What's a Good Funeral Message



A well know priest in Maryland says Catholics, and all Christians I suppose, are making a mistake in the most popular format at funerals. His complaint is that funerals today discuss and celebrate the lives of the dead.

The most prominent topic of a funeral, he advises, should be punishment in hell or reward in heaven. He goes on to quote Catholic doctrine with makes it clear right after death each person is confronted with judgment and is sent off to one of the two. If Catholic, and much of Protestant, doctrine is punishment or reward in a life after one dies why has it become out of style to discuss it at funerals?

Could it be the literal heaven and hell are not discussed so much today because people think it is nuts? Maybe because no one has ever come up with a convincing way to show there is a literal heaven and hell so it is wise not to bring it up?

I have not heard a preacher talk in this way for years: Grandpa is dead but we don't know if he is in heaven or hell. We just know that an evaluation was made by the gatekeepers and they made the call. All of us must keep in mind that sin is the obstacle to heaven. We can only hope Grandpa made the cut.

 A sermon like that apparently is what the priest had in mind. The people in the pews who pay his salary would not tolerate such a message. A priest who preached such a message would be moved elsewhere.

So, while the priest wants hell and damnation preached at funerals, it is really the folks in the pews who decide what will be in the message. They pay the bills.

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