Thought Exercise on Obituaries

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Where Are You Calling From?

Author

Keywords

Scripture

Ephesians 2:1, Colossians 2:13, Romans 6:11, John 5:24, Galatians 2:20, Ezekiel 37:

A businessman, while away on vacation, was reading his hometown newspaper. He was stunned to come across his own obituary. Shocked and angered, he immediately called the editor on the telephone. I’m c...

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Alfred Nobel’s Big Turn

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Do any of you know the name of the inventor of dynamite? It might sound familiar once you hear it, it’s Alfred Nobel. In 1867, Nobel, Alfred Nobel, who was a Swedish chemist invented a new high explos...

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The Church's Funeral

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

1 Corinthians 12:12-27, Ephesians 4:15-16, Revelation 3:1-3, James 2:17, Matthew 16:18, Hebrews 10:24-25, 1 Peter 2:4-5, Romans 12:4-5, Acts 2:42-47, 1 Corinthians 3:9

The story goes about a young man (or woman!) with dreams of growing a small church nestled in rural Oklahoma. Despite his relentless efforts, the church continued to teeter on the edge of extinction a...

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Surprise Me!

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

* This story is likely untrue, but a funny anecdote nonetheless It’s difficult sometimes to think we won’t live forever. A wealthy man who had made his fortune and spent many years in New York p...

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An Unforgettable Funeral

Author

Tony Campolo

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 16:26, Luke 12:16-21, Ecclesiastes 5:10-15, Matthew 6:19-21, Luke 12:15, 1 Timothy 6:7, Mark 10:24-25

I heard of a funeral in California where a man requested to be buried seated behind the wheel of a brand new Cadillac, dressed in a tuxedo, with a two-dollar cigar in his mouth. He left the money to i...

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Stay Out of Those!

Author

Source Unknown

Keywords

A very old man lay dying in his bed. In death’s doorway, he suddenly smelled the aroma of his favorite chocolate chip cookie wafting up the stairs. He gathered his remaining strength and lifted himsel...

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The Two Orders

Author

John Ortberg

Keywords

There is an old story about a florist who mixed up two orders one busy day. One arrangement went to a new business that was opening, and the other went to a family who had a death. The man with the ne...

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A Widow at the Funeral

Author

Source Unknown

Keywords

Sam died and left $50,000 in his will for an elaborate funeral. As the last attenders left, Sam’s wife, Rose, turned to her oldest friend, Sadie, and said, “Well, I’m sure Sam would be pleased.” “I’...

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Death and Life in Your Hands

Author

Harold L. Senkbe

Keywords

Let’s call her Roberta; she was clearly near the end of a very long journey toward death’s door. Roberta’s cancer was a particularly nasty variety; by now it had eaten its way into most of her vital o...

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The Arrogant General

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Proverbs 27:2, Matthew 6:1-4, Ecclesiastes 1:14, Luke 18:9-14, James 4:14, Isaiah 14:12-15, Daniel 4:28-37, Luke 18:9-14, James 4:6, Obadiah 1:3-4

Abraham Lincoln’s sharp wit often surfaced, even in serious moments. At the funeral of a talented but overly vain Army General during the Civil War, Lincoln observed the large crowd that had gathered....

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Just a stain in the soil

Author

William Rowley

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 3:19, Ecclesiastes 3:20, Genesis 18:27, James 4:14, Psalm 90:12, Psalm 39:4, 1 Peter 2:24-25, Psalm 90:10, Psalm 78:39, 1 Chronicles 29:15, Psalm 39:5, Psalm 144:4, Job 14:1, Psalm 103:15-16, Job 7:6-7, Genesis 2:7

I love a British TV show called Time Team. Hosted by Tony Robinson, a team of archeologists descend on a site in Britain and excavate for three days. Inevitably, the archeologists unearth the dead...

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Benjamin Franklin’s Epitaph

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Job 19:25-27, Isaiah 40:31, Ezekiel 37:4-5, 1 Corinthians 15:42-44, Psalm 16:10-11, Romans 14:8, Ecclesiastes 12:7, Matthew 10:28, John 11:25-26

Benjamin Franklin, an avid lover of books, penned an epitaph for himself that he hoped would one day mark his grave: The body of Benjamin Franklin, like the cover of an old book, its contents torn...

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End of Construction, Thank you for your Patience

Author

Billy Graham

Keywords

My wife, Ruth…was one of those who could lighten heavy hearts, especially mine. I will never forget when she announced what she wanted engraved on her gravestone, and for those who have so respectfull...

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The Tombs of Notable People

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Isaiah 53:10-11, Jonah 1:17, Matthew 28:5-6, John 20:1-7, Psalm 16:10

The pyramids of Egypt are renowned because they contained the mummified bodies of ancient Egyptian Pharaohs. Westminster Abbey in London is famous because it holds the remains of many English notables...

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The Generosity of Oseola McCarty

Author

Jen Wilkin

Keywords

Scripture

Acts 20:35, Luke 21:1-4, 2 Corinthians 8:12, Matthew 25:40, Proverbs 3:9-10

Generosity is not strictly for those who have material abundance. Because Oseola McCarty recognized this truth, the world is a better place. Born in 1908 in rural Mississippi, she quit school after si...

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Caring Christians

Author

Ralph Neighbor

Keywords

Scripture

1 John 3:18, 1 Peter 2:12, Matthew 5:16, Luke 6:32-35, Romans 5:8

Even if people reject the gospel, we still must love them. A good example of this was reported by Ralph Neighbour, pastor of Houston’s West Memorial Baptist Church (in Death And The Caring Community ...

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What You’re Missing

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

James “Jim” Moore owned a famous midtown (New York City) eatery that was known as “Dinty Moore’s.” The restaurant attracted a lot of actors from the theater industry due to the quality of its food and...

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Earth, Receive an Honored Guest

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Revelation 21:4, John 14:1-4, Job 19:25-27

W.H. Auden is widely considered one of the greatest poets of the 20th Century. Auden grew up in England but spent some of his adult years in the United States. When he passed away on the 29th of Septe...

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The Deadline

Author

Max Lucado

Keywords

Death

He didn’t look omniscient. He looked intelligent, with his horn-rimmed glasses, gray-flannelled suit, and stack of documents. He was smart, prepared, and every bit the statistician his profession dema...

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Words You Hoped You Would Never Say

Author

Max Lucado

Keywords

Discouragement

“Why our son?” are the only words you can muster. The funeral is over and the words of comfort have been politely said. Now it is just you, your memories, and your question, “Why me?” “The tests were...

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The Great, Perfect Box

Author

Jerry Seinfeld

Keywords

Scripture

Ephesians 3:1-2, James 4:13-14, Job 14:1-2, 2 Corinthians 5:1, Philippians 3:13-14, Psalm 90:12

To me, if life boils down to one significant thing, it’s movement. To live is to keep moving. Unfortunately, this means that for the rest of our lives we’re going to be looking for boxes. When you’re ...

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Staying Alive

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Isaiah 40:30–31, Lamentations 3:22–23, 1 Kings 19:11–13, James 5:10–11, 2 Corinthians 4:16, Psalm 92:12–14

An Irish Catholic priest, returning to his old parish in the warmth of spring, was delighted to spot an elderly man he had long known. “Pat!” he called out cheerfully. “You’re still with us—I’m glad t...

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The Reports of my Death…

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

2 Kings 6:15-17, Jonah 1:17, Luke 24:5-6, Psalm 118:17, Psalm 118:17, Acts 14:19-20

In 1867, the great American writer Mark Twain embarked on what he wryly called his “Great Pleasure Excursion,” a journey through Europe that would later inspire his travelogue, The Innocents Abroad...

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Talking to God During Great Grief

Author

Austin Fischer

Keywords

Scripture

Job 1:null

The first funeral I officiated was for an eighteen-year-old girl killed in a car accident. To this day I’ve never experienced a more difficult funeral. And as I spoke and looked out into a sea of grie...

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His Legacy Lives On

Author

Brant P. Hansen

Keywords

In South Florida several years ago, there was a skywriter who occasionally spelled out happy messages about God—things like “God loves you.” Often, on a clear morning, you could step out and see the p...

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Know Where You Are Going

Author

Mia Levetan

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 1:1-31, Revelation 4:11, Psalm 139:13-14, John 14:6, Philippians 3:20-21

When Billy Graham was 92 years old, he was struggling with Parkinson's disease. In January, a month before his 93rd birthday, leaders in Charlotte, North Carolina, invited their favorite son, Bill...

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Who to Reach for In Death

Author

Max Lucado

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 22:6–14, Exodus 14:21–22, Isaiah 41:13, Matthew 14:30–31, John 11:25–26, Psalm 23:4

The story of young Matthew Huffman came across my desk the week I was writing this chapter. He was the six-year-old son of missionaries in Salvador, Brazil. One morning he began to complain of fever. ...

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For Whom the Bell Tolls

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

While lying in bed due to a serious illness, the poet and pastor John Donne heard over and over again the funeral bells at his church, which would ring to announce the death of someone in the parish. ...

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Platitudes not Necessary

Author

Andy Cook

Keywords

Writer Harriet Sarnoff Schiff has distilled her pain and tragedy in a book called The Bereaved Parent. When her young son died during an operation to correct a congenital heart malfunction, her clergy...

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A Meditation on Loss

Author

Gerald L. Sittser

Keywords

Jerry Sittser, who experienced the terrible tragedy of losing a mother, a wife, and a daughter in the same car accident, wrote these poignant words on loss: Loss creates a barren present, as if on...

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