Putting the FUN into Funeral

I officiated at a baptism this past Sunday. It was not just a "sprinkling" of water, and the man being baptized was no baby. This was a grown man who had made some unwise choices and faced some difficult consequences. He had found God's forgiveness through Christ. He saw his baptism as a burial. It was a wet and wonderful experience!

He asked me to read this passage from the book of "Romans" in the New Testament:

"We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life...In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires." (Romans 6:2-5, 11-12)

I like the way "The Message" paraphrases it:

"If we've left the country where sin is sovereign, how can we still live in our old house there? Or didn't you realize we packed up and left there for good? That is what happened in baptism. When we went under the water, we left the old country of sin behind; when we came up out of the water, we entered into the new country of grace— a new life in a new land! From now on, think of it this way: Sin speaks a dead language that means nothing to you; God speaks your mother tongue, and you hang on every word. You are dead to sin and alive to God."

I wish you could have seen this guy when he came up out of the water. Soaking wet, huge grin on his face, he thrusts both fists high above his head and let out a shout like most guys reserve for when their team scores the go-ahead points to win a ballgame as the final seconds tick off the clock--he was excited! And he let everybody know it.

So that's his story: "The old man is dead to sin, buried, raised as a new man to live a new life. Thank you, Jesus!" His wife says that in the past several weeks he's been a very different person, in a good way. Baptism as burial and resurrection to new life--now that's one way to put some fun into a funeral.

"And Jesus died for everyone; and those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again... Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, all things have become new!" (2 Corinthians 5:15-17)