A Prayer about What Happens When We Die

Resurrecting Lord,

We admit, we sometimes get a little confused 

about what happens when we die. 

We know we “will be with you in Paradise” (Luke 23:43). 

We understand that for a season, 

our souls will be with you, 

enjoying your presence, 

but our bodies will await resurrection. 

The apostle Paul tried to explain this to the Corinthians, 

who just couldn’t understand 

how a body that dies 

can be made whole again. 

He likens it to a seed and a plant. 

Just as a small ivory-colored pumpkin seed 

goes into the ground and comes out three to four months later 

with large leafy vines and plump orange melon, 

so, our mortal bodies will decay and die. 

But one day, when you return, 

they will be “changed, 

in a moment, 

in the twinkling of an eye.”

As Eugene Peterson puts it, 

“On signal from that trumpet from heaven, 

the dead will be up and out of their graves, 

beyond the reach of death, 

never to die again” (1 Corinthians 15:52).  

We wonder, 

in that day, 

in the new heavens and the new earth, 

will we look like ourselves? 

We can only guess that there must be some resemblance, 

for indeed, the disciples and others were able to recognize you, 

and you showed poor skeptical Thomas 

your scarred hands and side. 

And yet, our bodies will be somehow different—

whole, fully what they were meant to be, 

radiant in your glory as we see you face to face (1 John 3:2; Revelation 22:4). 

Oh, make us eager for that day, Lord, 

when we will be with you, 

and for that day when you will return 

to raise our bodies to new life forever. 

In your life-giving name. Amen. 

Read 1 Corinthians 15:35-58; 1 John 3:2; Revelation 22:4.