Why believe in Life after Death?
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Just over a year ago my mother died. She was taken ill very suddenly with an aggressive form of leukaemia and there was really nothing the doctors could do for her. Four weeks after diagnosis she moved from Leeds General Infirmary into St Gemma’s Hospice – and two weeks later, with all of us around her she died. My mother was a woman of great faith – she had prayed over me when I was sick as a child, and I’m sure she had constantly prayed for me throughout the ups and downs of my life. Throughout her last night we had taken it in turns sitting with her, we played beautiful choral music from Kings on a CD player, and then in the morning I anointed her, absolved her and told her that it was time to let go and go to God. An hour later her breathing became shallower, slower, and after a few last gasps for breath she died. 

That is a story, I know, many of you have been through with people you love. 

As my mother lay there, motionless, my sister said that she saw a glint of light appear in her eye the moment I said the words of absolution and that it was still there and she was sure that she was safe. We sat there not quite knowing what to do. We just wanted to sit with her body for while. My father was with us and my mother’s sister, and we just wanted to be together. 

About an hour later my sister’s best friend arrived. My sister, Josie, had arranged with the nurses that she was going to wash mum and lay her out. She wanted to do it for her – the child, mother roles reversed, - two mothers together. Her friend was going to help her. As Sally – her friend - walked into the bedroom, the very first thing she said was “She looks lovely – she has a glint in her eye” And indeed she had!


What has happened to my mother now that her body has been cremated and her ashes buried under a tree in the Leeds Wetlands I do not know. I don’t know what happens to souls or spirits and where we go and what it looks like - what I do know is that she had a glint in her eye.

And – and this is the most important thing of all – I trust God. When I say “I believe in God” I really mean I trust God. I trust that God is Good and that God wants what is good for us. And I trust that God is faithful and that God will give us what is good for us. I trust Jesus that when he said “I am the resurrection and the life” he was not lying. And I trust Jesus that his resurrection from the dead was not a wicked tease but a real sign of what is to come. I don’t really know anything for certain… I can’t prove the existence of God, or the existence of life after death – but I do have faith. I believe in God.


I believe that God is Good – Yes I know that some religions think that God is neither good nor evil but a balance of both. But I would not worship a God like that. I would be frightened of him, I would hate him, but I would not worship him. When I read the Bible I believe it when it tells me time and time again that God loves his people.. 

“but now, thus says the Lord, he who created you.. Do not fear, for I have redeemed you, I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you and through the rivers they shall not overwhelm you, when you walk through fire you shall not be burned and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God. You are precious in my sight, and honoured, and I loved you. “ 


And I believe God is faithful - When God promises to set his people free – he does it. When God promises to restore the fortunes of Zion – he does it. When God promises to bless the offspring of Abraham, he does it. 

“God is not a human being, that he should like, or a mortal that he should change his mind, Has he promised and will he not do it? Has he spoken and will he not fulfil it?” 

If God promises to love us, “As a mother comforts he child, so I will comfort you.” 
Then I believe him. 


And I believe in Jesus … for all the reasons I said on Thursday evening I believe that Jesus is more than just a good man, - he is someone I want to follow, I believe what he says even if I do not fully understand it. 

And so when Jesus speaks to the Saduccees I believe what he said: 
“That same day some Sadducess came to him, saying that there is no resurrection?
… Jesus answered them “You are wrong. Because you know neither the scriptures not the power of God. As for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God. “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? He is God not of the dead but of the living.” 

And I believe in the resurrection of Jesus …. I don’t think he came back to life as a one off, but that he might show us and teach us that death is not the end of God’s story with us. 

I, like you, am confused about what I read. I can see that sometimes people recognise him, and at other times even his closest friends – ST Mary Magdalene, and the disciples on the Emmaus Road do not recognise him. I can see that sometimes he is said to eat fish and have breakfast and that he invites Thomas to touch him because he is not a ghost, and at other times he can appear in rooms through closed doors. I can see that he was with his disciples for forty days after the resurrection, but for some reason that could be right for ever – that he had to leave the earth and ascend to heaven. I don’t understand why he – or the spirits of those we love – do not have contact with us, but I see that somehow that’s the way it is – He must go to the father – just as we must leave this earth and go to the father. 

And what do we get when we go to the Father – I don’t know that either. I’m personally not very moved by pulling out lines from the Book of Revelation to try to work out exactly what the topography of heaven will look like – and I think if Jesus had really wanted us to know more about heaven then he would have told us. He tells us that Lazarus – the poor man – is now comforted with Abraham, and that the rich man is in Agony - he tells us that there is a judgement and that some suffer and some inherit the kingdom – but exactly what that looks like we do not need to know. 


And so, as my mother’s body lay on the hospice bed getting colder and colder – she had a glint in her eye. I wept, for I will miss her – she had been with me all my life and had loved me – but I believe God is good, and God is faithful, and Jesus speaks the truth and the resurrection is the cornerstone of our faith and I could sing “thine be the glory, risen conquering son, endless is the victory thou o’er death has won”

Christ is risen.
He is risen indeed. 

Paul Kennington
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