Our Weekly Funeral

To my son,

                Yesterday we had the opportunity to go to the funeral for your great-grandmother. We were able to hear stories about her life and learn of her faith in the Savior and her devotion to her family. She left a powerful legacy of commitment to the gospel of Jesus Christ for over 315 people who are her direct descendants: children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren. It is up to us to carry on her legacy of dedication to the work of salvation, particularly of temple and family history work that she devoted so much of her life to. As I thought about funerals this week in conjunction with this event, I realized that in a way we attend a funeral every week. A typical funeral consists of people gathered together in a solemn occasion to sing hymns, pray, and tell stories about the life of the person who has passed away. We generally bring the casket into the chapel and there talk about him or her, sometimes shedding tears as we express love for the person who is gone, and remembering the good things that they have done in their life. Doesn’t that sound a lot like our sacrament meetings? We gather together and pray and sing, remembering the Savior. We give talks about His life and tell of our love and devotion to Him. In particular we remember His death and sacrifice for us, and we symbolically bring His body there to the sacrament table. Have you ever noticed that the table with its white cloth over it looks a little bit like a body is lain there underneath? We partake of that bread and water in remembrance of His body and blood which was shed for each of us. As He taught the Nephites when He instituted the Sacrament among them, “And this shall ye do in remembrance of my body, which I have shown unto you. And it shall be a testimony unto the Father that ye do always remember me” (3 Nephi 18:7). Just as at funerals we remember the person who has passed away, so too at sacrament meetings do we remember the Savior and express our commitment to Him as we partake of the emblems of His body and blood.

                My invitation to you today is to take the partaking of the sacrament seriously and to find ways to remember the Savior then and throughout the week. You can remember how He was born in a humble manger amongst animals. You can think about how He as a youth “increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man” and at the age of 12 was teaching people in the temple and answering their questions (Luke 2:52). Or perhaps you might want to consider the forty days He spent in the wilderness, going without food or water and communing with His Father, and then afterwards rejecting all temptations of Satan who came to Him in that moment. You could remember how He was baptized of John the Baptist in the Jordan River to show obedience to His Father and show us the way. You can think of the three years He spent in His ministry blessing the lives of those who were suffering: “He walked the roads of Palestine, healing the sick, causing the blind to see, and raising the dead.” You might imagine the joy of the widow of Nain whose son He raised from the dead or the relief of the Jairus whose daughter He raised up again to life. You can try to ponder what it would have been like for the man born blind to finally see again when the Savior anointed his eyes and sent him to wash in the pool of Siloam (John 9:1-7). As you think of Him you can review the events of His final days on earth when He taught the twelve apostles, washed their feet, and instituted the sacrament as a memorial of His life. After that was the fateful night when He began His suffering for the sins of the world in Gethsemane, and you might remember His gentle rebuke to Peter and to all of us when we forget Him: “Could ye not watch with me one hour?” You will want to consider the Savior’s suffering as He hung upon the cross, and most importantly His triumphant victory over death. There is indeed much to think on and remember about Him, and I hope that you will try to always remember Him, especially when we are at His weekly “funeral” and celebration of His life each Sunday!

Love,

Dad