Funerals

Tim Perry

Description

Death will strike your congregation. Are you ready? Are they?Death has become a four-letter word. Whereas in previous generations, the practice of memento mori ("remember death") was embedded in family life, people today have found ways to distance themselves from death. As Western culture becomes increasingly more secular, the Christian understanding of death and the funeral appear more and more strange.Fear of death affects us all, and so pastors have significant hurdles to overcome. What Christians need today is a renewed vision of the traditional Christian funeral liturgy. In Funerals, Tim Perry recovers the rich theology inherent to the Christian funeral: communion with the saints in death, peace in forgiveness, hope in the resurrection, and joy in life eternal. Perry guides pastors through the practice of funerals, from planning the service to preaching the eulogy, and offers wisdom for the hard cases.Perry's Funerals will help pastors disciple their people to see through the valley of the shadow of death and into the hope beyond.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie
• Christian theology
• Theology
• Christianity

Informations

• Publié par: Lexham Press
• Date de parution: 16 juin 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781683594741
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

LEXHAM MINISTRY GUIDES
Funerals
For the Care of Souls
TIM PERRY
General Editor
Harold L. Senkbeil
Funerals: For the Care of Souls
Lexham Ministry Guides, edited by Harold L. Senkbeil
Copyright 2021 Tim Perry
Lexham Press, 1313 Commercial St., Bellingham, WA 98225
LexhamPress.com
All rights reserved. You may use brief quotations from this resource in presentations, articles, and books. For all other uses, please write Lexham Press for permission. Email us at [e-mail] .
Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are from the ESV ® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version ® ) , copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Print ISBN 9781683594734
Digital ISBN 9781683594741
Library of Congress Control Number 2020950424
Lexham Editorial: Todd Hains, David Bomar, Karen Engle, Kelsey Matthews, Abigail Salinger
Cover Design: Joshua Hunt
For Gerry Lougheed Jr. and Geoffrey Lougheed
with deep thanks.
Contents
S ERIES P REFACE   
PRAYER
C HAPTER 1
Two Worlds
C HAPTER 2
Death
C HAPTER 3
Judgment
C HAPTER 4
Hell
C HAPTER 5
Heaven
C HAPTER 6
Catechist
C HAPTER 7
Liturgist
C HAPTER 8
Evangelist
C HAPTER 9
Pastor
R ESOURCES
B IBLIOGRAPHY
Series Preface
W hat’s old is new again.
The church in ages past has focused her mission through every changing era on one unchanging, Spirit-given task: the care of souls in Jesus’ name. Christian clergy in every generation have devoted themselves to bringing Christ’s gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation to people by first bringing them to faith and then keeping them in the faith all life long.
These people—these blood-bought souls—are cared for just as a doctor cares for bodies. The first step is carefully observing the symptoms of distress, then diagnosing the ailment behind these symptoms. Only after careful observation and informed diagnosis can a physician of souls proceed—treating not the symptoms, but the underlying disease.
Attention and intention are essential for quality pastoral care. Pastors first attentively listen with Christ’s ears and then intentionally speak with Christ’s mouth. Soul care is a ministry of the Word; it is rooted in the conviction that God’s word is efficacious—it does what it says (Isa 55:10–11).
This careful, care-filled pastoral work is more art than science. It’s the practical wisdom of theology, rooted in focused study of God’s word and informed by the example of generations past. It’s an aptitude more than a skillset, developed through years of ministry experience and ongoing conversation with colleagues.
The challenges of our turbulent era are driving conscientious evangelists and pastors to return to the soul care tradition to find effective tools for contemporary ministry. (I describe this in depth in my book The Care of Souls: Cultivating a Pastor’s Heart .) It’s this collegial conversation that each author in this series engages—speaking from their own knowledge and experience. We want to learn from each other’s insights to enrich the soul care tradition. How can we best address contemporary challenges with the timeless treasures of the Word of God?
I n the Lexham Ministry Guides you will meet new colleagues to enlarge and enrich your unique ministry to better serve the Savior’s sheep and lambs with confidence. These men and women are in touch with people in different subcultures and settings, where they are daily engaged in learning the practical wisdom of the care of souls in real-life ministry settings just like yours. They will share their own personal insights and approaches to one of the myriad aspects of contemporary ministry.
Though their methods vary, they flow from one common conviction: all pastoral work is rooted in a pastoral habitus, or disposition. What every pastor does day after day is an expression of who the pastor is as a servant of Christ and a steward of God’s mysteries (1 Cor 4:1).
Although the authors may come from theological traditions different than yours, you will find a wealth of strategies and tactics for practical ministry you can apply, informed by your own confession of the faith once delivered to the saints (Jude 1:3).
O ur Lord doesn’t call us to success, as if the results were up to us: “Neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth” (1 Cor 3:7). No, our Lord asks us to be faithful laborers in the service of souls he has purchased with his own blood (Acts 20:28).
Nor does our Lord expect us to have all the answers: “I will give you a mouth and wisdom” (Luke 21:15). Jesus, the eternal Word of the Father, is the Answer who gives us words when we need them to give to our neighbors when they need them. After all, Jesus sees deeper into our hearts than we do; he knows what we need. He is the Wisdom of God in every generation (1 Cor 1:24).
But wisdom takes time. The Lord our God creates, redeems, and sanctifies merely by his words. He could give us success and answers now, but he usually doesn’t. We learn over time through challenges and frustrations—even Jesus grew over time (Luke 2:52). The Lexham Ministry Guides offer practical wisdom for the church.
M y prayer is that you grow in humble appreciation of the rare honor and responsibility that Christ Jesus bestowed on you in the power and presence of his Spirit: “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you” (John 20:21).
Father in heaven, as in every generation you send forth laborers to do your work and equip them by your word, so we pray that in this our time you will continue to send forth your Spirit by that word. Equip your servants with everything good that they may do your will, working in them that which is well pleasing in your sight. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Harold L. Senkbeil, General Editor
September 14, 2020
Holy Cross Day
Prayer for Shepherding Those in the Valley of the Shadow of Death
S ince the earliest days of the church, Christians have used holy Scripture to shape and inform their life of prayer. The structured prayer below invites pastors and laity to pray for those walking through the valley of the shadow of death. It can be used by either individuals or groups—in which case a designated leader begins and others speak the words in bold font.
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Amen.
O Lord, open my lips,
And my mouth will declare your praise.
Ps 51:15
Even the darkness is not dark to you;
The night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you.
Ps 139:12
The Sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in his wings.
Mal 4:2
That God would grant his sheep faithful shepherds who will guide them through the valley of the shadow of death
That he would, through his shepherds, grant his sheep courage, healing, and times of feasting and joy in the midst of grief;
That he would hold his people even in the midst of death, be present to them in Word and sacrament, and so bring them to live with him forever;
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
That God would protect his people from anxiety and despair in the face of death;
That he hold before them death’s defeat by the cross of Jesus as their only hope;
That he would grant shepherds and sheep both perseverance in times of deepest trial; that they may come together to the gates of the Celestial City, there to live in happiness with the King.
Lord, in your mercy
Hear our prayer.
Our Father, who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread, and
Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us,
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil,
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory for ever and ever.
Amen.
Matt 6:9–13
Almighty God and Father, our lives are like the flowers which flourish in the field; when the wind blows over them, they are gone, and that place remembers them no more. In life, so teach us to number our days that we might gain a heart of wisdom; in death, hold us fast in your love that we might not be forgotten; and at the last bring us to share fully in the joy of resurrection. These things we ask in the name of him who died and rose again, that he might be the Lord of the dead and living, Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God now and forever.
Amen.
The Lord Almighty direct our days and our deeds in his peace.
Amen.
C HAPTER 1
Two Worlds
A good funeral gets the dead where they need to go and the living where they need to be.
—Thomas Lynch
T here was a time within living memory for some of us when a little book like this simply wasn’t needed. I can just barely remember it. Growing up in small-town Canada in the late twentieth century, I recognized two centers of community life: the hockey arena and my local church. The latter welcomed newcomers when they were born (and when they were born again), helped launch them into adulthood, recognized their willingness to raise the next generation in marriage, and commended them to God when they died. This was what my church did. This was what all churches did.
In this world, a primer like this one on eschatology and the Christian funeral would have stood out as odd because everybody already knew what had to be done without having to be told. Everyone in my small town was connected to a church; the local community churches at a sociological level performed the same tasks despite differences in theology; the local culture supported and encouraged such connections and responsibilities. However, early on, I intuited this world was being supplanted. I can well remember my uncle giving an earnest testimony at a Sunday morning service, expressing worry for the future of our town when the local Agricultural Society decided to keep the Fall