November 24 2017 – Click here to listen
When my friend went to heaven this past week I received numerous emails from his many friends. I know that family and friends had to be grieving yesterday on Thanksgiving Day and my thoughts and more importantly prayers were with them. As I thought about them, I felt almost guilty for having a wonderful time with my own family as we celebrated Thanksgiving Day.
There is no question in my mind that my friend Jimmy would not have wanted anyone grieving for him. He loved the Lord with all his heart and he is with Him at this very moment enjoying unimaginable glory. He would want us to share in his jubilation.
Alas it is easy to say, “Don’t mourn the loss of a loved one,” but much more difficult to pull off, especially when they are one of the “good guys.” I always thought of the death of a Christian as being akin to someone leaving for a long journey around the world to a remote distant land with no communication of any kind. I am remorseful that I will not see or communicate with them for a while, but I try to focus on the homecoming.
One of Jimmy’s friends sent me this poem which is often read at funerals. The author, Henry Scott-Holland (1847 – 1918), a priest at St. Paul’s Cathedral of London, did not intend it as a poem, rather it was actually delivered as part of a sermon in 1910. The sermon, titled, “Death the King of Terrors” was preached while the body of King Edward VII was lying in state at Westminster. I find it very comforting. Hopefully you will too.
“Death is nothing at all. It does not count. I have only slipped away into the next room. Nothing has happened. Everything remains exactly as it was. I am I, and you are you, and the old life that we lived so fondly together is untouched, unchanged. Whatever we were to each other, that we are still.
Call me by the old familiar name. Speak of me in the easy way which you always used. Put no difference into your tone. Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow.
Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes that we enjoyed together. Play, smile, think of me, pray for me. Let my name be ever the household word that it always was.
Let it be spoken without an effort, without the ghost of a shadow upon it.
Life means all that it ever meant. It is the same as it ever was. There is absolute and unbroken continuity. What is this death but a negligible accident?
Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight? I am but waiting for you, for an interval, somewhere very near, just round the corner.
All is well. Nothing is hurt; nothing is lost. One brief moment and all will be as it was before. How we shall laugh at the trouble of parting when we meet again!
Henry Scott Holland
John 16:33
“I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”
Have a great weekend and go to church this Sunday.