Good piece as always. I like your faith thoughts almost more than your sermons for reading, I assume since they are written to be read rather than spoken.
That said, it's not one that really resonates with me. Even as a Christian, I think my biggest comfort and support was those around me. I certainly prayed for God's presence, but never really felt it unless, as some Christians insist, that human comfort and support is a sign of God's presence. That's very much a faith stance, though. One can just as easily attribute to our being a social animal and to the kindness and love of which most of us are capable.
Certainly, when Dad died, it was the support I had here (someone, I forget who, started a thread), that I had from family, co-workers, and friends, that was my "rock". It was the presence of so many who had known and worked with Dad over the decades, it was people going out of their way to be there (my employer's GM was in Kitchener on business and came to the memorial, a reminder again of how I picked the right company to work for). God never really entered into it for me, other than belief maybe being a motivator for some of those other people, regardless of his pastor's homily and prayers.
As for death, my hope and strength isn't in resurrection or an afterlife. Death is simply a stage in a cycle of life. It has it's place and is as natural and normal as being born. My hope is in a universe (or perhaps multi-verse) that is more than just me. I may be gone, but the world goes on. Memories of me will survive in those who know me, perhaps some of my creativity will survive in some form (stories or poems or whatever), the atoms that make up my body will find new places in the universe, but the distinctive person that is me has come and gone. And that isn't a source of fear or worry to me. Epicurus taught that Death is not to be feared because it marks the end of sensation and thought which means the end of physical suffering and anxiety, the highest good in his philosophy. While I don't agree with all of Epicureanism (it's too focussed on the individual and lacks a notion of kinship and relationship with other humans as Stoicism had), I am quite on board with this aspect.
