Churches and Funerals

Earlier today (Monday) I attended a funeral along with several staff members from the church I attend. The funeral was for the father of one of our church's part-time staff members.

David's dad died at the age of 77. Losing a parent is so very painful, and we wanted to show David our support. After all, he has been a part of the church staff since 1999.

I know of at least one other couple from church who attended the visitation the night before. For the funeral, however, there were only four of us from church.

I am perplexed at why some funerals are well attended by church members and others are only attended by a handful of people. Whenever a church member grieves, we should do our best to provide comfort. David needed to have the support of his church home.

And he received it -- from at least one couple at the visitation to the four of us who sat in the church building where his Dad worshiped. We did not know David's family (I had only met his Dad once), but we know David. And that is why we went.

There is a line from a song entitled, "The Family of God." It goes like this: "when one has a heartache, we all shed a tear. It's because we're a family, a family that's near."

Today was about family.