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One of my favourite pastimes is watching a show called Startalk on YouTube. The host of the show is the one, the only Neil deGrasse Tyson. He’s a very popular astrophysicist and author and has a real gift for making very complicated topics in science accessible and exciting. I was watching an episode of Startalk on death. It was entitled: Why do We Die? The guest was the world’s foremost expert on the science of dying/aging, Venki Ramakrishnan. There was nothing spiritual about the episode. It was mostly about the science of aging and anti-aging. When they did talk about Death, they presented it in such a way as to say if you take death out of the equation life goes stagnant. You put off until tomorrow what you could do today and so you sit and do nothing. But once you get it that you know you are going to die, life becomes more special. You want to live every moment realizing time is short.
deGrasse Tyson summed it up at the end of the show with his Cosmic Perspective. He said: “I, at this stage in my life, value the knowledge that I will die because that gives meaning to every day that I’m alive; knowing that there’s one fewer days left in my future to love, to have new ideas, to make discoveries, to embrace all that it is to be alive in this world. …If the knowledge of death is what brings meaning to being alive, then to live forever is to live a life with no meaning at all if you can just put off to tomorrow what you could’ve done today…for now, knowing that I’m going to die is what’s keeping me going.”
When I first heard that, at first blush, it sounded quite wise. Live every moment to its fullest for you never know what a day may bring. I’ve done some hospital chaplaincy work inclusive of EMERG and I know without a doubt that there is a place called left field and things do come flying out of it. So, yeah, don’t put off until tomorrow or the next day or the next to do what needs to be done or would be good to do. But I have a problem with saying “the knowledge of death is what brings meaning to life.” That’s something that people with means and privilege say.
Here's something along that line from the more churchy side of things. Back in the late 80’s and early 90’s it became fashionable to tell young university age people that God’s calling could be found is where their greatest passion and the world’s greatest need meet up. That sounds really wise but...who’s going to clean the filters at the sewage treatment or pick the apples? It takes a certain amount of means and privilege for me to be able to do what I believe will make my life meaningful. At least 90% of the world’s population does not have the means or privilege to pursue their dreams.
As far as I see it, death is not what drives our pursuit for meaning. I rather think that death is the capstone on the monument of futility that this disease we call Sin has made of human existence. Sin robs life of its beauty and meaning and purpose and the fact that we die just makes it all the more futile. If death does anything, it ends the futility. That philosophy of “live fully because you’re going to die”, it’s good advice but it totally ignores human nature and how we are affected by Sin.
For most people, knowing you’re going to die doesn’t change much. A study was done a couple of decades ago on humans and our seeming inability to change. I wish I had the time this past week to dig through my books on why churches don’t change even when faced by imminent death to make sure I got it right, but… in the study people were told by their doctor that if they continue on living the way they are living – the lack of exercise and poor diet – they will be dead in less than five years. Did they change? 80% of the study participants did nothing to change their habits. Some tried and gave up. A handful succeeded. Such are we. So, knowing we are going to die doesn’t change much about how we live.
deGrasse Tyson would place himself in the category of being an atheist. Unlike some of the more popular atheists today, he is not belligerent towards people of faith unless those people of faith are using their religion to violate the rights and dignity of others as often is the case. As a scientist, he is quick to point out that faith can be a bias that keeps one from seeing what’s really there. The same can be said in reverse, that a lack of faith can be a bias that keeps one from seeing how this unimaginably immense Creation everywhere glorifies its Maker. God created this universe and called it very good. What God created and called very good, God will not resign to the futility of Sin and Death. Death is not the last word in God’s very good Creation. Jesus Christ and him raised from death is God’s final word that heals everything. As it went with him, so will it go with us.
Well, I don’t want to give you an Easter sermon just yet, so I’m going to hold off on the topic of Resurrection and go back to the topic of meaning. Knowing that I’m going to die doesn’t compel me to do the things I find meaningful. The fact that they are meaningful compels me. In the struggle to find meaningful life in the face of the futility caused by sin and death, I think it is important to consider purpose. Life will be meaningful if it serves a purpose so what is my purpose.
As Christians, when we talk about purpose and meaning our thoughts will likely be undergirded or at least informed by and maybe even formed around three theological thoughts: one, God created us; two, God created us to live full and meaningful lives, three, on God’s terms. The one who made us knows what will make life meaningful for us and give us joy so seek out what God wants. In searching for what this is I find the first question in the Westminster Larger Catechism of the Christian Faith helpful. It asks: “What is the chief and highest end of man?” It answers: “Man’s chief and highest end is to glorify God, and fully to enjoy him forever.” Let me give this a paragraph or two.
When we talk about glorifying God, we are not talking about a Great Leader Cabinet meeting in front of the press where you go around the table and everyone shamelessly grovels and lies about the great things the Great Leader has supposedly done. The biblical concept of glory is like a solar eclipse, when the moon passes in front of the sun. There comes a moment when the moon perfectly overlaps the sun and all you see is a black circle encircled by a crown of pure light – the glory. To glorify God is for us to live our lives such that the glory of God shines around us. It is to live lives of compassion, kindness, humility, and patience. It is to bear with one another, forgiving one another. It is to dress ourselves in love and thankfulness. Love is patient and kind. It doesn’t envy nor is it boastful and arrogant, rude, and self-seeking, or irritable keeping a record of wrongs. Love rejoices in the truth! Be filled with the Holy Spirit. People will know the Spirit of God lives in us when they see the fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
I’ve left out one word thus far – hope. Our God is the God who raises the dead. This world is rapidly filling with darkness, yet again. Wars, lies, cover-ups, sinking economy, climate disaster. I could go on. God has not absconded. God is being eclipsed by the vainglorious misdeeds of men who think they are gods. But just like in the midst of a solar eclipse the crown of glory of the sun encircles the moon and the darkness then starts to fade so are we who live in by the Spirit in the image of Christ. Friends, breathe the Spirit of God and be enfleshed with hope. The glory of God shines through us into this dark world. Glorify God and you will know what it is to enjoy him and this world will glimpse its one hope – Jesus Christ. Amen.
