Clarion Call- Console Death

 

[Verse 1]

At a cemetery I oft visit For contemplating life I found a bench to sit And ponder death and strife Adorning the weathered tombstones Family names were mostly Swiss Pioneers buried long ago When there was little food to subsist Trials surrounding harvests never ceased They worked hard all their lives Now buried, they did rest in peace Their legacy... sacrifice [Chorus] This is the clarion call of Christendom Promising resurrection and peace Surpassing understanding... God's wisdom Providing universal hope for increase [Verse 2] Feeling tender emotions My thoughts went afar to France Where in war's cauldron of commotion Lives were cut short in an instant I reflected on shattered dreams, Unfulfilled hopes, grief stricken hearts On the sorrow that death brings Of lost loved ones...a lone tear starts Thinking back to when I was a Bishop At the bedside of a young man Harrowed between life and the great beyond Pleadingly...he took my hand Looking in my eyes, he said Bishop, I know I'm soon to die. He asked what happens...and I read How we are taken home...unto paradise [Verse 3] For the righteous will be received Unto a state of happiness, A state of rest, a state of peace Freed from sorrows and what troubles us This young father of two Closed his eyes... never again to open And after saying thank you Slipped away to that place of which we'd spoken Each...having come here to earth To live, learn, and progress Just as surely, came with that birth Uncertainty and need for rest [Bridge] The victory over the tomb Was best described in Luke Both Marys came with perfume But found angels when they looked Appearing in shining garments One of the two said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead He is not here, but is risen [Chorus] This is the clarion call of Christendom Promising resurrection and peace Surpassing understanding... God's wisdom Providing universal hope for increase

From “He Is Risen,” Liahona and Ensign, Apr. 2003, 2–7.

Wherever I travel, I try to pay a visit to the town cemetery. It is a time of contemplation, of reflection on the meaning of life and the inevitability of death. In the small cemetery in the town of Santa Clara, Utah, I remember the preponderance of Swiss names which adorn the weathered tombstones. Many of those persons left home and family in verdant Switzerland and, in response to the call “Come to Zion,” settled the communities where they now “rest in peace.” They endured spring floods, summer droughts, scant harvests, and backbreaking labors. They left a legacy of sacrifice.

Alma 40:
11 Now, concerning the state of the soul between death and the resurrection—Behold, it has been made known unto me by an angel, that the spirits of all men, as soon as they are departed from this mortal body, yea, the spirits of all men, whether they be good or evil, are taken home to that God who gave them life.
12 And then shall it come to pass, that the spirits of those who are righteous are received into a state of happiness, which is called paradise, a state of rest, a state of peace, where they shall rest from all their troubles and from all care, and sorrow.

Luke 24:2-6
2 And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulcher.
3 And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus.
4 And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments:
5 And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead?
6 He is not here, but is risen...