Did a funeral today for someone I didn't know. This is not unusual, as the funeral home knows that it's important to Eric and to me that people receive good pastoral care at such times, even if we'll never see them again. I think I would have liked the guy; he sounded like fun, and the meditation came easily to me (they don't all do that!).
So when it was over, a woman walked up to me and said, "You're the Rev. Sims that did so-and-so's funeral, aren't you? You should advertise in the newspaper: I do really good funerals."
Perhaps I won't do that. But the other person had also been someone I'd never met and had no connection to apart from a call from the funeral home and a little time with the family. And she was also someone I think I would have liked. And it's flattering to think that I was able to bring some comfort, some grace note, into the loss of people I don't even know.
Maybe you have to be a pastor to understand this, but as compliments go, it's pretty good.
whoo-hoo! it is a great compliment and affirmation that all your hard work behind closed doors, sometimes late at night even... matters. truly matters!
ReplyDeleteAs an Episcopal deacon and chaplain, I do a few funerals, but not many. It never ceases to amaze me when people approach me remembering that I did so-and-so's funeral.
ReplyDeleteLike you, the funerals are often for someone I never really got to know. When the good stories begin coming out, I am sad that I didn't know more history before, when the person was alive.