My heart became hot within me. As I mused, the fire burned; then I spoke with my tongue: "O Lord, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am!"

20 August 2008

Maybe the show doesn't need to go on

I just read that LeRoi Moore, the brilliant saxophonist for the Dave Matthews Band, died from an ATV accident. The band went ahead with their scheduled concert last night.

One concertgoer asserts "they knew it was the right thing to do and LeRoi would have wanted it."

A thought that I've had before but never published: when I die, I don't want the show to go on. I want people to stop the regularly scheduled programming of life and think about deep things like life, death, love, hate, Jesus and salvation. I want people to be uncomfortable.

Is there anything more typical of a culture that shudders to think about death, that refuses to measure their days, than the ridiculous notion that the "show must go on"? The dude at the concert (and he certainly was a dude) even said it was the right thing to do--it was a moral obligation to keep the party going. We live in a world that takes every opportunity possible to push death to the shadows and boundaries of life. When death comes close, we keep the concert going when we should stop and consider, "unless you repent, you will all likewise perish."