Ed Bradley died recently. My goodness how I enjoyed watching 60 Minutes listening to him cover a story..any story. The man was extremely talented. In reviewing his life, the show quoted Mr. Bradley as saying that when he died he wanted a "celebration"; a New Orleans' style funeral complete with dancing and strutting jazz musicians. When I heard that I began to wonder why we Christians wear somber black, bow our heads, speak to one another in murmurs and act as if death were the worst thing which could ever happen to us. The more I thought about it, the less it makes any sense at all to me.
Stop any Christian on the street and ask him what is his ultimate goal and he will answer "To be with Jesus Christ in heaven for all eternity." Ask the same Christian what he wants more than anything for the people in his family..same answer..and his neighbors? Same answer. And ALL mankind? Same answer. OK, so when someone close to us dies, why don't we "celebrate"? Why don't we put on our BEST and brightest clothes, invite everyone to the party and have three or four days of "feasting and celebration" going on that one of our beloved family members has gone to BE WITH THE LORD..???
Seriously.
And yet we don't do that. By our outward behavior, we act as if dying was life's greatest tragedy. We put on virtual sack cloth and ashes, mourn and cry and beat our breasts and ask God "WHY?" Whatever do we mean, "WHY?" Shouldn't we be shouting, "AMEN?"
We have the promises of Jesus Christ of eternal life with Him..is that something to mourn?
I think Ed Bradley had it right. Bring on the celebration, the music, the feasting and especially the "Amens." I'm imagining little children asking their parents, "Why is everyone smiling and singing?" and their parents replying, "It's a very wonderful day child, Grammy's with Jesus and we're celebrating because we're so happy for her."
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There was very little black at my Mom's funeral. One of the pastors that spoke had everyone laughing telling funny stories about my Mom. We had people comment on how they saw us grieving, but that it was almost like a celebration. That is what we wanted. It was her graduation party. The tears were for us!!!
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