It is my belief that when we flicker open our bleary eyes in the afterlife, we will be surrounded by angels. The welcoming committee will not pepper us with questions, nor check off our qualifications for eternal bliss. Rather the angels will smile, harmonize, and reassure us that we are wanted. These notions align with the stories of people who have had a near death experience. 

 

Last week I joined the group who likes to serenade friends whose time on earth is ticking toward a close. We converged in cars and on foot, and crowded into the corners of the living room. The guest of honor was cocooned in his favorite chair, with his wife of half a century holding his hand... the one with translucent skin. 

 

Someone gave a pitch and we began to sing. 

 

For most of us, the liturgies in our laps were just placeholders for which verse goes when, since the repetitions of belting these hymns out in church goes back to when we were wiggly preschoolers. It amuses me, that for a group of oldsters who routinely forget why they went into the kitchen, or what their cousin's daughters name is, the string of lyrics slides off our tongues. Even if we have not sung it since the last administration. 

 

Our beloved friend was moved to tears, which impacted us as well. In that sacred moment any differences in politics, or tradition became moot. Our choir included citizens whose voting histories differ. Yet we were called by a force that precedes and proceeds beyond today's concerns. Even the issues that press on our consciences. 

 

It felt glorious to be gathered into a love that is bigger than that.

 

 "And the wonder of it was, although there were very many angels they all nevertheless thought and spoke as one, and in so doing represented as one. They did so because nobody wished to do anything by himself, let alone direct the rest and so lead the choir. Anyone who does this is of himself instantly severed from the choir. But all did allow themselves to be led by one another, and so they were all, individually and collectively, led by the Lord. Into such harmonious relationships all good persons are introduced who enter the next life." Heavenly Secrets 3350, Emanuel Swedenborg