Theology of Death

Here's a thought:

How much of the Christian doctrine is based on death, especially Christ's death? My guess would be, ALOT. My belief says that Jesus died, whether on Good Friday or not. While this is important to my belief structure, this is only half the picture. If Jesus was still in the ground, my faith is all well and good, but there is no hope after I die, no goal in this life to strive for, not just heaven but to make an eternal difference in my world. So as a Christian, I belief that he rose from death, to defeat the boundaries of the grave and the unseen forces of evil. So why aren't we focusing on Jesus' victory more? Like communion. We can meditate on Christ's death all 8 minutes of the Lord's Supper, and sure we can reflect on how crappy we are, how we sinned that past week and how guilty we feel for placing him on Calvary, BUT shouldn't we also see the signficants of his rising? (A parallel thought: did we place Jesus up there or God?) This should be celebrated in baptism too. A celebration when one decides to die (sad) to self but be raised (happy) anew. Maybe this is why so many of our brothers and sisters are living without vigor or excellence. We've pounded a theology of "death" in our heads that we don't have any push to live an excellent life, abundant and fully alive. Is this spiritual suicide to anyone else?