Shying away from Death Issues

Prize for ironic typo of the year to Ekklesia, whose "Christians should not shy away from death issues, say Methodists" read, first time out, "Christians should shy away from death issues, say Methodists".
Credit to them for pointing out the mistake, which I re-read first time in surprise as Methodists aren't known for shying away from anything, given half a chance.

But it's an interesting one, isn't it? I presumed (because initially too lazy to read the actual article that is presumably linked to the headine) that Ekklesia was thinking of the sort of progressive political issues of euthanasia which presumably some unexpectedly death-leaning Methodists might have gone for. But no. This is a serious article about death itself and leaflets relating to it - not about tidily clearing up some septuagenarian who's getting in the way of the next generation. Well done the Methodists. As usual.

Sounds like it might be good stuff. Especially in a world that hides death away.  And gets rid of dead bodies with industrial efficiency, lest we stop and think and ponder that it's not just their fate - the ones who we're mourning now, with a sense of desperation and a tactful curtain and a CD of "My Way" played over at the critical point - but it's our fate - indeed, my fate - that we're thinking of.

You're 70 years (or 80, if you have the strength) alive and an eternity dead. Yet we look at the exception and hide from the rule. If we knew how long we're dead - if we looked it in the eye, and realised what it meant - what would it mean for our lives? And what would it mean for how we look at eternity?  If it meant we thought death was the end, and lived life like it was worth living, really worth living - how great would that be? And if we thought death wasn't the end - and life had an eternal value in the light of that great non-termination - how amazing would life be then?

Enough. I'm rambling. Let's live life as if Eastenders is important and struggling through to lunch is an achievement, and death's going to be like sitting in the front room, with a maiden aunt and the curate who you can't offend, without a set of dominoes and with a tea-pot full of insipid tea, forever. That's going to make the difference.