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Third Third – Learning from the Queen

Published On October 1, 2022

Learning from the Queen

Certainly, one of the biggest news stories of the past month was the death and funeral of Queen Elizabeth. There are so many lessons we can learn about flourishing in the third third of life from the queen, but the thing I want to focus on is what we can learn from the queen’s funeral.

Millions of people all over the world watched the funeral and heard about Jesus. It has been reported that the queen carefully planned which Scripture passages would be read and what prayers would be used. It was her final opportunity to point people to Jesus, and she did it well.

Will your funeral point people to Jesus or to your accomplishments? I have left many funerals having heard about what a great person the deceased had been. My favorite funerals, however, are the ones where I left having heard what a great Savior Jesus is.

I know there will be people at my funeral who don’t know Jesus. I want one last opportunity to point them to Jesus. So, I have carefully planned my funeral (Scripture passages, hymns, theme, etc.) to point them to Jesus. There is nothing that would make me happier than if someone came to know Jesus because of my funeral.

Many of us have worked on our wills, healthcare proxies, and other logistical details but have not given much thought to our funeral services. Frankly, it is not something we want to think about. But what if we thought more in terms of how God might use our funerals to bring people to himself? That’s something that ought to excite us. Our church website has many helpful resources on our End of Life page, including a Memorial Service Planning Guide, suggested Scriptures and hymns, an Obituary Writing Guide, and an excellent “conversation starter” for those difficult discussions we need to have with our loved ones.

Queen Elizabeth has given us a good example of how our funerals can bear witness to our Savior and perhaps result in someone we love coming to know Jesus.

Steve McLean
Pastoral Fellow – Discipleship
steve.mclean@hppres.org
(518) 791-6249

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