Daily D – 2 Chronicles 35:25

by | Aug 5, 2022 | Daily D | 0 comments

David G Bowman Logo

2 Chronicles 35:25 Jeremiah composed laments for Josiah, and to this day all the male and female singers commemorate Josiah in the laments. These became a tradition in Israel and are written in the Laments. (NIV)

There is perhaps a better question than “What do you want people to say at your funeral?” It is the question, “What will people sing about you when you are gone?” 

Will you live a life worthy of a song? If so, will a blues guitar and a muted trumpet explore the depths of the darkness of your passing? 

Will a jazz combo with piano, saxophone, trap set, and stand-up bass express their individual and collective expressions of loss? 

Will a sunny singer of happy songs lift lovely sentiments with crystal clarity and incomparable beauty?

Will a hymn tell the tale of grace and life and endless joy?

A speaker at the Global Leadership Summit yesterday talked about writing your personal obituary. Stephen Covey and others have written about this. Covey in particular talks about beginning with the end in mind. The lifeplanning toolkits our staff uses include this idea. Even a frozen pizza company famously asked, “What do you want on your Tombstone?”

What is your funeral song? 

One of the most beautiful masterpieces in the history of music is Adagio for Strings by Samuel Barber. It is, according to Wikipedia, “the setting for Barber’s 1967 choral arrangement of Agnus Dei,” which our good friend Gerry Lewis reminded us yesterday is the Latin title for Lamb of God. 

This is the music I imagine playing as life ebbs away, the curtain is parted, and glorification ensues. It accompanies the transition from earth to heaven into the very presence of the true Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. The crescendo declares the moment of meeting. The decrescendo resolves into Agnus Dei and one final Welcome Home and uninterrupted, unhindered, unveiled worship and rest. 

Philosophers, poets, and kings throughout history have directed us to ponder the day of our death and to live in the anticipation of it. That day comes when the bells will toll. Let us live so wonderfully well, so full of grace and truth, so beautifully maximized that more than words written and repeated, songs will be sung. Generations to come will learn what a good life looks like, sounds like, feels like.

I will live a life worthy of song.

Our Father, baptize me in grace today that I may drip mercy on all I encounter. Refresh my soul that I may refresh others. Express yourself through my thoughts, my words, my actions. Put a song in my heart to echo through the remainder of time and the surety of eternity. Amen. 

0 Comments

Submit a Comment

CONNECT WITH ME!

Interested in learning more about Church Unique or Life Younique? Send a note through the Get In Touch box or Message me through the Facebook link above.

          Church Unique Logo          Auxano Logo

GET IN TOUCH!

READ MY BLOG!

Daily D – 1 Corinthians 4:4

1 Corinthians 4:4 “My conscience is clear, but that doesn’t prove I’m right. It is the Lord himself who will examine me and decide.”

Daily D – Romans 15:5

Romans 15:5 “May God, who gives this patience and encouragement, help you live in complete harmony with each other, as is fitting for followers of Christ Jesus.”

Daily D – Romans 8:6

Romans 8:6 “So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.”

Daily D – Romans 2:4

Romans 2:4 Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?

Daily D – Acts 18:24-26

Acts 18:24-26 Meanwhile, a Jew named Apollos, an eloquent speaker who knew the Scriptures well, had arrived in Ephesus from Alexandria in Egypt. He had been taught the way of the Lord, and he taught others about Jesus with an enthusiastic spirit and with accuracy. However, he knew only about John’s baptism. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him preaching boldly in the synagogue, they took him aside and explained the way of God even more accurately.