(click to enlarge)My plan was to observe a Sabbath today and go see the first round of the Phoenix Open in Scottsdale, this week's PGA tour event. Didn't happen.
Because of a moderate head cold I'm feeling wiped out, not like spending the day walking a golf course. But mostly, it's COLD! No, seriously. Yesterday we set a record for the coldest day in February. Today was only slightly better and the wind was still upward of 20 mph. They delayed the start of today's rounds three hours because the greens and approaches were frozen. Yes, I said frozen.
OK, I didn't say it, but I wrote it and that's close enough.
So instead I stayed home and worked on church stuff. Among other things I learned how to use Garage Band, a sound editing program included on a Mac, to edit the songs we'll use Sunday. Instead of cuing up "Majestic" to get past Lincoln Brewster's spoken intro I chopped it off. And I used the "fade out" feature at what we want to be the end of the track. Same with the other two songs. If I do this each week as we use the songs in our Christian Karaoke library it's a very manageable task.
But since late afternoon my head has been filled with the phone conversation I had with Emily. The funeral will be Saturday the 12th in Stanwood, about an hour north of Seattle where they're from. I'll fly up Thursday, meet with them Friday, do the service and graveside on Saturday and then fly home for Sunday's services at Pathway. I got an 8 p.m. flight out of SeaTac so the timing should work out.
It will be a busy week.
But mostly I'm concerned about getting the funeral right.
Weddings are pretty easy. Everybody is in a good mood...except maybe the mother-in-law...and unless something goes disastrously wrong most people won't remember it two hours later. For the most part weddings follow a script:
"I, Bill, take you Jane, to be my wedded wife...." or something similar.
And the bride and groom are the focal point.
The point is, weddings are pretty straightforward and safe.
Funerals are completely different. The pastor's role is more critical. Most of us have walked away from a funeral or memorial service shaking our head and thinking, "What a clueless doofus." The potential for screwing it up is directly proportional to the opportunity (and need) to provide comfort and - where appropriate - assurance.
The grieving parents of a sweet four-year old deserve the best job a pastor can do.
Because of a moderate head cold I'm feeling wiped out, not like spending the day walking a golf course. But mostly, it's COLD! No, seriously. Yesterday we set a record for the coldest day in February. Today was only slightly better and the wind was still upward of 20 mph. They delayed the start of today's rounds three hours because the greens and approaches were frozen. Yes, I said frozen.
OK, I didn't say it, but I wrote it and that's close enough.
So instead I stayed home and worked on church stuff. Among other things I learned how to use Garage Band, a sound editing program included on a Mac, to edit the songs we'll use Sunday. Instead of cuing up "Majestic" to get past Lincoln Brewster's spoken intro I chopped it off. And I used the "fade out" feature at what we want to be the end of the track. Same with the other two songs. If I do this each week as we use the songs in our Christian Karaoke library it's a very manageable task.
But since late afternoon my head has been filled with the phone conversation I had with Emily. The funeral will be Saturday the 12th in Stanwood, about an hour north of Seattle where they're from. I'll fly up Thursday, meet with them Friday, do the service and graveside on Saturday and then fly home for Sunday's services at Pathway. I got an 8 p.m. flight out of SeaTac so the timing should work out.
It will be a busy week.
But mostly I'm concerned about getting the funeral right.
Weddings are pretty easy. Everybody is in a good mood...except maybe the mother-in-law...and unless something goes disastrously wrong most people won't remember it two hours later. For the most part weddings follow a script:
"I, Bill, take you Jane, to be my wedded wife...." or something similar.
And the bride and groom are the focal point.
The point is, weddings are pretty straightforward and safe.
Funerals are completely different. The pastor's role is more critical. Most of us have walked away from a funeral or memorial service shaking our head and thinking, "What a clueless doofus." The potential for screwing it up is directly proportional to the opportunity (and need) to provide comfort and - where appropriate - assurance.
The grieving parents of a sweet four-year old deserve the best job a pastor can do.
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