I have a friend who is the pastor of a very small, very struggling church in a large city. For years this congregation has failed to bring in any new members. It has desperately fought to keep its doors open and directed all its meager energies to paying the bills and keeping things just the way they have always been.

Every time my friend suggests a change in worship or social ministry or evangelism, he is outvoted or no one volunteers to help. The congregation wants to keep things the way they are even though the evidence is overwhelming that the church is dying.

The Christian response to this problem is not to fight for survival but to allow for death. If we really believe in resurrection, why not allow the congregation to die in order that something new can be brought to life? Perhaps the sanctuary could be given to another denomination or sold and the money given to another kind of ministry or turned into a preschool or...?

We are so afraid of dying that we refuse to allow for something wonderful to come out of our death.

This is not Christ's way.

We have confused our belief in the resurrection of the dead with the immortality of the soul. Nowhere in our creeds do you find talk of the immortal soul. It is of resurrection and there can be no resurrection without death.

Think of how true this is in our own lives. How afraid we are to let go of old ways or old hurts or old grudges and how our spirits shrivel by such a refusal.

But when we screw up the courage to allow those things to die, something new and wonderful comes into being.

It is the beauty of forgiveness.

It is the joy of grace.

It is the resurrection of life.