Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for, thou art not so,
For, those, whom thou think’st, thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poor death, nor yet canst thou kill me;
From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,
Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and soul’s delivery.
Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,
And poppy, or charms can make us sleep as well,
And better than thy stroke; why swell’st thou then?
One short sleep past, we wake eternally,
And death shall be no more, Death thou shalt die.[1]
Donne composed this meditation in the seventeenth century, during a time when death was still within the purview of most people. Now death is hidden, avoided as a reality, and yet we still denounce it as an evil. We are said to live in a “death-denying” culture, one that idolizes youth and believes medicine and technology will cure every illness. For this reason, death and dying deserve our attention.
And Christians have a unique word to say. Unfortunately, that word has of late been left unsaid.
English: A graveyard in Nagano prefecture, Japan (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
In one recent study of ten congregations whose pastors died while serving in leadership, Fred Craddock, Dale Goldsmith, and Joy V. Goldsmith found that in each case leaders “faced their dying largely in isolation.”[2] The congregations utilized different strategies to ignore or deny the realities facing their dying pastor, demonstrating a remarkable lack of reliance, understanding, or faith in the resources for those who are dying latent in Scripture and theology. The authors write, “The tragedy was that dying did not ‘fit’ into their Christian story.”[3] Honest, well developed speech concerning the end of life is so neglected, the authors contend, that even at funerals “dying and death is seldom the topic;…more likely to be the focus is the life of the deceased.”[4]
This is a void that must be addressed. Discipleship in faithful dying, or experiencing a good death, will become an even more pressing need in the future.
Preparation for Dying
From all oppression, conspiracy, and rebellion; from violence, battle, and murder; and from dying suddenly and unprepared, Good Lord, deliver us.
-The Great Litany, The Book of Common Prayer
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