All is Well?
Death is nothing at all?
A Christian Analysis of Henry Scott
Holland’s words about the after-life
Many people have
derived comfort from Henry Scott Holland’s ‘All is well.’
The familiar
piece that continues ‘Death is nothing at all, I have only slipped away into
the next room’ is often given to bereaved families, sometimes even by
well-meaning funeral directors. At funerals families often ask the minister to
read it but many feel uncomfortable in doing so?
Why ?
In this part of
the website we explain our reasons. But first, the piece in full:
Death is nothing at all. I have
only slipped away into the next room. I am I, and you are you. Whatever we were
to each other, that we still are. Call me by my
familiar name, speak to me in the easy way which you
always used. Put no effort into your tone, wear no
forced air of solemnity or sorrow. Laugh as we always laughed at the little
jokes we enjoyed together. Play, smile, think of me, pray
for me. Let my name be ever the household name word that it always was, let it
be spoken without effect, without the trace of a shadow on it.
Life means all that it ever meant.
It is the same as it ever was; there is unbroken continuity. Why should I be
out of mind because I am out of sight? I am waiting for you, for an interval,
somewhere very near, just around the corner.
All is well.
The Real Thing
Without wishing
to offend those who have found comfort from these words in hard times we feel
bound to question them. True lasting comfort comes from what is true and it is
in the area of truth that we find these words sadly deficient. Here is where we
believe the truth lies, both in human experience and in the teaching of God’s
word.
Death is not ‘nothing at all’
In a laudable
desire to bring comfort to the bereaved
Nobody who is
bereaved really believes Henry Scott Holland. The Bible is far more realistic
in calling death our ‘last enemy.’ Death is a terrible thing. Those who are
bereaved need understanding and comfort rather than the saccharine make-believe
of ‘death is nothing at all.’
Separation is
real and lasting
In its
understandable desire to play down the seriousness of death, Scott Holland downplays and
even denies the separation that death always brings and which is such a part of
the pain and cost of bereavement. We are invited to believe that our loved one
‘has only slipped away into the next room’ and that there is an ‘unbroken
continuity.’
But, this is
simply not so.
Death brings a
real separation in human relationships that is
permanent for this life and immensely painful. The parable of the rich man and
Lazarus makes this abundantly clear. Psychologically this is obvious too.
Whilst in the early stages of bereaved it is common to sense the presence of
the departed nearby, it is only by coming to accept the real separation that
has occurred through death that people can begin to come to terms with their
bereavement.
The expression of
grief and sorrow is normal and healthy but Scott Holland appears to discourage
it. He exhorts us to ‘Put no effort into your tone, wear no forced air of
solemnity or sorrow. Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes we enjoyed
together. Play, smile, think of me, pray for me. Let
my name be ever the household name word that it always was, let it be spoken
without effect, without the trace of a shadow on it.’ but he leaves no room
for mourning, for sadness, for weeping.
In denying, the
seriousness of death, he denies the bereaved the opportunity to express their
grief.
The Bible is more
realistic and ultimately more kind. It frankly
portrays grief at the face of death. Jesus himself wept at the death of Lazarus
and
True assurance
and hope is found in the Gospel
True assurance
and hope is found, we believe, not in Henry Scott Holland’s denial of death but
in the acceptance of Jesus Christ’s victory over death. Jesus has passed
through death and has been raised to life by God’s power. Jesus offers
forgiveness, and eternal life to all who put their trust in him. The Gospel
accepts the terrible reality of death, not seeking to minimise it or deny it
and points us to the victory of the resurrection.