FUNERAL WORSHIP LEADING - Devotional

FUNERAL SONG LIST

How do you approach a funeral? They’re not like any other service, and in many ways each one is unique. But there’s also a sense that we lead funerals from the same place that we lead the worship in any context: with love, faith and confidence in Jesus.

‘So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.’

[2 Corinthians 4:18]

 Thought:

In Our Greatest Gift*, Henri Nouwen writes a beautiful parable that can help at times like these. The scene is a twin brother sister talking inside their mother’s womb…

The sister said to the brother, "I believe there is life after birth."

Her brother protested vehemently, "No, no, this is all there is. This is a dark and cozy place, and we have nothing else to do but to cling to the cord that feeds us."

The little girl insisted, "There must be something more than this dark place. There must be something else, a place with light where there is freedom to move." Still, she could not convince her twin brother.

After some silence, the sister said hesitantly, "I have something else to say, and I'm afraid you won't believe that, either, but I think there is a mother."

Her brother became furious. "A mother!" he shouted. "What are you talking about? I have never seen a mother, and neither have you. Who put that idea in your head? As I told you, this place is all we have. Why do you always want more? This is not such a bad place, after all. We have all we need, so let's be content."

The sister was quite overwhelmed by her brother's response and for a while didn't dare say anything more. But she couldn't let go of her thoughts, and since she had only her twin brother to speak to, she finally said, "Don't you feel these squeezes every once in a while? They're quite unpleasant and sometimes even painful."

"Yes," he answered. "What's special about that?"

"Well," the sister said, "I think that these squeezes are there to get us ready for another place, much more beautiful than this, where we will see our mother face-to-face. Don't you think that's exciting?"

The brother didn't answer. He was fed up with the foolish talk of his sister and felt that the best thing would be simply to ignore her and hope that she would leave him alone.

 Invitation:

Will you lead from the same place that Nouwen occupied as he wrote? Will you lead with gentleness but calm assurance? Will you allow the questions to be asked but not have to provide all the answers yourself? Will you give people the room they need to express the pain they’re feeling but also allow faith and hope to grow freely within the room?

Your job is not to shine today. Your job is to serve. You job is to hold open all the doors and stand aside.

 Prayer:

Thank you that one day You'll make sense of it all, Jesus. One day every question resolved. Every anxious thought left behind. No more fear. Amen