Moss Graveside

2 Corinthians 1:3–4 ESV

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

The passing of our loved ones is always a great loss and a sad occasion.

But for those who know the Lord, as does Tata, it is a joyous occasion for them because they are now in His glorious presence.

Our loss, therefore, which is their gain, can also be for us a cause of rejoicing and thankfulness in the midst of our sorrow because God has conquered death through His Son, Jesus Christ, and because of what death means to those who have placed their trust in Jesus Christ.

As we face this loss and the fact of death, I would hope that we would recognize that if we are to find encouragement and comfort amidst the losses and tragedies of life, we must turn to the Bible as God’s precious Word to us.

Let me read from a couple of beautiful passages of Scripture written for just such an occasion as this.

I Corinthians 15:51-55  “Behold, I show you a mystery: We shall not all sleep; but we shall all be changed,

In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.  For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP IN VICTORY.

O death where is thy sting?  O grave, where is thy victory?”

Tata is not here.  He stands in the presence of the Lord

The body that lies before us is but the earthly tabernacle, the house in which Tata lived among us for a time.  

Tenderly and reverently, we commit that house to the grave, to God who gave it, waiting for the day when both the spirit and the body shall again be united at the coming of the Lord.

I Thessalonians 4:16-18 16  “For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first.” 17  “Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” 18  “Wherefore comfort one another with these words.”

In the light of these promises God has given us in His Word and in as much as it has pleased the Lord in His sovereign wisdom and purpose to take from our midst one whom we have loved, we now commit her body to its final resting place

COMMITTAL PRAYER

Heavenly Father, we thank You this day for Your precious, eternal, and unchanging Word.  We thank You that You are, to us, the Rock of Ages and the great I AM.

In the midst of our natural sorrow, we thank You for Your supernatural comfort and grace.

In the face of death, we thank You for Your gift of eternal life.

In the face of separation, we thank You for the eternal reunion we so eagerly anticipate.

We thank You for Tata’s life here on this earth, and we recognize that the body that lies before us is not  Tata’s, but rather the house in which he /she lived.  We acknowledge that Tata is rejoicing, even now, in Your very presence, enjoying the blessings of Heaven.

Father, we commit his/her body to the earth, from which our bodies were originally created, and we rejoice in the fact that his/her spirit is even now with You, the Father of spirits.

We anticipate the day when spirit and body shall be united again at the coming of the Lord, and we find great comfort in knowing that we shall forever be together with the Lord.

We thank You Father, that in the days, weeks, and months to come, these realities and the abiding presence of Your Spirit will especially strengthen, sustain, and comfort Tata’s friends and family.

IN JESUS’ NAME, AMEN.