If the salvific work of Christ's death and resurrection are to strip that same death of it's finality, then death becomes nothing more than a blip on the radar of life. I only left the safety of my parent's home 16 years ago. I just graduated from college 12 years ago. I met the love of my life only 14 years ago and recently married her - 10 years ago. I became a father for the first time only recently, 4 years ago, and again only 2 years ago.

Many of us molded by the teachings of Christ and the church operate with 2 different understandings of death; either it changes everything and so we must do as much as possible now while we have the breath in our lungs, or, because it finally brings about our lives to full we must bide our time living right so that we can finally live in full when we close are eyes for good.

If death is not the end, and in dying Christ stripped it of it's power, I do not want to wait for death to begin living nor do I want to rush through an exhaustive checklist on my way out the door. I want to begin living into The Kingdom of God now as we pray for it to be "on earth as it is in heaven", and I am free to engage with life and all of God's creation with genuine curiosity and care.