Fear and Loathing in Rome

I attended a funeral earlier this week at the Papist church in town. The gentleman who died was kind of a colleague and so I was obligated to attend, along with the rest of my office. I was sitting in the back, near the casket, when the priest began to shake his holy water dispenser around at the start of the funeral. I was hit with a good amount of holy water and spent the rest of the day worried that I may have been, in that moment, baptized into the Roman church. After much discussion with others, including a Presbyterian clergyman, I was assured that I was not, in fact, suddenly a Papist.

With this relief in mind, I was able to ponder the other elements of the service, which is what brings me to this blog posting here.

Before I being, I want to note that my observations are not simply designed to take a shot at the Roman church. As you can see from my word usements, I am not a fan of Rome and I make no apologies for that. I refuse, because of its correct use in the Apostle's Creed and in the interest of truth, to use the word "catholic" to describe the Roman Papist assembly. I think that these thoughts...these reformed ramblings, as it were, could be true of any funeral service. I believe that they reflect the sad state of the church in America in general and can be found in mainline Protestant churches as well.

The priest, at the conclusion of the myriad of ritual and mysterious pomp, delivered a sermon that opened with him quoting from memory a version of the Beatitudes. I think he might have been trying to impress us all with the fact that he had this portion of Scripture memorized, when in reality, he got more than a few of the words mixed up.

He then made a statement: "Life is full of mystery. "

He talked about the mystery of love and friendship. The mystery of work and seasons and the mystery of death. It was the mystery of death, he explained, that brought us to the church that day. The mystery of death, he said, could not be understood without understading the mystery of life -- and the mystery of life cannot be explained without the mystery of death.

"The purpose of life, as explained so clearly by the Beatitudes, is to be the best person you can possibly be. After that, in death, you will find the ultimate fulfillment of everything that you wanted to accomplish. All of your hopes and dreams will be realized perfectly in Heaven."

Huh?

That's the message of the Beatitudes?

The priest described the deceased gentleman (whose funeral we were attending) entering Heaven, pleasantly surprised at how everything he ever wanted was there waiting for him. Somehow this was linked to the Beatitudes.

Not one word about Jesus.
Not one word about hope.
Not one word about the Gospel.
Not one word about why we die.
Not one word about how we can live forever in God's presence.

And then they spent the rest of the service praying that God would let the guy into Heaven.

Here was a packed church....many people there who were unbelievers...and not one word about Christ or the Gospel. Not one comforting word for the grieving family and friends about where true hope and true comfort can be found.

This is truly tragic. Truly tragic.

There are those who wonder if we need a reformation today. I think the answer is yes.