A friend of mine died unexpectedly this week while recovering from surgery. While I didn't know this friend for a really long time I knew her well enough to feel the loss in my own life. It made me think more about life and its meaning and what happens after we die.
When N. was really young I took a job working night shift at a cancer hospital in Ohio. It was a good job with spectacular benefits (that's why I took the job). Part of my job as a Patient Care Associate/phlebotomist was taking people to the morgue once they died. The first time is always the hardest. You clean them up, put them carefully into a big plastic bag move them onto a metal cart and quietly take them to the basement of the hospital to the big cold room with a big metal door. It's a pretty bleak assignment and no one is a really big fan, especially at night. I remember the somber feeling of turning off the lights and closing the door and walking away. What made it fine for me to do that without sinking into depression or anything is entirely a question of faith. It's the same question of faith that helps me when a friend leaves this mortality behind.
One night after leaving the morgue I felt how really deeply I believed in the resurrection. I have hope and a firm faith that life continues beyond the grave and that the metal doors of a hospital morgue and a pile of soil on a grave are no more permanent than the stone that was rolled in front of the garden tomb of the Savior. I'm happy to have this faith and I feel sad for those who don't. There are so many passages of scripture that express the beauty of what I believe. Here are just a few.
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." -John 3:16
"But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive."
- 1 Corinthians 15:20-22
"...Behold it has been made known unto me by an angel, that the spirits of all men, as soon as they are departed from this mortal body, yea, the spirits of all men, whether they be good or evil, are taken home to that God who gave them life. And then shall it come to pass that the spirits of those who are righteous are received into a state of happiness, which is called paradise, a state of rest, a state of peace, where they shall rest from all their troubles and from all care, and sorrow."
- Alma 40:11-12
"Thou shalt live together in love, insomuch that thou shalt weep for the loss of them that die and more especially for those that have not hope of a glorious resurrection. And it shall come to pass that those that die in me shall not taste of death, for it shall be sweet unto them." - Doctrine & Covenants 42:45-46
I'm attending the funeral in the morning and I was also thinking about my favorite hymns for such occasions. Here is the short list (in no particular order).
The Navy Hymn
Abide With Me
Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing
Angel Band
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