Thoughts on a Funeral

Yesterday I watched the funeral of Anna Lane Hattaway, along with a couple hundred other folks on Facebook and YouTube, as well as the people there in person. Anna Lane passed away suddenly last week at the age of 21. Due to immediate family circumstances I couldn’t drive over to be there in person. But I watched while my daughter was in viola lesson and while I drove my kids to my father-in-law’s house. At one point in the van my 12 year old daughter asked if we could listen to her playlist and I said no. I told her, “This is important.” I cried and blubbered many times during the service. Let me explain why watching it was important to me.

I didn’t really know Anna Lane. Not well. I was out of college when her father Don came to pastor Tabernacle. And I moved church membership in 2003 just before my marriage to Brandon. I saw her in passing whenever I visited TBC over the next 17 years. But she was a sister in Christ. And by witness of her funeral, she was a true sister who loved Jesus more than anything this world can offer. Funerals are important because they remind us that we are a communion of saints. “So in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.” (Romans 12:5)

They are important because they cause us to focus on why we believe what we claim to believe. “If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.” (1 Corinthians 15:13-14)

They cause us to think about eschatology (a big word meaning what we believe about THE END). “For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.” (1 Thessalonians 4:14)

I read this verse to my children later on that evening: “It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of everyone; the living should take this to heart.” (Ecclesiastes 7:2)

I first heard it read at a funeral for an infant several years ago and it has stuck with me. When people go to a feast or party, they are living in the moment. Carefree. When people go to a funeral or house of mourning, they think about the important things. They think about their souls. They think about their family, their life, and whether their actions are gold, silver and precious stones, or whether they are hay and straw (1 Corinthians 3:10-14).

I can say with certainty that Anna Lane’s life was gold, silver and precious stones.

Her death seems sudden and tragic. But God had determined her course before she took her first breath (Job 14:5). Lord, as Moses wrote, teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.