Manchaca UMC

Lesson 6: There is life after death

One of our main tenets as Christians is the confidence in life after death. We see Christ’s own resurrection as a first fruit and guarantee of that life. Paul writes about resurrection in I Corinthians 15 and tells the Philippians that death for him would mean being with Christ (1:20). Interestingly, Dr. David Kessler’s interviews with those who are often present with people in the last moments of life reveals common experiences reported about people leaving this life while entering into the next. He cites three phenomena- visions, trips and crowded rooms. Visions- “as the dying lose sight of this world, some of them appear to be looking into the world to come.” Trips- many see their death as a journey. Thomas Edison’s last words were, “It is very beautiful over there.” Steve Jobs said, “Oh wow, oh wow, oh wow.” Crowded rooms- the dying often repeat the word “crowded” over and over as they see many people filling the room where they await their death. Often these are people whom they have known in their life and have died. Sometimes they even see ancestors whom they have never met. 

When asked about his own belief in life after death, Dr. Kessler will also turn the question back on the one grieving, “Yes. But do you believe in life after death for the living as well?” He asserts the belief that we can both maintain love for the one we have lost while still moving forward with our lives. Not that we get to a point where it is as if the loss never happened, but rather we can get to a point where it no longer controls us. Acceptance of the loss is a good start as we open ourselves to the experience of grieving. One person cited her fear that she might drown if she let the grief in, but she found that eventually the waters parted as they did for Moses and she could move forward. Kessler, who is personally acquainted with grief through the loss of a son, postulates a sixth stage of grief- meaning. Meaning is not in the death itself but in our response and the life we make after it. He asks these powerful questions: “Where is your loved one now? Are you still at their deathbed?” Their suffering is past. Our suffering can ease as we continue to move forward in a new life while honoring their life.

~David