Reflections On A Funeral

SAT., APR. 3, 1993, 7:43 AM
FARM, STUDY

Yesterday you were part of a rather large crowd of people gathered at a funeral. It was for a man who was not old, but was no longer young. His handsome face had been scarred and twisted by surgeries, and all that even the powerful medical means could oppose were not sufficient to stop the spread of cancer. It is one of those ironies of earth life that a man so full of life, in so many ways, could, finally, be killed by his own cells. Am I responsible? Only in that I generally allow the natural forces of earth to work. I aided John’s spirit, so that his life was longer than it would have been. Otherwise I didn’t “pull a miracle.”

But this Teaching is about the response of Cindi and his family to his death, finally… the funeral and the party following. The funeral was an out and out worship service, even as all of you don’t worship regularly in that way. There were repeated affirmations of eternal life, of ongoing life, of reunion with Me. You were impressed with the poem that greeted you early on. The simple metaphor was that John has passed on from this place, this family, this life, but “others” are waiting to welcome him into a new, and perhaps familiar, form of life.

You liked the music and the symbols that were part of the remembrance. Your spirit was touched again, as it was on the Walk to Emmaus, with “And I will lift Him up… on the last day.” With Easter just more than a week away the “original” meaning of those words is emphasized. I, as Almighty God, did lift the spirit of My Son, Jesus, from His dying body. Then on the third day I lifted up the body, an unusual “stunt” that I seldom repeat. The Spirit came back into bodily form, but it was no longer a body limited by the normal forces of the earth. And, finally, I lifted Him up to be with and within, and an integral part of Me.

OR… I, as Jesus, felt My Spirit leave the body in which I Had grown up, as boy and man. I moved through other realms as the body was taken from the cross and prepared for burial. On what is now Easter morn I, as Spirit, returned to that body, which awaited Me without decay. I came forth from the tomb and was with My disciples and others for some time… including the symbolic event on the road to Emmaus. When the time was right I felt Myself being lifted up, body and all, to become, again, One with the Father and with Me, the Holy Spirit.

In a similar, but not identical way, John’s spirit was lifted up from his no-longer-functioning body, on his last day. Yet his spirit did return on that funeral day, to see those assembled, to hear the Scriptures and prayers, and experience that unique happening of burial.

And then there was the party. Drinks and food were plentiful, and it was a party atmosphere. His spirit could be satisfied that this wish of his was fulfilled, in a spirit of merriment, even if subdued a bit. He was in a spiritual body that you couldn’t see, but he could again feel the health and wholeness of his bodily self, as before the cancer erupted and the surgeries exchanged scars and crippling for a bit more time in the earth. Those scars were not necessary to be maintained, as My wounds, As Jesus, were. It was good for him to experience the wholeness of a non-deteriorated body before being lifted up, finally. That spiritual body is always available, but for many it is also something to shed, finally, as life in pure spirit evolves… or continues.

It is a good human/spiritual custom that friends and family gather together in funeral experiences to remember the one who died, in a community way. As I observe, and as you have, too, some are pretty perfunctory, without much spirit, while others are truly spirit-filled. The ones you shall describe in this coming week are fine examples of funerals & memorials “at their best.” I’ll also commend you again for your eulogy for Russ. Russ was a warrior, and I accepted him as such. He was proud to be remembered and eulogized in the way you did it.