H ave you been to a funeral late ly? How Christian was it? Ever take time to evaluate the mores and customs that prevail at the average funeral service? If you will, you may come to the conclusion that many o f the fu neral practices of present-day Christian Americans are pagan in origin and devoid o f Christian meaning. Basic to most of these practices is the reverence afforded the corpse under the guise of paying final respects to a departed loved one. The Scripture teaches that to be “ absent from the body” is to be “present with the Lord” and that the body is only the earthly residence of the real you. It was created by God to be the dwelling place of the soul during life on this planet. This is its only purpose and when the soul departs the body, the body’s pur pose ceases. Extravagance in the purchase of costly caskets, elabo rate vaults, etc., is a poor invest ment o f hard-earned money and often an expense that burdens a family long after the funeral is forgotten. Certainly the body de serves proper burial but the ex tent to which this is often carried today borders on paganism. The custom of the casket con taining the remains o f the loved one being present at the funeral service and often open during the service itself is far from Chris tian. The silent procession of friends and family filing by the open casket to view for one last time the still form of the depart ed loved one is a rigorous ordeal from which many people turn away and rightly so. The final memory etched upon the minds of family and friends o f one dear to them in this life deserves to be more than the coldness of a coffin. Flowers have long been the ex pression of the final token of friendship and is the accepted demonstration o f one’s apprecia tion for the deceased. Hundreds of dollars worth of floral pieces are hauled unceremoniously to the cemetery following the funeral
HOW CHRISTIAN ARE OUR FUNERALS?
by Pastor Robert Warren Calvary Baptist Church Whittier , California
and the hour o f serv ice an nounced. Prior to the service, the family with the pastor and the undertaker could accompany the remains to the cemetery and fit tingly commit the body to the ground. Following the commit tal service, the family could pro ceed to the church for a memori al service that would exalt the Lord Jesus Christ and emphasize His finished work upon the cross and His triumph over death. A positive presentation of the gos pel with re feren ce to the de ceased’s testimony for Christ is in order. Even personal testi monies by one or two individuals of what the Christian life o f the one being remembered has meant to them would be appropriate. Music with a message would be a fitting addition to this brief me morial service. Caskets in church es are out of order and though it is contrary to custom there is no example in the New Testament for such a practice. Likewise the practice of filing past the open coffin at the conclusion of the fu neral is an experience that ought not to be forced upon those in attendance. Dare we break tradition? Can we establish some truly Christian customs? It might be well for us to ponder this matter and re think our long-practiced rituals to the end that Christ can be glo rified either “by life or by death.” E ditor ’ s N ote : This article will perhaps provoke interesting com ments or diverse opinions by some of our readers. We are always glad to hear from those who have specific views on subjects of im portant issues. We encourage you to write. Those comments which the editors feel are pertinent w ill be published in subsequent issues.
rites only to wilt during the night hours and be removed to the in cinerator the next day. How much better to give the flowers while friends are able to appreciate them or to invest the money spent on bouquets in a fitting memorial to the deceased! Legion are the needs of this world and of the local church; surely the Christian could find ample places to invest such funds to the glory o f God and the furtherance of the gos pel, a far more fitting remem brance than faded flowers. Nicodemus and Joseph of Ari- mathea set the Christian example relative to this matter in the events that followed the demise of the Saviour on the cross. Lov ingly they removed the body of our Lord from the Roman gibbet, embalmed it according to the practices of the day and rever ently placed the body in a tomb. No funeral — no placing the body on display — no elaborate cere mony — no extensive expense. And yet, no person possessed more love for another person than the love that existed in the hearts of the disciples for the Lord. Is there a lesson here for us? Is there an example o f what a Chris tian funeral ought to be? Could there be a custom worth consid ering? Customs bind us and public opinion controls us but Christians ought to establish some practices relative to funeral procedure that would demonstrate to the world that “ precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of [one of] his saints.” When a believer departs this life, the family, as the disciples of the first century, could have the body prepared for burial at the least expense possible. A me morial service could be scheduled at the local church of the deceased
THE KING'S BUSINESS
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