Litany of the Four Last Things: Death

We are dying day by day;
Soon from earth we pass away;
LORD of life, the Thee we pray:
Hear us Holy JESU.

Ere we hear the Angel's call,
And the shadows round us fall,
Be our SAVIOUR, be our all:
Hear us Holy JESU.

Wean our hearts from things below,

Make us all Thy love to know,

Guard us from our ghostly foe:

Hear us Holy JESU.
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Shelter us with Angel's wing,

To our souls Thy pardon bring;

So shall death have lost its sting:

Hear us Holy JESU. 

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In the gloom Thy light provide;

Safely through the valley guide;

Thee we trust, for Thou hast died:

Hear us Holy JESU.

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There is little as sobering as death - it is undeniably the great barrier to hubris and silencer of lofty philosophical relativism.  We all die, but all do not die the same.

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For those who know and love Jesus - death, though a big deal is no big drama: even when it comes hasty and unexpected.  This is because Jesus IS the one who has died and has come out the other side, leaving a gaping hole in the finality of death. For Christians death is no longer a source of terror under the justice, mercy and promise of God.  Even when grieving for the ones we love who go into death without the hope of Christ, our hearts are comforted still (even then!) by God's justice.  There will be nothing in death that will tarnish the Life and Light of God, revealed in Christ.  I trust Jesus now, I will trust Him then!  I trust Him according to His promise now, will I then call Him to account according to my concepts of justice and truth?  Revelation speak of Him as the One who will wipe away every last tear - there will be no mourning in Heaven.

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It is well summed up in the last but one line of the final stanza: "Thee we trust for Thou hast died"

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Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lamp stands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.

When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades." Revelation 1:12-17