Footnote

While we were typing the testy little note below -- in fact, while typing the windy conclusion re: denial of death, and wondering if this weren't a bit too much -- the telephone rang.  It was a woman from England, planing to visit her daughter in our neighborhood, and asking what our services were like.

We danced around a bit, looking for cross-cultural references.  And then she blurted out, "Our son died last year.  We're Baptists, but our own church is too happy-clappy for us now.  We just can't bear it anymore."

"It's okay," we said.  "This is the kind of church where people don't have to be ashamed of being sad."

And then we finished typing, confident that we were right.  Churches, if they want to be faithful, must avoid the temptation to deny death.