In his letter to the church in Rome, Paul writes:
“We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. 8If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. 9For to this end Christ died and lived again, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.”
This is part of my vision of the Church. It’s a community that transcends time, space, and even the border between life and death. The Lord that you and I know is the same Lord that Paul, Augustine, and Luther knew. The Lord is head of all, not just here on earth, but those in heaven.
In other words, we are not irreparably separated from those who die in the name of the Lord. Though we are now removed from their presence by sight, they belong to the same assembly of the faithful. And when we die, perhaps things won’t be that different after all.
Jesus Christ is Lord now, and Jesus Christ will be Lord over there. And I wonder, are we the ones that are living, or are we the ones that are dead?
the rev. jimmy abbott 