“Pastor, I’m ready to go.” I remember the first time she told me that.
I was shaking everybody’s hands after church. As eighty-yearold Helen shook my hand, she leaned in and whispered, “Pastor, I’m ready to go.”
At first, I didn’t know what she meant.
Church was over. I thought maybe I had been a bit too longwinded in the sermon. A few handshakes later, however, it hit me.
Helen was ready to go to heaven.
For the next several months, every Sunday after church, Helen would lean in and say, “Pastor, I’m ready to go.” Initially, I struggled with how to respond.
Helen was in the early stages of dementia. I was concerned.
Was she confused?
Was she depressed?
Should I tell her son?
I asked her on several occasions what she meant when she whispered those words to me, but the dementia had already made simple conversations difficult.
She would laugh and respond randomly.
Every Sunday, Helen continued to lean in and whisper, “Pastor, I’m ready to go.”
Most people don’t like to talk about death or even think about it.
Most people fight against death. The Welsh poet, Dylan Thomas, famously urged his dying father, “Do not go gentle into that good night… Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”
Our world rages against death. TikTok, YouTube, and Facebook are full of videos promising longer life. “Do these exercises. Eat these foods. Take these supplements and you will add years to your life,” they confidently claim. One of the main goals of modern medicine is to extend human life as long as possible.
So, when someone doesn’t rage against death, it concerns us. We wonder if they are depressed. We worry that they may harm themselves. And those are legitimate concerns.
When someone says they’re ready to die, it is important to listen carefully and look deeper. They may be struggling. They may be depressed. They may need help.
But they also may simply be ready. A few weeks after that first Sunday, we learned about a man named Simeon in church. The Holy Spirit had revealed to him that he would see the Messiah – the promised Savior – before he died.
When Mary and Joseph brought baby Jesus to Jerusalem to be presented at the temple, Simeon took the child into his arms and said with calm certainty, “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace” (Luke 2:29).
In other words, “Lord, I’m ready to go.” Simeon wasn’t depressed. He was ready.
He had seen with his own eyes the Savior of the world, through whom God would win for him forgiveness and heaven. Simeon held in his arms salvation, peace – certainty.
We don’t have to be afraid of death or rage against it. Because of that baby born in Bethlehem, we know where we will be when we die.
It’s okay to look forward to that. It’s okay to yearn for the happiness and peace waiting for us. It’s okay even to ask God for that day to come – so long as we accept his will if he decides to keep us here a while longer.
In the end, Simeon gave me my answer.
From that day on, whenever Helen whispered to me, “Pastor, I’m ready to go,” I would lean in and whisper back with a knowing smile.
“Me too.”
Pastor Andrew Schroer has been a pastor for over 25 years and is currently serving at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Edna, Texas.
You can find his latest books, “364 Days of Thanksgiving” and “364 Days of Devotion,” on Amazon.com.
