Thursday, June 13, 2019
O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth! Your glory is higher than the heavens. You have taught children and infants to tell of your strength, silencing your enemies and all who oppose you. When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers—the moon and the stars you set in place—what are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them? Yet you made them only a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honor. You gave them charge of everything you made, putting all things under their authority—the flocks and the herds and all the wild animals, the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea, and everything that swims the ocean currents. O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth! Psalm 8:1-9
As a
pastor I’ve been blessed to have a part in many funeral and memorial
services. Now that sounds strange, doesn’t
it? I mean, who wants to hang-out at
funerals? That would seem a somber, even morose perspective. But, it’s true; sharing the lives and memory
of many of God’s family with other believers is more than rewarding – it’s
holy! The overwhelming blessing in it is
when I’ve been privileged to know the believer for some time, and understand
something of their passion in life, and their strength of hope for beyond this
life. In the case of my mother, the
challenge I faced participating in her service, considering how much she loved Jesus
and His Kingdom, was trying to figure out how to keep the service shorter than
a week. A still-greater blessing is when
the one in the casket has taken the time to plan with me at least some of the details
(Scripture, music, what message they’d like to leave behind, and more).
About 30 years
ago I preached my funeral sermon…really…mine, what I’d like the pastor to say
when it’s me in that casket. I actually
borrowed a casket from a funeral director friend to use as “support” for that
day.
(My bride wasn’t too thrilled with us driving
downtown Main Street in Gainesville, Florida on homecoming Saturday, and
100,000 people in town for the big game gasping at the sight of that big oak
box sticking out of the back of the family station wagon …but, hey…any chance
to preach the word!)
For my homegoing
service of worship I’ve chosen Psalm 8 as one non-negotiable Scripture to be
shared. The base message is that I am merely
mortal…and magnificently mortal. I’m merely mortal, in
the sense that, compared with God’s creation, I’m hardly a grain of sand on a
huge beach. But I’m also magnificently
mortal in that God allows me to participate in his glory and honor. In that sense I am merely nothing,
magnificently everything, and most importantly eternally His child!
The
blessing in preparing ahead of time with your pastor is that an informed pastor
can cooperate with speaking your heart at a time when those who remain need
assurance, and sometimes inspiration, just to make it through the next week
after great loss. Thoughtful people do this thinking ahead – after all, you only
get one shot at speaking from the grave.
Your loved ones need that blessing; they cannot ask you one more question
or call you back for one more loving touch.
Those who received your loving care in this life deserve that touch
from beyond.
For You Today
The next time
you have some free time, invest in your friends, family, and the Kingdom; do
some deep thinking about what you’d like to be that day’s
outcome. Then call your preacher and
have a holy conversation about that day.
If he doesn’t faint dead-away from surprise, you’ll
be surprised what that will do for your hope and faith…and what it will do for
your pastor’s preaching!
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[1] Title Image: Pixabay.com
Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are from The New Living Translation©
Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are from The New Living Translation©
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