Pastor: We need more funerals

An article in this week’s Christianity Today spotlighted pastor John Stoltzfus who noted, “Our church doesn’t have enough funerals.”  His Mennonite community members often leave town to live with children when they become elderly and require more care.  As such, the mentioned church’s senior pastor has performed only 10 funerals in 8 years.

So why the desire for more funerals?  Attending a funeral causes us to examine our lives.  We tend to ponder what will be said about us.  And, what may be very different, “What do I want people to say about me?”

One pastor noted that funerals are a like a North Star, showing us which way to direct our lives.  It is spiritually healthy, and it can be an accelerator in spiritual maturation.  Saint Isaac the Syrian said, “Prepare your heart for your departure.  If you are wise, you will expect it every hour.”

I must say that although I agree with these sentiments, I feel it would be discouraging to perseverate about my own death.  Caring for hospice patients directs my attention on the reality of my non-permanence, and yet, my thoughts don’t stay there perpetually.

So, why does the Psalmist say, “Teach me to number my days?”  I can think of several “benefits.”  First, I appreciate what I have knowing that others have had their lives suddenly stripped from them by an unexpected illness.  Second, it reminds me that I am incapable of preventing tragedy.  As the song goes, “I will hope in the Lord my God, I will trust in the One who is worthy.”  That is rather humbling, and it is a good kind of humbling.

“Though there be no food in the fields, and the flock be separated from the fold, I will trust in the Lord.  He has made my feet like hinds feet (meaning strong), and He makes me walk on my high places.”  What do you think, reader, about these last few verses in Habakkuk?  Please check them out, and respond here by leaving a comment.  For help with the language,  use a website like blueletterbible.org.