Where do we go from here?

A little water lily from the Oregon Gardens

Here is a story that I got from the Bishop Spong forum.  There was a recent discussion about the “afterlife”.  There is a lot of conjecture about this subject, but no one knows anything about it.  This little story was inserted into the forum by Judith, a woman in her late sixties, who is the widow of a Lutheran Pastor.  In the forum she sounds like a person that I would like to know – she is bright, has a sense of humor, and writes well.  Here is the entry she made today:

Here’s a joke to reinforce this whole idea (This is from Norman Mailer’s book, “On God”. Page 23. I’ve changed it somewhat to suit my purpose): A white lady goes up before the “committee” in Heaven (a committee, as surely as there has to be one as God couldn’t possibly judge everyone that dies). The committee chairperson says, “Oh, Ms. Judith, we’re so glad to see you. We’ve been waiting. Now, tell us – we ask everyone this – what would be your idea of a proper reincarnation for yourself? What would you like to be in your next life?”
Ms. Judith replies, “Well, you know, everything considered, I think I’d like to be a great pianist.”
The committee chairperson’s face clouds up. “Oh, Ms. Judith,” he says, “everyone these days wants to be a great pianist. Right now, we’re dreadfully oversubscribed. So let me see where you have been put.” He looks it up. He says, “I’m afraid we’ve got you down for cockroach. But – here is the good news – you’ll be the fastest cockroach on the block!”
Of course, Norman Mailer believes in reincarnation. He has his own ideas as to what will happen to the soul after it leaves the body. Just like we all have our own ideas as to what or who God is and what will happen to the soul (whatever that is) when we die.
 [I can't imagine who I did away with recently, as I killed three big cockroaches.] ~smile~  Judith