“He’s in a better place” … than Dixie?

We hear it from time to time: a silly thing, really. Truth be known, we’ve probably even said it.
He’s in a better place …

She’s in a better place …

And, if you’ve said it before, forgive me, I’m not talking about you. Lord knows I’ve probably even said it.

Sometimes when we try to comfort someone who has just lost a loved one, we say:

He’s in a better place.

or,

She’s in a better place.

I don’t think it’s just a Southern thing — He’s in a better place — though it could be. But, we’ll come back to that in a moment …

When we were on our way to converting to Orthodoxy 15 years ago, a young man (now known as Fr Paul the Monk or Monk Paul Hagiopavlites) — he and I were on our way to St Ignatius Orthodox Church in Franklin, Tennessee. We were laughing about a lot of things – discovering Orthodoxy can be quite fun! – and I used the word “Orthodixie” to describe ourselves … two Southern boys, raised in the Baptist Church, on our way to Orthodoxy …

THEN … we saw Fr Gordon Walker’s son, Tom, give a concert at St Ignatius – sort of Country Christian Convert meets Constantinople – and I told Fr Gordon later that we’d dubbed his son’s music …

The Orthodixie Podcast on Ancient Faith Radio.