At a funeral

Part of me likes the Anglican funeral service. Particularly the commital.

I was at a friend's funeral today.

It was related that a couple of his close friends visited him a few days ago, and while he said that he could see Yeshua on the horizon (I wonder if it was metaphorical or a real perception), a friend replied 'I expect you will be in glory before me'.

I think that sort of naff-ness is out of place, and in a way disrespectful of the dying and of our Saviour. Being with him forever is not a holiday destination, but part of God's glorious transition of us into his people by the victory of Christ.

Particularly as I've felt the emotion of the looming shadow of death, in recent times (I mean impending death as a possibility, not just 'theoretically') there is no room for the glib. It is the most gripping and awefilling experience. It is being on the threshold of a great unknown so unkown and so beyond us that Paul tells us we cannot even start to imagine it!

Christ's victory through death and resurrection bought us to this possibility...he paid the biggest price. It is not like a trip to the theme park.