Preparing to wake up

At the end of my previous post, I wrote about Christ and his people, both those who are alive and those who have 'fallen asleep.'

I want to unpack the last part about falling asleep, as I think many people, including myself, have lately been thinking about death and resurrection.

'Falling asleep' has been the Christian expression for physical death since the time of the apostles (1 Cor. 15:20). The phrase implies that death is not the end; that, just as we wake up in the morning after we sleep, we will live again after we die. 

This understanding comes from Jesus' own words to his disciples: 'For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. . . . I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. . . . Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out -- those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned' (John 5:21, 25, 28-29).

In other words, a resurrection awaits us all, and after that, a reckoning of our lives: those who followed Christ will experience fullness of life, and those who did evil will face condemnation.

Reilig Oran and St Oran's Chapel

As I have mentioned before, the Iona Community has a weekly pilgrimage on the Isle of Iona, where pilgrims walk around the island in prayer and reflection.

The pilgrimage ends in Reilig Oran, a graveyard where, for centuries, people have been buried in the hope of the resurrection. There the pilgrimage group remembers how Christ's own tomb was not only the location of his burial, but more importantly, the location of his resurrection. 

Then the group remembers many Celtic Saints who have come before, who themselves embarked on pilgrimages seeking the 'place of their resurrection': the places where they would serve God until they died, trusting that there they would hear Christ's voice calling them out of their sleep on the morning of their resurrection. 

Such Saints recognised that this world was not their home; they were pilgrims journeying towards the kingdom of God. Like the Hebrews exiled in Babylon, although they sought the welfare of the lands in which they lived (Jer. 29:7), they strived for their true homeland of eternal life in God. They prepared themselves, body and soul, to meet Christ face to face.

Such a vision transformed everything they did. They experienced Christ's power in their lives, the influence of which continues to be recognised and remembered today.

We, too, are invited to be pilgrims journeying towards our true home. How can we, like the Saints, prepare ourselves now for waking up after we sleep?

I close with one of the Church's prayers for those who have fallen asleep, which can remind us of our home in Christ:

Remember, O Lord, those who have fallen asleep
in hope of resurrection to eternal life,
[our family members]
and all those who have died in piety and faith;
and pardon them every offence,
willing and unwilling, 
in word or deed or thought,
by which they have offended.

Settle them in places of light, 
places of green pasture,
places of rest,
from which all sorrow, grief, and sighing have fled,
where the presence of your face gives joy to all your Saints from every age.

Grant them and us your Kingdom,
and participation in your ineffable and eternal good things,
and the enjoyment of your infinite and blessed life.

For you are the life, the resurrection, and the repose
of your servants who have fallen asleep, Christ our God,
and to you we give glory,
together with your Father who is without beginning,
and your all-holy, good, and life-giving Spirit,
now and forever, and to the ages of ages. Amen.

Listen: In the Lord, Taizé Community (sometimes sung at the end of the Iona Communiy pilgrimage)

Morning on Iona