death and such...

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Jan 13, 2009 Authored by Todd Niebling | Category: Random Musing

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I just had lunch with Sarah and we talked about how we were looking forward to watching Scrubs tonight.  If you've never seen the show, it's pretty good.  They seem to combine humor with thoughtfulness that I'm not sure I've seen come out of a sitcom before.  The reason I bring it up here, is not to just tell you about TV shows that I like, but I wanted to share a bit of last weeks episode.  In the show there was a conversation between two doctors and a patient who is in hospice care.  They spoke a lot about death and what they thought it would be like.  The patient was scared...the doctors eventually share their own fears regarding death.  It was an honest moment, and one that probably resonates even with those in the church. 

You know...no matter how much we talk and reassure ourselves that eternal life is our reward for a life of faith...death is still scary.  Even if you're not really scared of it...there are always questions as to what it will be like.  These sorts of questions are universal.  In the Scrubs episode the doctors put aside their 10 year tradition of "Steak Night", to comfort a dying patient.  If you're interested...you can watch the episode here.  Now...I tend not to look to sitcoms for my theology, but I do feel that seeing shows, reading the news, and seeing the art that the world puts out can help us use our theology...and seeing this episode reminded me of something very important 1) everyone deals with death and 2) we have so much to offer people who are in need of comfort when they lose a loved one or maybe they are dying themselves. 

So if you're someone who doesn't really like to think about death because it's too scary, just remember that we have a God who is faithful to us and has promised us eternal life.  Though we will depart when our numbered days are complete...we can look forward to that day that we are released from this world and are asleep in the Lord.  Until then...there is always comfort to be found when we rest in the arms of Christ...and Jesus has chosen us to be his arms incarnate while we are here.