No one has yet believed in God and
the kingdom of God, no one has yet heard about the realm of the resurrected,
and not been homesick from that hour, waiting and looking forward joyfully to
being released from bodily existence.
Whether we are young or old makes no
difference. What are twenty or thirty or
fifty years in the site of God? And
which of us knows how near he or she may already be to that goal? That life only really begins when it ends
here on earth, that all that is here is only the prologue before the curtain
goes up - that is for young and old alike to think about. Why are we so afraid when we think about
death?.... Death is only dreadful for
those who live in d read and fear of it.
Death is not wild and terrible, if only we can be still and hold fast to
God's Word. Death is not bitter, if we
have not become bitter ourselves. Death
is grace, the greatest gift of grace that God gives to people who believe in
him. Death is mild, death is sweet and
gentle, it beckons to us with heavenly power, if only we realize that it is the
gateway to our homeland, the tabernacle of joy, the everlasting kingdom of
peace. How do we know that dying is so
dreadful? Who knows whether, in our
human fear and anguish we are only shivering and shuddering at the most
glorious, heavenly, blessed event in the world?
Death is hell and night and cold, if it is not transformed by our
faith. But that is just what is so
marvelous, that we can transform death.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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