In November, we start to think about one year coming to a close, and a new year starting. In fact, the new church year often starts during November.

Life is a series of beginnings and endings, some of these we look forward to and some of them we are sad to see come.

Students might look forward to graduation and also dread it because they will miss their friends. If we move a distance, we may both look forward to it and dread it. Some are purely exciting: a wedding day, the birth of a child, Christmas. Some transitions may be sad: the death of a loved one, for example.


During this time of year, the Christian Church also focuses on the end, or at least our end. Many people are terrified by death. Some people pay huge amounts of money to look young in health equipment and workouts. Others turn to surgery or medicine. Some even have taken steps to freeze their bodies at the point of death, hoping that someone will be able to eventually bring them back. Others may not want to deal or talk about it until it comes.

Jesus doesn’t want us to fear death. He came here to conquer sin, and its consequence, death. He doesn’t want us to fear that transition, because for the believer, it is an entrance into something much better than anything we have here. He doesn’t want us to fear it, but instead, to look forward to being with Him. We can look forward with confidence because Jesus conquered death for us on the cross as He poured out His life blood. He did it to forgive your sins and mine! Then three days after his death perhaps the most amazing transition ever took place - Jesus arose from the dead. Now we who believe in Jesus can look forward to the same transition after we die, when we enter into heaven!