The sun shown down brightly, onto all those on earth. The trees swayed with the wind, accompaniment to the tune that the blue birds sung. The crickets cricked, adding a beat to the song of nature. But this beautiful melody, on this day, was a song of sadness. Of sorrow, of despair. It was haunting, as feet shuffled through the fallen leaves, the sound jarring to the wonderful song that god had offered. It was like a radio station, playing rhythms that would rock your very soul, but the full extent of the music was hindered, by something as frivolous as static.

The feet moved towards a patch on the beautifully manicured grass, silently gliding on the soft blades and the cold hard soil. They gathered round an erected podium on stilts. And on it laid a simple and elegant bed. An eternal bed. What they in mortal terms would call, a coffin.

The Priest, a big round man, with the face serene and calm, looked around to the grieving faces before him, and cleared his throat carefully, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose as he looked down into the sermon he prepared.

“To someone without faith, they did appear to die, but that is not the case at all. Someone with faith can say, “they are in peace.” They merely appeared to die, their going was like a disaster, their leaving us was like an annihilation. In other words, they did not die, they only appeared to die, their leaving us was not a disaster or annihilation, it only seemed that way. What better place could we go to after death than into the hands of God? What a beautiful way to describe God’s care for us. We believe that God has taken Carmen up into his hands.

They who trust in him will understand the truth,

Those who are faithful will live with him in love;

For grace and mercy await those he has chosen.

They will understand the truth, the truth that when we die we are in the hands of God, in the hands of God who cares for us and so we do not need to be afraid. Those who trust in him will understand the truth. Those who are faithful will live with him in love. When we die we go to God’s love. There is no need to be afraid if we do not and have not rejected God’s offer of love. Who is ever afraid of love? Love attracts us, heals us, helps us, gives us energy for life, helps us to grow, develop and mature. Those who are faithful will live with God in love. It is grace and mercy God wants to give us. We can look forward to God’s love, grace and mercy after death. Anything else is of our own making and we have time to repent and reform before death.