Monday, May 26, 2008

further reflections on mortality

I heard just yesterday that Brad Hughes, son of Chickie, and brother to Andrea and Pastor Mark, had recently lost his battle with cancer. I performed a Google search earlier today and found Morley Walker's obituary here, and one at the Free Press's Passages site here.

I also received the news that Brenda Kroeker, the 43-year-old daughter of Pete and Minola Kroeker of Steinbach, and sister to Gailene, who is my age, had passed away a few days ago. (Minola and my mom are first cousins.) Brenda had never enjoyed perfect health, and doctors never could pinpoint why. Her funeral was to take place at 2pm Manitoba time as well.

I believe that the sacrificial death and resurrection of Jesus means that those who believe that he was who he said he was and live their lives according to his example will find themselves in his presence after they die. Even so, it seems to me that joy is an emotion that must percolate. It's hard to see the bigger picture when sorrow permeates one's corner of the canvas.

I wonder, too, if perhaps we treat death more dramatically in first world societies than we would in societies less developed, in which death is more commonplace. It occurs to me that we tend to think of death as "unnatural": so much of our efforts go into staving off aging, for example.

Anyway, my thoughts are with the Hughes family, the Kroeker family, and also still with Uncle Ben & family.

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