Funerals...

Last Friday, I conducted my first funeral service. Services here in Scotland often happen in a Crematorium--as was the case for me last week. Interestingly enough, each 'service' is allowed thirty (30) minutes in the 'chapel' area. That's right, 30 minutes, to get in, do your bit and get out so that the next service can start. Thus, given this time constraint, you can imagine the level of anxiety I had---
Will we get through all the prayers, scripture, eulogy/address, and songs?
Will the folk who are elderly be able to move quickly enough with the time allotted?
Will I remember everything?
What happens if we go over time?
Will this be a sufficient amount of time for the grieving family to honor their recently deceased loved one?

Funeral services (marriages & baptisms) prove to be even more interesting because of the "parish" system that the Church of Scotland operates. This means that anyone in a certain area--whether they attend church or not--are ministered to by the clergy in that parish. So, while some services will be administered for folk who belong to the membership of the 'church', other services are administered for folk who do not attend.

I am intrigued by this system of parish ministry, because--in my opinion--it offers a means of administering God's common grace which is for all people. Does that make sense? At least for me (at the moment), this systems allows the grace and love of God to be offered to folk who normally wouldn't 'dare' set foot in a church. I am reminded of how Luke says that Jesus's ministry starts...according to Luke (4:14ish) and the Bible Society's interpreters who determine the 'headings' for sections of scripture, Jesus begins is public ministry just after the temptations.

"And Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about Him spread through all the surrounding district. And he began teaching in their synagogues and was praised by all."

Anyway, I noticed for the first time that this public ministry of Jesus's...wasn't for the sake of being in the "Public" eye, but rather was on behalf of the public--you know people who make up the 'public' which are often overlooked by folk. These are the people to whom Jesus was speaking the good news! To the poor...the prisioner...the widow...the alien & the stranger...the asylum seeker...the orphan...the penshioner---the people who are overlooked in a democracy, in a dictatorship, yes, and any other sort of "empire"---except of course the Kingdom of God.

so then I'm left with the question: "am I willing to participate in the kingdom work and have a "public" ministry like Jesus?"

hoping I am & wanting to...
jamie