Dying
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Here is Bede Griffiths on the subject of creation and transfiguration. The Archbishop of Canterbury asked yesterday "What will we do in heaven?" The answer is "Enjoy God" and hell would be no longer wanting to enjoy God. The art of dying is something we all need to learn every day and my Mum and Dad certainly taught that.
I asked a question about The Dream of Gerontius and pointed out that many of our hymns about heaven are 19th century e.g. Jerusalem the golden lovely as it is is a Victorian version of an older hymn. "Glorious things of thee are spoken" is a great hymn as is "Blessed city" but we need more. People use spirituals but Bishop George Rowell said maybe he would write a new hymn to fill the gap! The last verse of "One in royal" expresses comfort for those who have died - infant mortality was very high.
Gerontius has shaped our understanding of purgatory. Interesting that Tom Wright commented that the present Pope says purgatory is now the fiery purging of the soul at the moment of death agreeing with Karl Barth.
A good death was discussed from Christian and Islamic viewpoints. We can learn a lot from the way the whole umma responds to the death of anyone not just your friends and family. I wonder why we do not do more in the home and school to prepare people for the inevitable. Our society seems to think we are immortal and avoid death to the extent of no funeral rite at all or a truncated one. A thanksgiving service without a body instead of a requiem.
Here is Bede Griffiths on the subject of creation and transfiguration. The Archbishop of Canterbury asked yesterday "What will we do in heaven?" The answer is "Enjoy God" and hell would be no longer wanting to enjoy God. The art of dying is something we all need to learn every day and my Mum and Dad certainly taught that.
I asked a question about The Dream of Gerontius and pointed out that many of our hymns about heaven are 19th century e.g. Jerusalem the golden lovely as it is is a Victorian version of an older hymn. "Glorious things of thee are spoken" is a great hymn as is "Blessed city" but we need more. People use spirituals but Bishop George Rowell said maybe he would write a new hymn to fill the gap! The last verse of "One in royal" expresses comfort for those who have died - infant mortality was very high.
Gerontius has shaped our understanding of purgatory. Interesting that Tom Wright commented that the present Pope says purgatory is now the fiery purging of the soul at the moment of death agreeing with Karl Barth.
A good death was discussed from Christian and Islamic viewpoints. We can learn a lot from the way the whole umma responds to the death of anyone not just your friends and family. I wonder why we do not do more in the home and school to prepare people for the inevitable. Our society seems to think we are immortal and avoid death to the extent of no funeral rite at all or a truncated one. A thanksgiving service without a body instead of a requiem.
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