There has been a lot of recent transition of those we love in this congregation to the other world lately.  Every time we hear of it, we step back, take stock, consider our potential spiritual state, and what we would wish it to be. 

Another thing we often ponder is why those we love die when they do.  In a recent sorting through of my office files, I happened upon an article by my grandfather (Rev. Fred Schnarr) on this very subject, reflecting on a passage from Swedenborg's Spiritual Experiences.

I include it here in the hopes and it both comforts and uplifts as you consider those you love who now wait for you "on the other side!"

Love and Peace,

Ethan

The first reason that the Lord permits some to continue to live regardless of their physical condition is the use which their living performs to other people in the world. It may seem harsh, in a sense, that one person should suffer physical trial, or that they should live unto the extreme feebleness of old age, simply to serve others.

Yet when we think of the fact that a person may in some way be a means by which the Lord is able to lead another, or others, to eternal happiness in heaven - is it not a greater mercy to allow his relatively short period of trial, which they will soon completely forget, so that another may find an eternity of greater happiness?

The second reason that the Lord permits some to continue to live on earth is that they are of use while in this world to angels and spirits in the other world. Many things are involved in this teaching concerning the relation of the natural and the spiritual worlds which we cannot enter into here.

However, there is the principle that natural creation, and the things of natural life, serve as bases for spiritual creation and the things of spiritual life. Also, we would note that as long as a person lives in this world, spirits are able to use the things that are in their memory, and this in many different ways and for many different reasons.

The third reason a person continues to live is for the use that may be served to their own spiritual welfare. We have noted that the reason a person is born into the natural world is that they may form permanent loves and affections through knowledges and conclusions in the understanding part of their mind. The Lord wills that a person should form their loves and affections through the truths of the Word, and so prepare themselves for the life of heaven.

However, [God] does not force us to do this. He leaves us in freedom to choose what our loves shall be. If the Lord foresees that through the continuation of our life on earth we may better prepare the nature and quality of our eternal life in the spiritual world, He then preserves our natural life until that use had been performed.

The fourth reason a person is permitted to continue in this world is that they may be more fully prepared to perform their particular use in the other world [whatever their ultimate destination]. Every person is created to perform a use, and this to all eternity. Their use includes not only their employment or work but every other association they have with others. Only the Lord can possibly see the complex nature of each person's use, and only He can foresee how it can best be performed to eternity. Where He sees that a person can be better prepared for their eternal use by continuing to live on earth, then the Lord assures the continuance of their life here.*

* See Swedenborg's Spiritual Experiences, 5003

Any of these four reasons, then, may be the cause of our remaining in this world. But if all of these reasons for natural existence have been met as far as possible, then it is that the Lord calls us to our eternal home in the spiritual world. Then it is that the life of the spirit is withdrawn from the natural body, and the leaves the confines of this world to enter the freedom of the world of the spirit.