Three Funerals

By the time you read this, I will have done three funerals this week.  One for a Hispanic woman.  One for an Anglo man.  One for an African-American man.  They were all very different people - a hair dresser, a teacher and a plant worker (who went twenty five years without missing a day of work).  they did not know each other but they all had some things in common, they all were people of faith and they all had a connection to Northside Baptist Church.

There are unique cultural expressions of grief.  Hispanic families (in Victoria at least) place sand upon the top of the casket at the graveside.  Anglo families often have a lot of flowers and displays of mementos.  African-American funerals have the elements of resolution reading and music that is unique and life affirming.  I have heard it said that we all laugh in the same language.  It could be said that we all cry in the same language too.  We may have different customs of grief, but we all cry in grief.

There will be nine funerals in one church in South Carolina next week.  The grief caused by one gunman in one church must be close to unbearable.  If we all could attend all these funerals we would see, as I did in these three funerals here, that we are not that different.  Death is common to all races and ethnicities, and so is grief.

Grief can unite us, but the thing that unites people like no other is the love of God that has been shown in Jesus.  It is a stronger "uniter" across cultures than anything else I have seen.  It is too bad the young gunman in South Carolina never saw that or grasped that.  It would be a shame if we did not see it or grasp it.

I am sorry to see three people who attend my church pass away but I am glad to be a part of a church where these three people could worship together with a sense oneness in Christ.  They are now among the new arrivals in heaven along with the nine from South Carolina.  They are now knowing the joy of Christ and the oneness He brings. The pain and the differnces of this earth are gone - and there are no more tears.

It is interesting to me that in heaven, we do not lose our race or ethnicity.  John, in Revelation 5:9, said he saw people there in heaven from "every tribe and every language and every people and every nation" and they were all singing before the throne of God - as one.  God loves our differences and yet, one day, in heaven, we will make us all truly be one family.  Let's keep practicing for that day until it comes.  Let's especially do that this Sunday.

for the journey...

Tim

Thankful for What You Had

"Who will be my role model, now that my role model is gone, gone..."

I heard those words from a song by Paul Simon while I was sitting in a sandwich shop waiting on my order.  To be honest, I had not been really listening to the music but the moment I heard those words playing I had a connection with them and a connection with a sense of grief.

Not long ago the man who had been my mentor for the past few years, Charles Price, past away.  When those words played I immediately thought of him.  The question did come to my mind, "Who will be my role model?"  Charles challenged me, encouraged me, taught me, mentored me but mainly Charles loved me in his own unique way.  I will miss him.  I am not sure what I will do now, but I am really grateful for the time I had.  I look back and see how precious it was now.

Recently, a mom I know, lost her second grown child; both were daughters and both died at age 42.  She shared how blessed she had been to have had them both for 42 years.  There are a lot of other ways to look at those losses.  Her ways is obviously the best and probably the most blessed.

We will grieve, there is no way around that.  The choice we have is how will we choose to think about what we have lost - grateful for what we had or grieving for what we no longer have.  I want to be in the first group.

To be able to do that, I need to be grateful now, even in the losses, thankful for what I had.

for the journey...

Tim