WHEN
LIFE DISSOLVES

Topics: Afterlife; Death; Despair; Funerals; Hopelessness

References: 1 Corinthians 15:12–32; 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18

African Muslims have a unique funeral custom. Close family and friends circle the casket and quietly gaze at the corpse. There’s no singing. No flowers. No tears.

A peppermint candy is passed to everyone. At a signal, each one puts the candy in his or her mouth. When the candy is gone, each participant is reminded that life for this person is over. For them, life simply dissolves.

—Philip Yancey, Where Is God When It Hurts? (Zondervan, 1997)