It is not typical to celebrate Holy Communion during a funeral service within the United Church of Christ (although it is always an option, and one I recommend). In the more liturgical churches, Communion is almost always celebrated.
In the Roman Catholic funeral rite, the beginning of the eucharistic prayer includes a statement that always strikes me, no matter how many times I hear it: “Lord, for your faithful people life is changed, not ended.”
As Christians, that is our fundamental belief. Our body is our earthly dwelling place. When this earthly abode lies in death, we are given an everlasting dwelling place in heaven – abiding in God through Christ. The death of our mortal bodies is not the end of life, but a moment of transformation.
“Life is changed, not ended.” This is true when death comes to each of us, but it is true at many points before our earthly pilgrimage is ended.
Life is changed, not ended…
When we leave home and venture forth.
When we commit ourselves in love to another person.
When we have children.
When we lose a cherished job.
When we leave behind a hometown, friends, and family to pursue our calling.
When we lose someone we love — a parent, a spouse, a sibling…
When our children venture forth on their own.
When we conclude our life of work.
When we lose some of our strength, our capabilities, our independence.
All through our lives we have moments and movements that bring one chapter to a close, almost always before we are sure what awaits us in the next chapter. Change brings loss. Even welcome change, like a marriage or a promotion to the job of your dreams, brings loss. You can’t have what’s next until you let go of what is.
At these transitional moments we need to cling to the faith in resurrection: “life is changed, not ended.” Learning to let go of the past and our attachment to the way things are at the moment is one of the most important life tasks.
It can be fearful to accept change. It is tempting to give way to dread of the future or an unhealthy attachment to a past that has slipped through our fingers. We can become bitter and resentful when confronted with an unwanted change. We can dig our heels in and refuse to go forward with our lives, becoming stuck in a no-man’s-land between an irretrievable past and unwelcome future.
All these reactions are born of fear.
We who hold to the belief that even death itself is not the end of life can be liberated from these fearful reactions. But it takes practice letting go and moving forward in trust.
As you go through your day today, be on the lookout for the ways in each day, “life is changed, not ended.”
Prayer: Like a toddler forced to let go of a toy, this feels like the end of the world to me. Still my soul, quiet my spirit, remind me that life is changed, not ended.