Occasional thoughts

I attended the funeral of a friend two weeks ago and over the weekend my wife heard that a cousin had passed away. I am in my 80^th year and am reminded again that our time in this earthly body is limited; as the Psalmist says “Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures; yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.” Psalm 90 verse10

Two recent conversations have reminded me that it can be helpful to think about our own funeral and share our thoughts with those who may have to arrange it. I did draft something some years ago but am now revisiting and will let the people involved know my thoughts when completed. In the meanwhile my initial thinking may be worth sharing in a wider way.

I would like included three hymns

The wonderful hymn “Dear Lord and Father of mankind forgive our foolish ways”

http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/d/e/a/r/dearlord.htm

The amazing hymn of faith “When peace like a river … It is well with my soul”- if you don’t know the story behind this do look it up

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_Is_Well_with_My_Soul

The third is Charles Wesleys hymn “And can it be”. I would like this to be the final things at my funeral and before it I would like the words below read out – and I will be asking a specific person if they would be prepared to do that.

https://www.hymnal.net/en/hymn/h/296

“We are coming to the end of my funeral and would like to say a few words. Probably some kind words will have been said and the negative things that could have been said have been left alone.

I like to think that the positives in my life have outweighed the negatives but I am very aware that nothing that I could do can ever cancel out the hurt that has been caused to people. I know that I will have to stand before God but I will do so not relying on the balance of Good and Evil being in my favour but rather on the assurance that my sins are forgiven through the sacrifice of Jesus.

I have chosen this hymn (which I feel should start “Wow, can it be?” and asked that it be the final things in the service so that we can go out with these words “Bold I approach the eternal throne, And claim the crown, through Christ my own”