Death is a really confusing part of life – it’s messy, unpredictable, and painful for those left still living. For those dying, it’s a great unknown and possibly scary thing. Across the world, various cultures have created their own festivals to celebrate the dead, and to bring death back into our lives. Most of the time we hide away from it, we recoil in horror. The ever-increasing popularity of Halloween in Britain and America are arguably our attempts to sanitise and control it, by making it something comically scary, and thus “unreal”.

But parties for the dead are nothing new. And the dead do not have to be frightening, any more than Death itself need be feared. Few things in this world are guaranteed, but death is one of them. Even taxes can be avoided – but in the end, Death will come for you, whether you are ready or not. Will you greet Death as a friend, or enemy?

At present I am re-reading the Harry Potter stories with my daughter. In the Philosopher’s Stone, Harry is shocked that Dumbledore and Flamel have chosen to destroy the stone that allows the owner to brew the elixir of life, and thus never die. Dumbledore’s reply is, I think, very wise. “To the well-organised mind, death is but the next great adventure.”

Whilst there are so many unknowns, so many unanswerable questions, and both of those things are quite scary for the less adventurous among us (including me!), I find enormous comfort in Jesus Christ, and the fact that on the other side of Death are not horrible drooling ghouls and ghosts, but my friends and family. We do not go silent into that good night, but rather into light and life in a different dimension and join the millions who have gone before us. After all, that’s what the ancient Church festivals of All Saints and All Souls are about, and tonight – Hallowe’en – is simply the Eve of All Hallows, or All Saints.

When I light my pumpkin this evening, I shall be adding a prayer for all those who I have known who have died, and that flickering light in the darkness shall join all those other tiny lights, a shining patchwork, reminding us that, through the mercy of Christ, the dead are always with us, even if we can’t see them.

Talisker

Photo by Pascal Müller on Unsplash