SUNDAY SERVICES:

In 1962 Decca Recording Company rejected the Beatles.  They said, ‘We don’t like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out.”

In 1977 Ken Olson, Chairman of Digital Equipment Co., said, ‘There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.”

Sometimes we miss what lies ahead. 

And I am thinking about what lies ahead for each and every one of us, death.  Somehow, we seem to even miss that. 

I wonder if we just have a default setting for denial or if we choose to ignore it.

Why Is It Hard to Face Death?

Tim Keller asks, “Why is it so hard to face your own death or the death of loved ones?

It’s so hard because we think this broken world is the only world we’re ever going to have... But if Jesus is risen, then your future is so much more beautiful, and so much more certain, than that.”

I heard someone say after selling their company that they were now “set for life.”  

I knew which life they meant, but wondered about the next one.  Were they set for that one? 

They had all the wanted in this life, money, big house, fancy car, and ‘the good life.’ 

Getting Ready, Getting Set for the Next Life

But what about the one that lasts a lot longer, like forever.  How were they set for that one? 

Had they invested in eternity? 

Did they have treasure in heaven?  Jesus spoke more about that than you might think.

What about their inheritance?  What was laid up for them there?  Col. Pat Johns, a parishioner, friend, and Jesus lover, lay dying.  As I stood at the foot of his bed he opened his eyes, smiled and said, “Fr. Carl, I just can’t wait to get my inheritance.” 

He knew where he was going and had made preparations.  Part of this life is about getting ready for eternity. 

Giving It Away

One day while channel surfing, I caught a glimpse of a replay from 2020 with Vin Scully, the “voice of the Dodgers” for 67 years, and Reed Hastings, then co-CEO of Netflix.

Both were giving away money, lots of it, and valuable stuff, like an autographed baseball by Babe Ruth. 

When Jane Pauley asked why, what on earth had gotten into them?  The quick, simple, and direct response was “Well, we all die Jane.”  Astute. 

In the end, the size of our bank accounts and waistlines will not matter. 

For the most part, what matters in this world has little or no value in God’s Kingdom - money, performance, prestige, fame, and fantasies fulfilled.

Being set for life is worthless if we’re not set for death.

How Do We Prep for Eternity?

Jesus tells us over and over again in the scriptures.  We come to him, draw near.  The New Testament opens and close with the invite. “Come” he says to those fishing. 

And in the last part of the Revelation, the invitation still stands, to all who are thirsty, “The Spirit and bride say, Come.” 

We follow him until the dust from his footprints is between our toes.  Follow him, it’s  almost the last word in John’s gospel - “Follow me.” 

He’s the way, truth and life. The only one who can lead us through death to eternal life.  The only one, “no one comes to the Father but by me.” 

We practice denying self so he can live in us and through us to those he came to save.

The Freedom in Being Last

For about 5 years I would be on the road, or in the air, almost every weekend sharing the good news in Episcopal churches around the country.  Part of the travel game was to find ways to get on first so you could put your bag in the overhead near your seat. 

Believe it or not, someone suggested that for me to die to self was to give that up and allow others those prime spots: die to self, board last. 

I thought that was going a bit too far. 

I practiced first at grocery lines and I must say there is a real freedom in being last on purpose. I was amazed.

How We Should Live

We must make Jesus our number one priority, above everything/everyone else.  We learn what matters to our Lord and how different that is from what matters to/in this world. 

We can live like we will die tomorrow, and die like we’ll live forever.

We ask for his love to be extravagant in our lives.  We live in a hope of the promises of Jesus. Are they for real or not?

It's Not the Big Things

In this world people often want to “make it big.”  So they can be “set for life” I presume.  But that’s not so in the Kingdom.  We must keep our focus on what matters in God’s eyes.  Perhaps it’s not the big things. 

When my spiritual big brother lost his position at Yale because he wouldn’t play politics, here’s what he wrote in a note to me, “Oh well, perhaps, in the long run, it’s not such a bad thing since it can remind us that our identity is not to be found in our workplace, but in the small things that delight the Lord.”

Brother Lawerence said pretty much the same thing, “We must not grow weary of doing little things for the love of God, who looks not on the great size of the work but on the love of it.”

Where are you on this journey? Let me know in the comments below!

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