Sept. 2, 2011
“All preachers are universalists!” screamed the headline. Now, that is attention-grabbing.
Universalism is typically defined as the notion that all humans somehow experience God’s grace and are welcomed into heaven. While sensational, the writer had a point. As a mortician, the writer attended thousands of funerals. He never once heard a pastor declare with conviction that a person was in hell because of his or her rejection of Jesus. As a Christian, the writer had heard thousands of sermons warning the living, but at the graveside, all preachers dodged the ultimate conclusion.
I have heard some pretty irresponsible preaching at funerals myself. I heard about one service for a truly rotten man, an abuser of alcohol and many of the women who crossed his path. The preacher said something like, “Old Bill didn’t have much use for God or the church or things like that. But he loved the outdoors. And God made the outdoors. So that’s kind of like loving God.” It sounds like a joke, but I also heard about a pastor who admitted, “Joe was a scoundrel, a two-faced, angry lout. The world may very well be better off without him. But his brother, John, who we lay to rest today, wasn’t quite that bad.”
I’ve performed “community funerals” before. The deceased nor the family had a church and so the funeral home called me. I usually tried to visit the family first. The conversation is a bit like asking a newly engaged couple why they want to get married; no matter how laughable their words are when compared to truth, you’re about to hear the same lines. “She was a good woman. Loved life. Loved her family. He was salt of the earth. Give you the shirt off his back. I’m glad he’s in a better place now.”
I don’t honestly know if it matters what I say. I don’t believe the family needs me, as God’s representative, to corroborate their story, but that’s how they look at me. They all want me to preach their loved one into heaven. I can’t do it. Even while looking at the puffy, drawn faces, I can’t do it.
I’ve never preached anyone into hell, but I can’t ignore a life of rejecting my Savior. At every funeral, at every wedding, the people I speak to are going to hear some form of the Gospel. It is a teachable moment and I dare not waste it. For the deceased I wind up using what I call a “conditional Gospel.” I resort to phrases like, “If Bill knew the truth I’m sharing with you today…” and “The family believes Bill knew God in a personal way. I certainly hope so, because then we can trust these assurances from God’s Word.” While speaking at one of these funerals, I notice the averted eyes. I hear the wooden, “Good sermon, preacher.” At times, I wonder if I’m doing the right thing. It would seem insensitive to preach the “dead into hell,” but it would be irresponsible of me to not preach the true Gospel. In my inner conflict, I probably at least pull the punch, but my hope is that all present hear the truth.
How can this possibly relate to you readers, who will not likely ever preach a funeral? The Gospel is universal truth. We are called to speak it and live it wherever we go. Therefore, my goal is to use every opportunity I am given – and some that I make – to tell people about the sacrifice of Jesus. About their sin and separation from a loving God. About forgiveness and grace. About a new life that each of us needs. This is a universal truth – true for all people in all times in all situations. I plan to share it – as sensitively as the occasion calls for – with all people, at all times, and in every situation. That is a universalism I can live with. How about you?
Walk WITH Jesus,
Jim