“Provoking Christian Insights” series

Part 22

What will they say at my, or your, funeral?

I went to a funeral Saturday at a church in a small rural community. The church was packed to overflowing. I made a remark to the widow as I entered the church that it was wonderful for so many people to be there. The wife said, “I told them they would need more chairs.” What followed was a real inspiration to me.

Joe was one of those guys who “lived in a house by the side of the road and was a friend to man,” to paraphrase and old poem. Joe worked, at one time, for my father-in-law and helped build my house. My brother-in-law remembered that, back then, there were no vocational schools to speak of, and it was Joe that taught him, and many other young men, how to build houses, do electrical work and lay carpet. This was the beginning a long list of things that Joe had taught people to do.

People didn’t know how far Joe’s influence in life had reached. He taught all ages how to do things, even plant flowers that would come up in various colors all summer long. In the Pastors eulogy revelation after revelation of Joe’s life poured out just as Joe poured himself into everything that he did.

 When war came along, Joe went into the Army and served in Korea and had the top job in his tank. Upon his return home he raised a fine family and was respected by everyone he met.

The pastor said that she “knew Joe as well as anybody,” and I wondered how could that be? But, soon she revealed that on top of all his other wonderful traits as teacher, patriot, worker, family man and more, Joe was a man of  “The Book.” He served the church in just about every capacity that a layman could serve and in the eldership traveling to meetings around the state with the pastor. That’s how she knew him so well!

He even wrote about his love for his Lord and for others, something men don’t often do. He had piled years of church service on top of all the other things that he accomplished and all the people he befriended.

It was easy to see why his funeral was attended by almost all the adults in the community and lots of children as well. The ladies of the church, many of whom worked in that kitchen when my wife and I were married there nearly 40 years go were prepared to feed that big crowd. They knew that Joe’s funeral would bring out the town. They filled that church basement and never ran out of food with plenty left over.

Joe’s life in pictures

Churches and funeral homes have begun showing picture presentations of the life of the deceased. All through the funeral pictures of Joe’s life, family and friends, ran on the wall. There is something about time and place that photographs insure to one’s memory. These photographs take you back to a time when.  Memories flood you mind, not only of what is on the screen but other things that happened in that time and place. I think this is a wonderful way to make us think about the sum of our own lives.

Joe’s life was not marked with blemishes or things one would rather forget. Joe was probably an exception. We all have things in our past that we might not want to remember. Worse, reminded of a life not well lived at that persons’ funeral. One of the things that struck me about Joe was his steadfast service to the church and the people of his community being remembered in this service. Would that happen at my funeral?

One of my former employers in the newspaper business once said that, “If you have a long procession at your funeral, you probably didn’t do your job well.” I think this was more in the form of warning us as publishsers that we needed to stick our neck out in the community for what is right rather than what is popular.

Then so, how could a man like Joe do what is right and still have a “long funeral procession, or attendance.

In Joe’s case he made friends and not enemies. He did what Jesus’ new Commandment required him to do. Joe loved “one another, just as Jesus had loved us.”

There is still another insight in this lesson. People who attend church regularly tend to do better, and live longer than those who don’t attend church. Survey’s show (I have some numbers I can reveal later) that people who have faith in Christ and who are active in their churches seem to be healthier longer than those who don’t spend a lot of time in God’s house.

Am I saying that going to church is good for you? I think that I am.

Would it be nice to have a big funeral? I suppose that it would be nice.

But, I think that it would be better to have people love you in life because you loved them first. I’ve heard that some place before … it was Jesus talking.

After attending Joe’s funeral … and looking long into the New Year, I have decided that there are things that I can do better even though I go to church a lot. I need to take a deep look into my life and see where repairs can be made, including relationships that I may have sullied.

Sunday I went to the front of the church and put my head down before a forgiving God and asked Him to help me find a better way in 2008. You can do the same thing beside your bed and later when you are in God’s House to seal the fact that you, and I, are serious about what lies ahead. Not just to have a lot of folks at your funeral, it doesn’t matter much to you then. But, to those who love you while you are among the living, they need to see your walk.

Joe’s memory picture left a lot with me and I hope that it does with you. Blessings.

INSPIRATION: “But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: that, according as it is written, He that glories, let him glory in the Lord,” 1 Corinthians 1:30,31.

Write: croneis@embarqmail.com