Funeral homily for Ash Wednesday

Preached at Robin Hood Crematorium Chapel, 1.30pm 6th February 2008: Ash Wednesday

Reading John 14:1-6

Now today is Ash Wednesday. It is the start of Lent, the 40 day period of penitence and fasting that prepares us for Easter. And Ash Wednesday is a very appropriate day for a funeral. One of the things we remember on Ash Wednesday is our dependence on God; as human beings we were created from dust and our human bodies return to dust and ashes and the end of our earthly lives. In church this morning we were marked with the sign of the cross on our foreheads with ash to remind us of our own mortality. Perhaps you can still see the cross of ash on my forehead. Now we have come to a funeral and this too is a poignant reminder of our mortality.
Being reminded that we will one day die can be quite unpleasant. It makes us question what we are about, what we value. Death can feel like a dark shadow looming somewhere over the horizon. Sometimes it is easier just to not think about it.
And yet the Christian Faith teaches us not to fear death. It teaches us that our true life comes from God, and that bodily death changes this life, it does not take it way. The essential part of us, our soul, survives death and goes to be with God. In the scripture reading that we heard just now Jesus was comforting his disciples before he died. He tells them that he goes to prepare a place for them, and that later him will come and take them to be with him so that they can be together. Jesus says this to his disciples, but the New Testament is very clear that we are all called to this shared life with Jesus in heaven. And this is a source of great hope. This allows us to hope that our relationships can survive death and can be restored and renewed in Jesus. It allows us to have hope for ???? and for his wife. It allows us to hope for ourselves when our own time comes.
And the scripture reading is very important because it also tells us how this hope can be realised. Thomas says the Jesus, “We do not know where you are going, how can we know the way,” and Jesus assures him that he, Jesus, is the way the life and the truth. So let’s look to Jesus and have hope. Let’s bury ???? in confidence that we will see him again after our own death. Let’s base our life on the life of Jesus; the life that is more powerful than death.