Dear Friends,
I recently shared my experience of being asked to perform what used
to be called' the last rites' but is now known as the "anointing of
the sick" in the Roman Catholic church. A Roman Catholic family who had
strayed from their church, wanted someone to visit and pray with their dying
father. They called our church and asked if a pastor might visit their dying
dad.
I called on the family and spent time talking and getting to know
them, and then I went into a bedroom where I prayed and anointed their dad who
was semi-conscious. To my surprise a week later I received a call from a
local funeral home asking if I would perform the funeral, which I was more
than happy to do.
Doing funerals for people you don’t know is always a little
tricky. Funeral integrity is important to me, and not knowing the extent of
one’s relationship with Jesus, I never want to assume the person is with Jesus
even though it is often what friends and family want to hear.
Paul writes in Colossians 3:1-2, “Since, then, you have been raised
with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the
right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things.”
What better time for us to “set our minds on things above, (and)
not on earthly things, than a funeral, so I always want to share the good news
of the Gospel, for those who are present. While it is too late for the deceased
to hear, it is never too late for those who are living to hear.
On this occasion, I opened the service with a prayer and some
reading of scripture, and as I often do, I then invited the family and friends
to participate in a time of remembrance and several of those present shared
memories of the deceased. They spoke about how Andrew had impacted their lives.
Besides making the service more personal, it provides a way for me to get
to know the person better so my prayers and message might be more appropriate.
Having shared, prayed, and read Scripture, it was now time to
share the gospel. I find people are more disposed to focusing on eternal things
at funerals than at most any other time, so I always do my best to clearly
present the way one can come to know Christ and eternal life.
As I was sharing, I experienced that awful sense that people cared
little about what I was saying. I well remember one time I was in the midst of
sharing a message when the wife of the deceased rolled her wheelchair right up
in front of me, and expressed in a voice loud enough for most all to hear,
“Let’s say the Our Father and get out of here.” I assured her I would try and
be very brief but only a few minutes later she wheeled herself
to the center aisle, did a right turn and wheeled herself right down the
aisle to the back of the church.
If she was trying to send a message, no one, including me, missed
her point.
Why do I share this? Because I know there will be times in your
life when you will be tempted to avoid sharing the gospel for fear that the
person with whom you are speaking is not interested. Yes, there is a time to
speak and a time to be silent, and we must be sensitive to the leading of the
Spirit, for no one wants to be steam rolled into heaven. But on the other hand,
we must never compromise sharing the message of the hope we have in Christ
because we fear rejection.
Jesus says, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all
creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does
not believe will be condemned.” Mark 16:15-16
Paul says, “I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of
God unto salvation to everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16).
I am reminded of the words of Horatio Bonar, the great saint of
yesteryear who writes, “Uncertainty as to our relationship with God is
one of the most enfeebling and dispiriting of things. It makes a man heartless.
It takes the pith out of him. He cannot fight; he cannot run. He is easily
dismayed and gives way. He can do nothing for God. But when we know that we are
of God, we are vigorous, brave, invincible. There is no more quickening truth
than this assurance.”
Those are words I sometimes need to hear when I am timid and
afraid and reluctant to share the glorious, good news of the Gospel.
Yours in faith and friendship,
Tom
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