Afterlife

Do you ever wonder what it's like to be dead? I've been Christian my whole life. We're Episcopalians, though, so we don't get into anything undignified or pushy, like so many of the currently popular sects. I'm not sure if any of my Christian friends—including clergy—honestly believe in a mythological afterlife in the clouds with streets paved with gold, mansions, and angels strumming harps. In fact, it's been some of my clerical friends who have reminded me that the church's official teaching on death is not the common popular belief of the dearly departed being immediately swept away on wings of eagles to heaven where they walk the golden streets later that afternoon, hand in hand with Jesus, but that the dead are asleep, at rest in their earthly graves, awaiting the Great Resurrection and final judgment. So, not knowing when the Great Resurrection will occur, I guess death is just one big, long, boring nap.