16 September 2022

If we have hoped in Christ for this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.
But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died.
From 1 Corinthians 15: 12-20, NRSV

Although naturalists are finding evidence that some species of animals recognise and, in their way, mourn the death of another, it still seems that humans are the only species who wonder what happens next. Some people feel that death is the end but most cultures over history have developed beliefs that, somehow, life goes on. Christianity bases its faith in an afterlife on the testimony of those who encountered Jesus after his resurrection. It holds that Christ did not come just to teach people how to live a good life on earth but to open up to them a way to eternal life – a life that Jesus himself described as “life in all its fulness”.

• • Which animals have you heard about marking the death of another?
  • What does an afterlife in all its fulness mean to you?

Pray for those who fear death because they see it as the end of everything.