One Less New Thing

It's one of those things that I have been wondering about. When will I get "the" phone call. It's funny how things in ministry go. One day I am thinking about how things are going and the next day life is turned upside down.

On Tuesday morning, after 9 & 1/2 months, I got "the" phone call. It was from the local funeral home telling me that a member of the church who had lived in Wisconsin died that morning. Immediately I knew that my week would not be normal--as if any week in ministry is normal. Nonetheless nothing else mattered at that point. I wanted to get Sunday taken care of as quickly as possible, so that I could devote myself to preparing for my first funeral. Fortunately they had asked a retired Covenant pastor to preach, so I was glad that I would not be alone. As the week went on I kept on preparing for the funeral on top of my other duties.

Friday came and the siblings and I we were able to finally hash out the bulletin. Their mother, his wife was unable to attend due to severe illness. Friday afternoon came and I went to the funeral home for the visitation. I recalled the only face to face visit that I had with him. It was last fall at a family reunion for those who came from the family of the second pastor. He was there and we were talking about the church and life back when he was here. How he and his wife were married in the living room of the parsonage, the same parsonage that I now reside in. That was one story that was told over the weekend. I forgot about this, but someone had taken a picture of me, him, and another friend. That picture was on a display board. I corresponded with him over Christmas and then either Easter Saturday or the following Saturday he called to ask how I was doing; from what I recalled of our phone conversation. Despite death there was a peace knowing that he was now in heaven in the presence of Jesus.

At the visitation there were the military honors and then I spoke from Psalm 130 and how that Psalm speaks to both our life when we come to faith and how it speaks to the end of life and the hope that we have.

It was great to meet the children, I met one son-in-law at the reunion, but I got to meet the others, his two adopted children, and his two grandchildren. One was just 8 months old. The other was 4 & 1/2 years old. A hand full, but in a good way. It was refreshing to hear him talk and ask questions. Nothing was sugar coated for this child, but honest; maybe too brutally honest.

Saturday morning arrived and it started out beautiful, the sun was out and it was warming up. I was at church a little after 8 am. The funeral home arrived and set up. The service began and unlike at my first wedding where I lost my voice, I did not lose it this time. I led a majority of the service. As I looked up at one point I noticed it getting cloudy. Soon the service was over and we were walking in procession to the back where the cemetery is. As we got out of the church I turned to the other pastor and said, "Oh, oh." There were dark clouds to the north and east. As we started the committal the wind picked up a few rain drops, a little thunder, a lightning bolt. As we sang, "How Great Thou Art," it started to rain and then there was thunder and lightning, right as we sang, "I hear the rolling thunder."

One less new thing. I was honored to be a part of this funeral, my first funeral, even though I did not know him very well. Funerals, for Christians, are about hope about knowing that at the end of life on earth is the beginning of life in heaven. While my week ended up being a little bit different then I expected, this was a disruption that I needed to remind me of why God has called me into ministry.