Stu News and Photos

I'm listening to the song Good News by Sweet Honey In The Rock, which is a fantastic tune, and I got to thinkin' about dyin'. Not that I want people to die, and I'm a big fan of livin', but I just now started to understand that when somebody dies, there's good news about it. I believe in G-d. If I had a chance to be closer to G-d, well that's a great thing. So this song talks about "layin' down this world", which I think would be bittersweet, but then it talks about going home to Jesus, and that it is good news. Well of course it is, I thought. Whether you meet Jesus or Allah or Vishnu or G-d, isn't that a great thought to have in your head as you die? And isn't it a good thought to have left behind to those who will miss you? I wouldn't want anyone to die, but but when it happens, I am now a little happier with the thought that they will be in the presence of The Lord Almighty. Jews have a tradition of nihum avelim, of comforting mourners. Maimonides wrote that this allows us to fulfill the mitzvah "Love your neighbor as yourself". I say this with full humility (and I do not mean to presuppose the mind of G-d), but I believe that G-d is fulfilling His own mitzvah by His very presence, in that His existence inspires this very specific comfort to mourners.