Dear Rose Park,
This past Monday I officiated the funeral service for our beloved Arlene Wassink. Arlene was 96 years old; she was preceded in death by her daughter and husband. She was a caring sister, a dear friend, a faithful member of Rose Park, and most importantly a child of God.
I’ve officiated numerous funerals from my time as a chaplain at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and in the church as a pastor, but each and every time I’m struck by the language in our liturgy. If you’ve ever attended a funeral service that I’ve officiated, you’ve heard this prayer:
We give thanks for your servants, who, having lived this life in faith, will live eternally with you. We especially thank you for ______, for the gift of his/her life, for the grace you have given him/her, for all in him/her that was good and kind and faithful. We thank you that for ______ death is past, pain is ended, and he/she has entered the joy you have prepared in the company of all the saints.
If there were three words that I hope to be said at my own funeral they would be good, kind, and faithful. I hope others can look at the entire breadth of my life and say with integrity he was a good man and brother, a kind pastor and friend, and a faithful spouse and follower of Christ. As I ponder those words and even as I write these words, I am convicted. I hope I am living a good, kind, and faithful life right now. I hope I am living in such a way that I can enter the joy that God has prepared in the company of all the saints.
As you read these words, I’d encourage you to take a moment of self-reflection. We understand our actions cannot earn the grace of Christ. Instead, our actions should be a response to the grace of Christ. In other words, because of the love and forgiveness that God offers to us through the sacrifice of Jesus, we should be acting in such a way that gives thanks and honor to that sacrifice. So, are you acting good, kind, and faithful in order to live a life of gratitude back to God?
I know some people who have and I’m sure you know a few as well. The liturgy points us to our ultimate example by ending that same prayer with these words:
Give us faith to look beyond touch and sight, and in seeing that we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, enable us to run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Bring us at last to your eternal peace, through Jesus Christ our Lord, in whose name we are bold to pray, Amen.
Let us look to Jesus so that we might have the perseverance to be good, kind, and faithful for the road ahead.
Grace & Peace,
Pastor Mark