Boldly going where no one has gone

This past week, I sat to watch the launching of the Blue Origin space flight carrying a Canadian, William Shatner.

When I was a child, I became hooked on the show he starred in, Star Trek.

The stories were mind-challenging, but more than that, it was the notion of all kinds of peoples and species working as one, to create a better world.

They went off into far-off galaxies to explore and to learn. Many of the stories challenged the events of the present day and gave us a different outlook to the norm.

My poor dad liked Star Trek as well, but by the time he got home following his workday, all he saw was the last five minutes of the show and the credits.He had to rely on me to fill in the rest of the story.

The opening of Star Trek showed the Enterprise flying through space with a voiceover that said, "These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise. Her five-year mission; to explore new worlds and civilizations and to boldly go where no one has gone before." I would strap myself into the couch and eagerly wait to see where I would betransported to next.

Last week, William Shatner did what that motto said.

The show, Star Trek never left the Desilu studios where it was filmed. Now, Capt. James Tiberius Kirk actually went to space.

They only travelled some 100 kilometres above the Earth to a place called, the Karman Line, but for about 30 minutes they did what few others have done. But, it was something Shatner said upon landing that peeked my grey cells to begin working. As the spacecraft moved from one zone into another, they went from the brightness of an earth day into the sheer blackness of outer space.

On land again, Shatner described it as, "There is life and that's death, and in an instant, you know, whoa, that's death!.. Is that the way death is?"

What happens at death? We had people tell us about it, when they described their near-death experiences, but so far, no one has ever come back to tell us what happens.

These earthly bodies of ours are temporary and fade away. They decompose. So, is Shatner right? Death is just darkness. Nothing more? Some scientists in California did experiments with people who were in the last stages of life and measured any energy that might escape from the body.

They discovered that at the moment of death, the body releases a huge amount of energy out into space. The soul. My oldest brother has a theory about this. He thinks that we are here as knowledge receptors, gathering information about life all around us.

When we die, our spirits move into another realm of being where we continue to gather more information. That's his theory.

As a minister, I have been to many deathbeds and what I experience is awesome. As I stand there, a new, rich calm comes over me and I feel like I should be kicking off my shoes, for I feel like I am on holy ground.

I have sat with friends and congregants, holding their hands, watching a light shine through the window curtains falling onto the face of a loved one. I have seen a single tear roll down the cheek at the moment. I feel the gentle power of love in that moment. This is followed by a feeling of peace. It is a beautiful moment in life. What comes next?

If you are looking for a definite answer, I cannot give it to you. All I know is that God is real at that moment and gently takes the soul into a

different realm of being. What follows for us is the telling of stories and of the good times we spent with them. God lets our difficult memories fade and leaves us with wondrous memories. That is grace and I feel that that is what death is like - an entrance into God's grace and love for us. The love we experience and share here pale in comparison with the grace and love of God.

Our lives continue, as we boldly go where no one has gone before. Get a taste of the grace of God, as we reach out to comfort those who mourn. As one person said, "Don't mourn for me, I've just gone into the next room." Seek peace among us all and may the God of love, bless you all.