Benediction

Do you believe this? This question gets asked by everyone of us. Do we believe in a life after death? In today’s modern time it is hard because many, as well as many Christians, can only believe what one can grasp, what you can see, touch and examine.

And the church has unfortunately contributed to make this belief in eternity sometimes even ridiculous in a certain way. The life after death was turned into kitsch and not without reason it is used again and again in advertising. The angels sitting on the clouds and humming Hallelujah. But is that what we believe in? Do we believe that life in paradise, life with God is only a continuation of this earthly life, now a land of milk and honey, but still what we imagine it to be. I think in the end everything is connected in our image of God. Is God the one who created heaven and earth? The one who sustains each and every one of us, every moment of our existence? Is he the almighty God who created this inexhaustibly large universe? Or is he just a kind of man, an old man with a white beard?

The deceased believed in God. She knew that we are all carried by his love. I also believe in God, but not in a God who sits somewhere and looks down on all the misery of people. But I believe in a God who permeates everything, whom we should not call the dear God, but the God who is love himself. And everywhere where this love is alive, where people face each other in love and appreciation, there it is God who meets us. And I believe in a God whose love is so great that he does not regard any of us somehow like an ant in an anthill, but a God who is very close to us. He became visible in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who lived among men. I believe in a God who continues this love. He cannot let any of us fall back into nothingness. We are all safe in his hand. When Jesus asks, „Do you believe this?“, he is saying that it is a matter of believing in a God who loves us beyond death and who has promised us a glory that we cannot comprehend. For heaven is not a land of milk and honey, but heaven consists in the fact that we may behold this incomprehensible loving God in all his glory face to face. St. Paul once said, „No eye has seen, no ear has heard, what God has prepared for those who love him.“ That’s the point. We have not seen it. We can’t grasp it. Even the most beautiful imaginings of heaven are only a smattering of what awaits us in eternity. Everyone who goes home to God precedes us. None of us will live forever. And we will all meet once in eternity with him. We are safe here on this earth in his hand. We have so little in our hands, if we are honest. We always only mean it. And we are safe when we die. We are safe in eternity with God in his love.

Let us rise and silently remember the deceased ones who lived among us and whom God took to himself.

In our sorrow, let us turn our gaze to God our only hope. The Lord forgives the guilt and saves our lives. Merciful and gracious is the Lord, longsuffering and rich in kindness. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so high is his mercy above those who fear him. As far as the rise is from the fall, so far does he remove us from our guilt. As a father has mercy on his children, so the Lord has mercy on all who fear him. For he knows what we are like. He thinks of it. We are but dust. Man’s days are like grass. Blossomed like the flower of the field, the wind drives over it, it is gone. The place where it stood knows no more of it. The grace of the Lord endures forever and ever over those who fear him. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As in the beginning, so now and forever. Forever and ever. Amen. The Lord forgives guilt and saves our lives. Kind Father, into your hands we commend your servant Rosalie and confidently hope that she is with Christ. We thank you for all the good you have given her in her honest life and for the good we have experienced through her. We ask you to receive her and give her a home with you. But to us who remain behind, give us the strength to comfort one another in the message of faith until we are all united with you. Through Christ, our Lord. Amen.