Brown's Daily Word 1-23-08

Good Morning,
I seldom read and reflect from the Book of Ecclesiastes, but in Chapter 7 we read about the funeral and the house of mourning. All of us live just a breath away from eternity. I got a news from India yesterday that one of my classmates from High School days, whom I had met during my visit to India in 2006, died suddenly. Also, one of my friends sent a prayer request, to pray for a family that lost a young daughter.
Dr Maxi Dunham, a prominent Methodist pastor and former President of the Asbury Seminary wrote a booklet years ago titled "I danced at my funeral". I am asked to participate in lots baptisms, weddings, and funerals. I have a particular clergy suit that I love to wear for, "matching, hatching, and dispatching". I am blessed to be able to share in some of the very defining moments in the lives of people, always looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith.
I have been asked to speak to the Faculty, staff, and students of Davis College at chapel tomorrow at 10:30 am, and participate in a plenary session Friday at 10:30 am. Please pray that the Lord would grant me His fresh anointing through the Holy Spirit.
We read in Ecclesiastes 7, “A good reputation is more valuable than the most expensive perfume. In the same way, the day you die is better than the day you are born. It is better to spend your time at funerals than at festivals. For you are going to die, and you should think about it while there is still time. Sorrow is better than laughter, for sadness has a refining influence on us. The heart of the wise is the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of pleasure. A wise person thinks much about death, while the fool thinks only about having a good time now...Finishing is better than starting.” Ecclesiastes 7:1-4, 8
These may sound like dark words, but they contain profound wisdom. People deny death, refuse to face it, and are reluctant to attend funerals. We often view life as God’s greatest gift, and we regard death as the worst thing that could happen. Most people avoid thinking about death, yet the writer of our text says that they would be better off spending some time at funerals, because they need a reality check. The Bible says that there is value in suffering and sorrow. We learn more from difficult times than happy times. If we view death with the eyes of faith, we see that death is the best of all possible events, because this life is a mere rehearsal for the life to come. Heaven is real and glorious. This is why the day of our departure is better than the day of our birth. Scripture uses mostly celestial language to describe heaven. Trying to describe Heaven to humans is like trying to describe this world to an unborn child. All we really know is that if we are living in the Lord and for the Lord, the best is yet to come.
Do you ever think of what people might say about you at your funeral? What kind of eulogy might you be given? Humorist Garrison Keillor once said that at his funeral he wants people to weep uncontrollably with abject despair! We hope people will miss us, and that they will think well of us. We covet having “a good reputation,” as our reading states. We hope to reach the end of our days with no regrets. How we live matters.
Why are funerals better than parties according to Ecclesiastes? At parties we escape reality and we try to forget our cares; at funerals we come face-to-face with the meaning of life. A party may be a good occasion to blow off some stress, but a funeral is a place to reflect and learn what life is really about—this is an occasion to prepare for the day when we too will depart and stand before the Lord of Heaven and earth.
The time to live is now - we don’t know what tomorrow will bring. More importantly, the Bible says that the time to believe, to trust God, is Today, while we hear God’s voice; tomorrow may be too late. The body is not a home. It is more like a hotel, a place where we dwell only briefly.
Rather than pursue empty pleasures and seek a comfortable life, we need to pursue holiness and seek God. If we reach the end of our days with faith and a good reputation, it shows that we know the true value of things. Many people live in an escapist culture, and have constructed for themselves an oppressive, materialistic prison whose spiritual emptiness is all too apparent. Comfort isn’t as important as living well with integrity, and that may mean often being uncomfortable--enduring hardship, struggle, adversity. A person with character can truly say that the day of death is better than the day of birth.
Winston Churchill designed his own funeral, which took place at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. At his direction, at the close of the service a bugler positioned high in the dome sounded “Taps”: “Day is done, gone the sun”, but then immediately after another bugler sounded “Reveille”: “It’s time to get up in the morning!” This was Churchill’s testimony that at the end of our lives, the last note will not be “Taps” but “Reveille”! Death for the Christian is turning off the light because the dawn has come.
In Christ,
Brown
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"Brown - could you please add this name to the prayer list at church. Denise called me tonight and these folks are friends of hers.....what a tragic accident.

DENTON, Maryland - A 15-year-old girl was killed about 5:43 p.m. Monday when she tried to run across Route 404 west of Denton and was struck by an SUV.
Kathleen Hynn Clancy, of Shady Oak Lane, was pronounced dead at the scene around 6 p.m.
According to a Maryland State Police trooper at the scene, Kathleen had apparently had an argument with a family member just before the incident and had been sent to her room. She then packed a bag of clothes and exited the home, making her way through a small wooded area that borders Route 404. She then attempted to run across the highway just west of Route 312 (Downes Station Road).
Jose Gabriel Prati, 45, driving a white 1999 Lexus SUV, was heading home to Derwood from Rehoboth Beach with his wife and two children, police said. Prati told police a vehicle traveling east on Route 404 had to swerve to avoid the girl. He said he also braked and swerved to the left to avoid her as she continued across the westbound lane of the highway, but the front passenger side of the SUV hit the girl.
The stretch of Route 404 where the accident occurred has a single travel lane for both eastbound and westbound traffic. There is no median dividing the two lanes.
Two passersby, including a nurse, stopped to give the girl first aid and attempted CPR until rescue personnel from Caroline EMS arrived. Emergency workers also attempted to revive the girl, but were unsuccessful.
Police said the girl's relatives were brought to the scene and made a positive identification.
Prati told police he was going the speed limit at the time of the crash.
Traffic on Route 404 east was backed up for miles as the scene was closed off, and westbound traffic was diverted onto Route 312.
A Maryland State Police accident reconstruction team was called to the scene and arrived just before 7 p.m. Maryland State Highway Administration crews also were called to the area to help with the traffic detour."