What comes after
What comes after death, but before the Final Judgment
Luke 16:19-31
I was recently reviewing my files and happily reminiscing about all the weddings I’ve conducted. And then my attention was drawn to another important list: All of the funerals, memorials and burials I’ve led and preached over the past 35 years. Just a couple of weeks ago I did another. As I look over the photos of the Anderson Valley Senior Center visiting our farm in 2007, I am struck by both the intense warmth of the memories, and the sadness that I buried several of those dear souls. To me as a pastor, it is such a mixed blessing: To know and to love people, and then comes the suffocating feeling of presiding over their departure. Again, and again and again. Sometimes I feel if I could just cup my hands a little tighter, the waters of peoples lives wouldn’t slip through and leak out and be soaked up in the earth. And today we’ll attend the service of another dear one.
So today, with that urgency, I’d like for us to let some truths sink in from a key doctrine of God’s Word: What comes right after this life.