Faith at a Funeral
Our church held a Christian funeral service for a faithful member named Dave. His kids, grandkids, friends, and extended family gathered together to remember him and, even more, to remember what Jesus had done for him. We came not so much to celebrate Dave’s life but to celebrate the One who is life, the Jesus who came back to life so we could have life after death.
But there was one moment I will never forget, something that had never happened to me in all my years of attending and leading funerals. We were singing “In Christ Alone,” a song about finding hope and strength and light in Christ Jesus, but when we got to the stanza about Jesus’ resurrection, one of Dave’s kids stood up to worship. You should know that most people at our church are pretty reluctant when it comes to spontaneous expressions of worship, so we all noticed this woman as soon as she stood. But there was something about that moment and, even more, about the lyrics we were singing that made it perfect. Maybe that’s why people started to join her. He stood. Then they stood. Then I stood. And we sang about the power of the empty tomb, about not fearing death, about putting our hope in Christ alone.
Death and grief are rarely easy. But there is something irreplaceable about having faith at a funeral. “Jesus said to [Martha], ‘I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die’” (John 11:25).