Honoring One of the Saints

We laid to rest our dear friend and sister in Christ, Marge, on Friday. I had the honor of officiating the funeral and graveside services. This service was noteworthy to me for several reasons.

• It was the first funeral in our new building, as most funerals are held at the funeral home nowadays. I was also happy to work again with Larry, my predecessor, and to see some folks who knew Marge but no longer attend our church.
  
• It was a rare opportunity to see a full police motorcycle escort. Marge's son is a motorcycle cop and his unit did an impressive job with precision, formation riding and traffic control on the way to the cemetary. It's quite a showing and a powerful way to honor someone.
• It's the first time my brother, Dustin, sang at a funeral. He performed two songs at Marge's request.
• The funeral director hunted me down afterward and asked if I would be willing to be on call for other funerals when the family doesn't have a minister. He said that he is regularly horrified at the kinds of things that clergy say during funeral services – unhelpful, undoctrinal, and untrue platitudes devoid of substance. I told him I'd be glad to help if I could. My only qualm is that funerals done correctly have hours invested in the family in the days preceding the actual service.