Funerals have become elaborate celebrations of the deceased. These days, it’s all about the personal remembrances. So many, in fact, that I’ve had to limit the number of eulogies in a service. Funeral sermons have gone the way of the dodo bird and God has been relegated to a non-speaking role.
This neglect of God’s Word would have seemed unimaginable to our Puritan forebears. Thomas Brooks (1608-1680) preached at Margaret Randall’s funeral on June 28, 1651. I couldn’t find a single reference to Margaret in Thomas’ entire sermon. Not one word! He announced his intention from the outset to speak to the living, not dwell on the deceased. He titled his message, “A Believer’s Last Day is his Best Day.” Thomas later warned that an evil person’s last day is his worst day. He went on to enumerate four changes death brings to believers–a change of place, a change of company, a change of employment, and a change of enjoyments. He said, “Death is a change of imperfect and incomplete enjoyments to complete and perfect enjoyments of Him.” He closed the sermon with several points of application. Most notably, suggestions on preparing for death and urging believers not to fear its coming. Not exactly something one might hear at a funeral in our time.
I’ve reworked the final paragraph of his lengthy funeral sermon into prayer: