This morning, as we were eating our bowls of cereal, my little boy asked, "Where are you going daddy? Why are you wearing a suit?"
You see, I don't normally wear suits unless there's a wedding or a funeral. And today, I will be doing both.
I told him that I was getting ready to go to a memorial and I asked him if he knew what a memorial was.
He thought for a moment and said, "I think that's when you celebrate and remember someone or something that's died, sing sad songs, and bury them in the back yard or by the church or something like that."
Well, he got some things right.
It certainly is a day when we celebrate.
You see, for Christians, even on difficult days like memorials or funerals, it's still a day of celebration and worship. Not because we're crazy or insensitive. We celebrate and worship as we remember our loved ones because we know without a shadow of doubt that death is not the end. That death is merely the passage of our loved ones into their eternal home and their eternal life. We know that we were not created merely to exist for several decades to merely expire on a given day. We know that our life on earth is to prepare us for an eternal life in the presence of our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ.
Today is the first time where I will have the privilege of conducting a memorial and a wedding on the same day.
I think it's fitting.
Both will be celebrating the work of Christ.
In one we will have celebrated a life well lived and remember the promises of God of a new creation - a world without pain and sorrow, a world without disease, where we will be given new bodies to live in a new world.
In the other, we will be celebrating a new chapter in life to experience and live out the journey of life under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
Either way, we will be lifting up the name of Christ.
It's going to be a great day!
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