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“The Lord enters us only from the inside, that is, by means of the Word and by lessons and sermons based on the Word.” (Divine Providence 131)
“I heard a voice from heaven saying, ‘Write, “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now onward; their works follow them.”’” (Revelation 14:13, as quoted in Divine Providence 128)
The Contemporary English Version gives a clear sense of the literal message of this verse:
“Then I heard a voice from heaven say, ‘Put this in writing. From now on, the Lord will bless everyone who has faith in him when they die.’ The Spirit answered, ‘Yes, they will rest from their hard work, and they will be rewarded for what they have done.’”
But that is far from the message I get when I contemplate it.
For me this passage speaks right to the state of my life now. “Dying in the Lord” happens almost every day for me. I find comfort in the message that it is okay to let go of expectations I might have about life, to let go of the tight grip I have on the way I think my life should look. Now five years and three kids later, my ideas of what marriage and motherhood would be like have been dying and being replaced with the courage to affirm what my actual experience has been.
In this passage, the dead who have died in the Lord are blessed because of their works. I know that when I am able to let expectations, projections, and judgments about myself, the people around me, and my circumstances die and instead be present to whatever is manifesting with compassion, the way I act is markedly different, my works take on a softness and level of humility they did not have before. When I have the courage to die in this way, I find to my surprise that life after these deaths is better than before; I have a greater sense of peace and more easily feel joy—blessings that far make up for what was lost in the process.
Chelsea is an assistant editor for New Church Connection and an editor and writer for New Church Perspective. She lives with her husband and three children in Willow Grove, PA.