Dear All
I happened to be at St Mary’s church in Richmond in October to discover that one of the upcoming events in the church is something called ‘Death talk’. As part of the Café Church series the church runs, people are invited to gather over coffee and cake to reflect on their own mortality. Similar events have taken place before and have always been a success.
This is the church’s response to a culture where death is largely unseen almost to the point of denial. Our culture’s obsession with preventing ageing and the growing popularity of direct cremation, I think, testify to our discomfort around death. In such a context, a church that openly talks about death appears counter-cultural. The gap between the church and the secular reality is often illustrated by the fact that as the church marks the All Souls’ Day in the beginning of November, when we do reflect on death and remember the departed, the world around us seems to be racing towards Christmas. There is something ironic in the fact that this year the Christmas Window Reveal event at Fenwick department store in Newcastle is scheduled for 2nd November – the day when churches, including ours, will hold their All-Souls’ services.
And yet, while the launch of Fenwick’s windows is no doubt fun, I would encourage all of you to come to church on this occasion or perhaps to take some time to reflect at home. It might seem counterintuitive, but being aware of death is a good thing. Our ancestors knew it and were actively concerned with dying well. In the Middle ages, the ideas of Ars Moriendi – The Art of Dying – and Ars Vivendi – The Art of Living – went hand-in-hand. Today, it is not difficult to guess which of the arts we are still keen to pursue and which is largely forgotten. But life itself cannot exist without death, which is every life’s natural conclusion, and if we escape thinking of it elsewhere, it is only right that we are invited to reflect on it by the Church, being also reminded that, through Christ, death is not as final as it appears.
Ana