This morning was the memorial service for Eve Christie, a woman of great faith and prayer who was a long-time member of NewLife before moving to a different church in 2008.  Eve died last Wednesday of cancer at age 68, but she left a legacy of the power of prayer and the joy of trusting in the Father through even the most difficult circumstances.  One of the verses shared during the service was Philippians 1:21 – “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.”  Eve’s life was most certainly about Jesus Christ, and praise God that in death she has only gained a greater relationship with Him. 

One of my most treasured memories of Eve had to do with prayer, of course.  Read more »

It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of every man; the living should take this to heart. (Ecclesiastes 7:2)

One of the blessings of pastoring a church made up of a younger crowd is that the number of weddings I officiate over the course of a year greatly outweighs the number of funerals.  In my pastoral career, I have actually only officiated one funeral, while playing a part in three others.  A verse that I’ve found appropriate to share on at funerals, no matter if the deceased was a committed Christian or not, is Ecclesiastes 7:2, which I’ve listed above.  It’s a simple verse, reminding us that every life ends in death, and that we would be wise to live in the light of that.  “Begin with the end in mind,” as Stephen Covey puts it in The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.  Given that one day your life on this earth will be no more, how would you want to be remembered?  And how should you be living today in order to make that goal a reality?
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Last July, a man named Randy Pausch passed away after battling pancreatic cancer.  A professor at Carnegie Mellon, Dr. Pausch has become well-known for a speech he gave at his university that became known as The Last Lecture.  Many professors had given “Last Lectures,” where they imparted the wisdom they would want others to know if they only had one last lecture to give.  For Dr. Pausch, however, his Last Lecture was a reality, as had was losing a battle to terminal cancer.  In that lecture, Dr. Pausch was engaging, bright, and shared deeply moving words about achieving childhood dreams and really living life to the fullest.  The Last Lecture became an international phenomenon, landing him on Oprah and spawning a book based on the same principles.

As wonderful as the Last Lecture was to listen to, there are a couple of things that are hard to say but important to make clear.  Read more »

This past Sunday was the Celebration of Life service for Ray Labbe, a longtime friend of our church and one of the missionaries we have supported through his work with Isaiah 58.  The writer of Ecclesiastes writes in 7:2 that “It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of every man.”  Even though this wasn’t technically a funeral, the point remains that there is much to be learned from reflecting on our own mortality and evaluating how we are living in the light of that.  When we consider how we would like to be remembered at the end of our lives, and more importantly how we will be judged by our God when we meet him, we often recognize what really matters in our life.

I was able to record the last hour of the memorial service, which included mostly testimonies from people who knew Ray on the impact he left on their life, and I have added the audio at the end of this entry.  I would encourage you to listen to the testimonies if you weren’t able to attend the service, so that you can get an idea of how God used this man to make a difference in so many lives, and hopefully be inspired to allow God to do the same in your life. 
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Last week I talked about the recent passing of Ray Labbe, a dear friend of our church and the leader of Isaiah 58 ministry.  I was blessed to be able to spend some good time with Ray’s wife Linda last week as we prepared for his Celebration of Life service (to be held Sunday, March 22nd from 1-3 at the Riverfront Community Center in Glastonbury), and she mentioned how healing it has been to let her heart be grateful for all the time she had with Ray.  It is so easy, and certainly understandable, to lapse into self-pity upon the death of a loved one, but choosing instead to be grateful for the life that was shared can really help lift the spirit to God and back to health. 

Michele and I recently experienced a death in our extended family – not someone we were close to, but an important person to some of the people we are close to – and it highlighted again for me the contrast between the death of someone who knew God the way Ray did and the death of someone who might not have known God.  Not to mention, of course, how those who know God cope with death compared to how those who do not believe in a God cope with the finality of death.  So for all who have struggled with a recent loss, I thought I would briefly recap the three Biblical truths about death which I had preached on back on November 9th of last year during the “Death and the Life after that” series:
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It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of every man; the living should take this to heart (Ecclesiastes 7:2).

Ruth Skinner died early this morning.  Her daughter, Mary Grove, has been a long time member of NewLife, and Ruth and Mary lived together for most of their life, including the last two years at Glastonbury Health Care Center.  Ruth had been suffering from cancer, and died peacefully in her sleep during the night. 

As a small and fairly young congregation, funerals tend to be pretty infrequent around our church.  I remember being a part of two during my time as youth pastor a few years ago, but I probably am involved in five weddings for every funeral.  But whenever there is a death, the first Bible verse that always comes to mind is the aforementioned verse from Ecclesiastes 7:2.  At first glance, the verse seems to paint a picture of God as the stereotypical killjoy who wants to ruin everyone’s fun and make sure no one is having a good time.  It is better to go to a funeral than to a party?  How many people do you know that plan for their weekend by browsing the obituaries for a good funeral to attend instead of looking for a good movie or concert to catch? 
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