The Horizon
As my family gathered at Crown Hill for my mother’s interment this past weekend, I added a prayer to the Committal service that is not in The Book of Common Prayer.
We seem to give her back to you, O God, who gave her first to us. Yet as you did not lose her in giving, so we do not lose her by her return. Not as the world gives, do you give, O Lover of souls. What you give, you do not take away. For what is yours is ours also if we are yours. And life is eternal, and love is immortal, and death is only a horizon, and a horizon is nothing save the limit of our sight. Lift us up, O God, that we may see further; cleanse our eyes that we may see more clearly; draw us closer to yourself that we may know ourselves to be nearer to our beloved who are with you. And while your Son prepares a place for us, prepare us for that blessed place, that where they are and you are, we too may be; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
This image of a horizon reminds me that death, by the grace of God, is not an ending but a liminal space, a transitional state of being between our earthly existence and our full union with God. This, I believe, is what Paul means when he writes in the eighth chapter of his letter to the Romans “that neither death, nor life … will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Roman 8:38-39) Both the living and the dead reside together in the same liminal space.
Which is what we mean when we say we are surrounded and supported by the communion of saints. While Halloween may have dominated the cultural consciousness this week, in the church the focus has been on All Saints’ Day (November 1) and All Souls’ Day (November 2). These feast days are so important in the life of the church we commemorate them twice. This Sunday, November 6 we will celebrate All Saints’ during the 9 a.m. service and All Souls’ during the 11:15 a.m. service.
These two holy days remind us that the faithful departed — whether canonized saints or ordinary people like you and me — form “the company of heaven” which upholds us, supports us, stands with us, and, if we believe the words we pray in the Eucharistic prayer, lifts voices with us as we sing out “Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might.”
Whether someone you love died recently or many years ago. Whether today you are anticipating the death of a loved one or you are feeling your own mortality. Look to the horizon. Set yourself intentionally in the liminal space which already flows around you. Remember that you and all those you love are linked forever by the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.