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From time to time, I am given the privilege of conducting a service that
is the summation of a person's life. Sometimes we call it a funeral service.
I prefer to call it a Service of Thanksgiving for the life of….
Gathered around at these services are people who have come to honour a
person's life, who remember moments that have given joy and imparted feelings
and understandings that are unique, precious, deeply personal and deeply
held in the heart, the mind, even the very being.
We become what we are substantially through the influence of people whose
life has become a part of ours. We carry that influence with us, and it
comes out in us, in who we are and in what we do and say.
In the Christian faith, we have a particular way of seeing this miracle
we call life, this astounding phenomenon where matter becomes conscious.
We understand that life is gift from God, so its sacred. We understand
that each moment is a gift of the divine, so it has to be handled with
reverence. We know that our lives affect other lives, and they are sacred
too.
A friend of mine once did a children's address where a refrigerator box
was wheeled into the church on a bag truck and it was stamped, "FRAGILE.
HANDLE WITH CARE" When the children opened the box, there was, of
course, a person inside.
This idea of handling people with care comes from the idea that God cares
about this person and so if we're going to do things God's way, so do
we. That's the way of life that Jesus showed us and many people try to
live like that.
I get very conscious of how fragile we are at moments like this. So I
want to offer you the hope that the Christian faith has held ever since
a very alive Jesus sat down for a meal with his disciples, three days
after he'd been executed.
There is a danger though in seeing Resurrection hope in terms of something
that only happens after this material substance we call a body has ceased
to function. Resurrection hope is something that is a part of living.
It's the belief that when the love of God is applied to our living, the
parts in us that have died because they've been battered and hammered
for too long and too hard, can live again.
It's the belief that Jesus' way of living, helped by his living spirit
can bring life back to relationships that are destroyed. It's the belief
that the same love that we see in Jesus reaching out across the divisions
of racial and religious prejudice can reach across the divides in our
own lives and give life where deathliness has been predominant. We don't
have to cease to breathe to have parts of us that are dead and we don't
have to die to experience the miracle of resurrection.
Christians believe, because of Jesus resurrection, that something of us
doesn't end when the heart stops beating, but that is only a part of what
is meant by resurrection hope.
The Christian faith also understands that when Jesus was killed but came
alive again, it was to show us a resurrection power that is also about
what happens while we live, that the parts of our being and living that
have died, the dead hopes and dreams of our lives can live again.
I may believe that one day I'll see my Dad again, but that is tied to
the hope that God can also resurrect that which is good and life giving
in me, even if I've allowed it to die. The God who gives life in the form
of us breathing and thinking, is also the God who gives life to my Spirit,
and your Spirit.
To give ourselves to the love of God, to open our lives to the Spirit
of Jesus, is to begin the journey of resurrection power, and that is an
eternal journey because it's a journey with God. And it starts now, this
side of the grave and eternity.
We get a taste of the power of that divine love in the experience we call
human love, but just a taste.
What the chap who wrote Psalm 139, that was read to us a few minutes ago,
was talking about, is his understanding that this divine love can't break
down like human love can. It is eternal. It's always there, offering us
God's life giving power and presence. As the Psalm writer said "I
come to the end, I am still with you." This love also transcends
the time limits of mortality. The idea that this love is still there after
the body ceases to function is the basis of the Christian belief that
we will meet again those we love.
The same God who holds you and me now, still holds the people we love
and who we honour today at this service. God's love is eternal and when
we live in that love, so are we.
And when we light a candle, in a little while, what we are doing is symbolizing
our hope that the light of God's love holds something that cannot be extinguished,
you, me, our loved ones, in God's love.
The people we remember today have been, like us, receivers of that amazing
gift we call life. We thank God for this sacred gift. But this gift only
finds its full potential when it reflects God's love and kindness in how
we live out these precious moments.
We too affect those whose lives are touched by how we live and love, and
we too have a hope that we can impart to those we love. If we live in
God's love, even if the body dies, the love is still there, surrounding
us, enveloping us, the eternal love of God, forever. This is Resurrection
Hope.
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