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If we truly believe in the Resurrection which is so incredible, it should be life changing. Often we are just 'too English', keeping our thoughts and feelings to ourselves. Our recent Easter journey reminds us that God knows what it is like to suffer and be rejected. He even knows what it feels like to be bereaved but He can also transform our difficult experiences when we turn to Him. We are not yet in the time of the 'new heaven and the new earth, when death shall be no more' mentioned in Revelation, but we have learnt through the Resurrection that death is the gateway to eternal life, and it is God's assurance that we can never by ultimately defeated.
I was involved in two funerals this week - both were for elderly people, one of whom had been a member of our congregation for many years and one who as far as I know never came to church at all. I believe that such funerals give us a great opportunity to share the good news of Easter with those who are often devastated by their loss, but it is naive to believe that when we lose members of our congregation, we shouldn't grieve because they are in a 'better place'. No doubt they are but we are still allowed to miss them, and our lives may well be a little poorer as a result of their deaths. But we should also celebrate what they meant to us, and enjoy that inheritance.
One of the prayers at the end of the Common Worship Funeral service says this:
Heavenly Father,
in your Son Jesus Christ you have given us a true faith and a sure
hope. Strengthen this faith and hope in us all our days, that we
may live as those who believe in the
communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins and the resurrection to
eternal life.
I pray that may truly be our experience, and that those with whom we have contact will want to know more as our own belief shines through. I particularly pray that those who do not yet acknowledge Him may come to recognize the God who loves them so much and that we may play our part in that as we celebrate the Easter miracle.
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