Funerals

In the past week, 5 family members of Grace Church attenders have passed away. I have personally attended two funerals this week alone. In the past two and a half years working at Grace, I have attended more funerals than I can even remember.

I started thinking of some of the things that make a good funeral that I have seen.

• Personal stories of deceased
• Stories of the person's faith
• Picture slide show of life
• Family members sharing their personal stories about the person
• A message of hope, salvation, or love for audience
• A challenge to make changes in life
• Sharing of scripture

As I sat in the funeral today and heard the kind words shared by the pastors, it made me sad that I had never met the lady. It made me reflect on how much time we waste on things that are unimportant. I left challenged to not waste time on trivial stuff but instead to invest my time in people. I want to know people at a deeper level, so that when I attend a funeral I will be able to reflect on my own memories of the person and not just stories of the pastor.