Granite Flats

Pastor Todd:
[At funeral for slim] . Comforting words from Paul to be sure, but at times last like these we know that true comfort takes more than words, even from the good book. So what do we do? What do we say, to each other, to ourselves? Is there anything we can say? Is there any way to overcome this feeling of powerlessness. No doubt some of us are asking ourselves, could I have done something to prevent this tragedy. As if we possess the almighty's power to stop an accident. Such is the nature of loss, it causes us to careen from utter helplessness to extreme arrogance. And surely if a life as robust as Major Kirkpatrick's can be ended so abruptly, it reminds us of the unavoidable truth - that all life is tenuous. So how is it that this, this universal truth leads us to feel so alone. We can deny the feeling all we want, we may even try to hide away from our feelings. Like a wounded animal we separate ourselves from the pack, go off, lick our wounds, alone. Not a bad instinct perhaps, but let me suggest an alternative. If this life is a - -- precious, and if anything good can be found in a tragic circumstance like this, it's that death exposes the lie. The lie that we are separate, that we are not one. Christ prayed that his disciples might find the unity that he had with his father. That we might be one. Where if we are not one we are not his. Here we are, a community come together to say goodbye to one of our own. We are one.

Dr. Susan Andrews:
It's funerals you hate

Dr. Ronald Andrews:
Sentimental hogwash, all this talk about souls and life everlasting.

Dr. Susan Andrews:
We're all afraid of dying dear. And why shouldn't we be? It's utterly unacceptable that one day we simply cease to exist. Stop talking. Dancing. Thinking.

Dr. Ronald Andrews:
But we do.

Dr. Susan Andrews:
No Dr. Andrews, one of the first rules of scientific inquiry is to admit we don't know everything.

Dr. Ronald Andrews:
Of course, but...

Dr. Susan Andrews:
And the first law of dynamics makes it quite clear. Energy can be neither created nor destroyed, only transformed. And as we're made of matter and matter is energy, isn't it possible that we should go on in some form or some way that we've yet to comprehend.

Hershel Jenkins:

"You know who complains about how bad they've got it?

People who have it good enough to have time to complain."