Brokenness to Bliss: Good News About Death, Dying, and Beyond

By Roger H. Grummer

There is a silent hunger among many that seeks to satisfy the longing for a greater understanding about death, dying, and the beyond. Yet some may find it difficult to speak about these concerns or to openly ask questions.

Within a simple, candid guide, pastor emeritus Dr. Roger Grummer offers a window through which the curious can gain a greater glimpse into what death, dying, and the beyond is all about while attaining answers to common, end-of-life questions such as:

Why does death exist? How can we participate in the final days of our own lives? What will the afterlife be like?

While encouraging Christians to consult the Bible for God's truth about dying, Dr. Grummer also presents practical information from those who have had hands-on experience in caring for the terminally ill as well as other interesting and spiritual insights about what comes after death that include stories of near-death experiences and views from other cultures.

Brokenness to Bliss shares a seasoned pastor's observations about death, dying, and the beyond that shed light on what happens to our bodies, souls, and spirits as we move from our earthly lives to eternity.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Archway Publishing
• Release date: Sep 16, 2019
• ISBN: 9781480882072

Roger H. Grummer

Roger H. Grummer is a pastor emeritus who has served congregations in North Carolina, Louisiana, and Texas. Following his undergraduate studies at Doane College and St. John's College, Dr. Grummer earned a seminary degree from Concordia Theological Seminary, a MA in psychology and counseling from Nicholls State University, and a doctorate from the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. Dr. Grummer also served as an adjunct professor with Concordia University-Texas and also as a hospice chaplain in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. He and his artist wife, Betty, live in Colleyville, Texas.

Book preview

Copyright © 2019 Roger H. Grummer.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

Archway Publishing

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.archwaypublishing.com

1 [phone]

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

All italics in scripture quotations represent emphasis added by the present author.

ISBN: 978-1-4808-8208-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4808-8209-6 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4808-8207-2 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019913356

Archway Publishing rev. date: 9/16/2019

In

memory of my parents

and the parents of my wife, Betty:

Adelia Bohlman Grummer

Norman H. Grummer

Norene Hepting Bourgeois

Adolph A. Bourgeois

and also our daughter,

Cheryl Lynn Wood

Contents

Acknowledgments

Preface

CHAPTER 1   The Bell Tolls

CHAPTER 2   Let’s Not Talk about It

CHAPTER 3   The Last Day

CHAPTER 4   Entering Timelessness

CHAPTER 5   The Beyond

CHAPTER 6   Suffering

CHAPTER 7   Dying

CHAPTER 8   Questions for Heaven’s Information Booth

CHAPTER 9   The Journey toward Dying

CHAPTER 10   The Horizon

CHAPTER 11   The Bliss beyond the Horizon

CHAPTER 12   Where the Bell Never Tolls

CHAPTER 13   What’s Not in Heaven

CHAPTER 14   A Life Review

Endnotes

Bibliography

Acknowledgments

My thanks are extended to the many individuals and families who allowed me to serve them with the good news of Jesus, especially during their times of brokenness, suffering, and sorrow. They have repeatedly demonstrated to me the power of the gospel which God gives through the word and sacraments as they comfort and strengthen us during our weakest moments.

My gratitude to Hazel Barthel, MBA, who is a recognized leader in organizing a number of hospice care facilities. She is president of EMBI Inc., a hospice management company that publishes a manual of care for hospice workers. She has held many positions related to hospice in Texas and nationally. Hazel was the first person who gave me the opportunity to learn about hospice care at the Dallas-Fort Worth Palliative Care Center and to serve as an on-call hospice chaplain.

My thanks also to Deena Bottom, RN, Med, who introduced me to the practical fundamentals of hospice care in providing spiritual care to terminally ill patients and their families. My appreciation also to Larry Barthel, an RN and hospice administrator who served as a hospice consultant to me as I gathered information about caring for the terminally ill. My thanks also to Stella Hlad, who helped in preparing the manuscript for publication, and also to my wife, Betty, who patiently provided me with suggestions and encouragement during the writing process.

For all who read what I have written, it is my prayer that you not only receive it as helpful information but also recognize that it is presented in a modest, pastoral way to embrace and uphold you with God’s word and the tender love of Jesus during times of brokenness, trusting that beyond it all is eternal bliss.

Preface

This book reveals everything you have always wanted to know about death, dying, and the beyond before experiencing it yourself. As a pastor I have enjoyed teaching various Bible classes, and I have noticed that the subjects that most frequently elicited lively discussions were those related to death, eschatological events, and the afterlife.

When I was fresh out of the seminary, the first funeral at which I officiated was a person who had committed suicide. All but one of the many funerals at which I officiated during the first fifteen years of my ministry in different locations were for those who met tragic, accidental, or sudden deaths. Later, I ministered to a large number of more long-term, terminally ill individuals. I often wished that I could have had more practical information available on how to minister effectively to the terminally ill and their families. I had received a thorough theological training at the seminary (later earning a master of arts degree in psychology and counseling and also a doctor of ministry degree), but it was when I became personally involved with hospice care that I began to feel more comfortable in ministering spiritually to the brokenness of the terminally ill and their families and better able to inform them about the kind of service also available with hospice care.

Now as an experienced pastor emeritus, I have felt the desire to convey in writing some practical information as well as to address many common questions people have concerning end-of-life issues. I believe such information is exceptionally valuable to all who care for people experiencing those difficult times of life. This information can be especially helpful to every family, spiritual care provider, and others as they approach end-of-life issues. As you read what I have shared in a simple and pastoral way, it is my hope that you will discover how the Bible’s message of the good news of Jesus and his saving love supports all of us as we deal with brokenness to bliss, death, dying, and the beyond.

CHAPTER 1

The Bell Tolls

M AMA WAS SITTING AT THE table alternating between reading the newspaper and working a crossword puzzle. Suddenly the church bell began to toll. It was the custom of the church in our small rural town to toll the bell whenever a church member died. We lived in the second house down the street from the church, so the bell sounded loud and clear on this quiet summer afternoon. We began to count the number of times the bell tolled. Each time the bell rang, it represented a year of the deceased’s life. Mama knew everyone in church and their approximate age. As the tolling progressed she mentioned who might have died. When the bell stopped tolling the phone rang. The news had spread quickly. Yes, from the caller she learned that it was in fact the person whom she suspected. While wiping a tear from her eye she said, One thing about growing older is that so many of your friends and relatives die. Then she added, One day the bell will also toll for each one of us.

In this incident we can see that there was an obvious concern for one another among the members of this Christian community. First, the tolling of the bell they alerted the members that someone in their congregation had died. In that congregation people would immediately get together and organize to could assist the family of the deceased. Mama’s response indicated the truth that death carried with it the pain of loss and that death was inevitable for everyone. When death takes place among those around us, it also consciously or unconsciously reminds us that we too will one day die.¹

When someone dies, we often hear questions like Why did he or she have to die? He or she was so young, or was such a good person. The basic question is Why does God permit death to come crashing into our lives? What have we done to deserve this?

The Bible says, For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die (Eccles. 3:1–2). In the beginning God spoke to Adam saying, You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die (Gen. 2:16–17). Later, Adam and Eve sinned by disobeying God’s command and immediately began to experience the brokenness that sin brings.

And to Adam he said,

"Because you have listened to the voice of your wife

and have eaten of the tree

of which I commanded you,

‘You shall not eat of it,’

cursed is the ground because of you;

in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;

thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;

and you shall eat the plants of the field.

By the sweat of your face

you shall eat bread,

till you return to the ground,

for out of it you were taken;

for you are dust,

and to dust you shall return." (Gen. 3:17–19)

For Whom Would the Bell Have Originally Tolled?

When Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating the fruit of the tree of which God had commanded them not to eat, sin entered into the picture. God warned that death would be the result. Although God said, In the day that you eat of it you shall surely die, the disobedient couple did not at once physically die. The Bible tells us that Adam died when he was 930 years old.

The first death reported in the Bible is the murder of Abel, the son of Adam and Eve. Their son Cain had killed his brother Abel (Gen. 4:1–16). If a bell had tolled, it would have first tolled when Abel died.

No Definitive Answers?

God spoke to Adam and Eve, saying, You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die (Gen. 2:16–17).

Adam and Eve disobeyed God’s command and ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Note especially the words, in the day that you eat of it. They did begin to experience the brokenness that sin brings, but they did not in that day actually die. Did God keep his word?

Cain killed his brother, Abel. Cain also did not immediately die. Did God forget about enforcing his word that death would follow sin? The truth is that God is always faithful. The Bible says,

Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations, and repays to their face those who hate him, by destroying them. (Deut. 7:9–10)

Even in my own life God has been faithful to me even when I was not faithful to him. So I cannot say that God did not keep his word. Perhaps with respect to death for Adam and Eve, God meant his command to be understood in another way. Perhaps God meant that beginning on that first day of disobedience, human beings from then on would eventually die, that sinful people would from that day on not live forever on the earth.

Have you ever wondered why God permits some people to live a great many years while others have a very short life? I was once speaking with an elderly pastor who had just celebrated another birthday. I asked him what his secret was for living such a long life. A quick smile flashed across his face as he said, I guess God is giving me more time to repent. We are told that when Cain murdered his brother, Abel, once again God did not immediately execute him but instead placed a mark of some kind on Cain to protect him from being attacked (Gen. 4:15). In connection with this I have at times wondered whether God was simply giving Cain more time to repent.

It also seems that when God gave Cain a protective mark, he evidently did not want anyone else to take revenge against Cain for murdering his brother. The Bible is clear that we should not take revenge against anyone, but we should instead let God repay the person in his own way (Lev. 19:18; Prov. 20:22; Rom. 12:19). On the other hand, it is true that God has such a reverence for life that we should also recognize this and take the necessary steps to defend and protect the life that he has given to us and others. We generally call this self-defense or, by extension, rightly defending the life of others.

When we try to show such a reverence for life in this sinful and violent world, it often places believers in difficult situations. Should we for example practice capital punishment? What authority does the state have to take life (Rom. 13:1–7)? If like God we should practice true reverence for life, how should that express itself in our life and community?

A Deadly Separation

If we are to have a godly reverence for life, it is necessary that we understand the brokenness that the reality of death brings. Physical death is often described as the separation of the body and the soul. When we refer to the soul, we are generally speaking of the whole living creature, body and soul. When God created Adam from the dust of the ground, the Bible tells us, God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature (Gen. 2:7). At other times we speak of the soul as consisting of our innermost being, which can continue even beyond physical death.

The Bible speaks of the body and