It is Sunday, so thoughts turn to religion or spirituality… or maybe just lazing and reading the newspaper.
I heard a pretty good religious joke recently. A married couple die peacefully at about the same time after long lives of loyalty, faith, devotion, and good deeds. They ascend to heaven but are stopped at the front gates and seated at computer terminals that are live-streaming the joy and fulfillment of the afterlife. The husband is confused. He turns to an attendant, and asks, “why aren’t we in heaven?” The attendant replies, “you were only watching Mass streamed onto your television during the coronavirus, so you only get to see a streamed version of heaven in the afterlife.”
More seriously, Psalm 23 is rightly among the most famous of the Bible’s passages (I think because it addresses anxiety so directly):
“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures;
he leads me beside still waters; he restores my soul.
He leads me in right paths for his names sake.
Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil;
for you are with me; your rod and your staff – they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life;
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord my whole life long.”
Have a good week.
Update: Another afterlife joke, which is included in my book and courtesy of Samuel Beckett’s play Endgame:
CLOV: Do you believe in the life to come? HAMM: Mine was always that.