A text – 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died. 15 For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will by no means precede those who have died. 16 For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call and with the sound of God’s trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.
A reflection:
In my third career, I am a funeral celebrant. I was trained formally and have practiced for seven years, telling the life story of the person who has died. I do my services in the funeral home sanctuary, and every so often if a larger space is needed, at a local Fargo venue. Not in churches. Because people who die while they are active members of a local church have a pastor to do their funeral. And they maybe have a singer and a pianist or organist. The funerals I do are for people who may once have attended a church, but who have no current church home and perhaps even no clear faith or belief about what happens when we die. I ask their family a couple of questions about that, and this happens at a time when I know the family is missing their loved one and want to believe they’ll see that person again.
The Thessalonians are in the same boat. They would like to adopt the faith of Paul and SIlvanus and Timothy, the people who are writing this letter to them. But all the Thessalonians have been taught that their loved ones who have recently passed away are severed by death from any possibility of resurrection or new life. If the Thessalonians adopt this new faith, what about their loved ones?
Paul and his colleagues write the answer: The Lord will raise everyone and call everyone still living to come to him, and we all will be with the Lord forever. Encourage one another with these words.
So this is what I include in my funeral services: the beautiful line from the committal prayer of Catholics and many Protestants: “Eternal rest grant unto her, O Lord. And let perpetual light shine upon her.” And a little bit of Luther: “We can remind ourselves what the Lutherans say, that we who survive the death of a loved one ‘live in the sure and certain hope of the Resurrection.’ We will surely see your loved one again. God keeps God’s promises.” I like to think that the family who is grieving may be open to these ideas, so often recited in churches. My hope is that, in their grief, they might return to church to be reminded again of the miracle of Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection that Paul and Silvanus and Timothy are preaching to the people of Thessaloniki. I am encouraging them with those words. I am saying, “We believe. Believe with us.” When we have loss and fear, we need hope. All of us do.
A prayer:
Lord God, thank you for loving us. Thank you for Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection. Thank you that what seems unbelievable is actually true. Help us to witness this hope to people around us in whatever way we can, so that we are all encouragers of faith in your deep love and goodness. Amen.
