I went to my uncle’s funeral after all. I’m very glad I did.
But let the record reflect that my Catholic relatives and their churches throw better funerals than my evangelical relatives and their churches. The evangelicals were friendly and warm and entirely pleasant. The sandwiches were fine and the pastor pleasant, comforting, and likeable. But lemonade at the reception is a poor substitute for wine at the wake.
And frankly, I think a church’s recruitment speech is a little bit tacky incorporated into a eulogy. This is now the third evangelical funeral I’ve been to in which the pastor delivered the final eulogy, not as a memorial to the deceased but rather an exhortation to the non-evangelicals present to convert. In mitigation I know it is a well-intentioned maneuver to help benefit the living. And this pastor was less fire-and-brimstone, do-it-for-the-dead-guy than the previous two times I’ve been to such things.
But it remains the case that I am there to mourn the decedent’s death, and celebrate his life. The preaching and the call to convert didn’t anger me. But it did dry my eyes.
Despite my quasi-evangelical past, I’ve never been to a funeral where the officiator did that. However, my girlfriend recently went to a funeral and the preacher did the same thing you described. She found it in pretty poor taste, too.
By the way: I know I didn’t say this on the previous post, but I’m sorry your uncle died and I offer my condolences.
Eeep. Sorry to hear about the sales pitch. I’ve never felt at home in an evangelical worship atmosphere. I’m not sure how much of it is temperamental and how much of it is having been raised in TEC. I think it’s at least some of each.
Pierre, I was unaware of your quasi-evangelical past. It’s interesting to learn new things about people you’ve been interacting with for a while.
I don’t want a funeral. I want a wake.
Hear, hear. If it matters to the people who survive me, my preference for my own rememberance would be “Less Jesus, more booze.”