death

Deaths of despair have been on the rise for years and are disproportionately concentrated among white, rural Americans without college degrees.

While millions have died of this horrible disease, many millions more are grieving their deaths. In addition, a third of COVID-19 survivors have “long-haul” symptoms. To all who suffer, God promises his presence and empathy (cf. John 11:35). Jesus feels all we feel and suffers as we suffer. Theologian Jürgen Moltmann famously described our Savior as the “crucified God.”

Instead of today's opinion that a quick death would be best, the 15th-century theological work called The Art of Dying asserts that Christians should define a “good death” as one in which people had been reconciled with their loved ones and to the God in whose presence they would soon stand.

“We never know when our time here will be over, so we all need to make the most of every minute we have,” the late basketball star Kobe Bryant wrote in a column right after 9/11.