have seen how that lack of hope has begun to eat away at the lives of those left behind. They are finding it hard to come to terms with her death. There is no end in sight to her husband's mourning and attempt to move on with life. I know that they al loved her greatly. Even I miss her and her slightly exentric way of moving through life.
In some ways the 27 families mourning loved ones in Uganda have it a lot easier than the 3 surviving family members in the UK. At least they have a belief in a future reunion with those they've lost.