Prayer for a funeral

Abba San

Abba San

Legacy of Elijah [LoE] - Proud Grandfather
A couple of weeks ago there was a horrific series of murders in our area - one man killed two men, two women and strangled his girl friend in the car while running from authorities before being gunned down at a grocery store.

Tomorrow I am doing the funeral for the murdered girl friend. She was Vietnamese - has four sons, 14 to 21 - and was a non practicing Buddhist. Apparently someone in the family is a Christian - although I have not met them yet - because they wanted a pastor. They were open to praying with me when I met with them.

Pray that I have the words of comfort and that something of the gospel can get through to a family of non practicing Buddhists.

Thanks.
 
Wow, what an opportunity! While being shrouded with sadness, the fact that they reached out and found you is awesome! We'll be praying for you.
 
Thank you - everyone - for your prayers. I can't imagine how it would have turned out without them.

It was a mess. Unbeknownst to the family, a Buddhist monk showed up and hijacked the service. The little guy looked me right in the eye and said he would only take ten minutes to do his ritual. So the family and I said fine - start ten minutes early and then we will do the funeral.

Ten minutes in Buddhist monk time = one hour and ten minutes in everybody else time. Up front - the full ritual - candles - tea - various foods offered - ringing of bells - incense burning - with the four sons on their knees the whole time. Half way through a member of the family came to the back to apologize - they had no idea this was going to happen. Twenty or thirty people actually left after thirty or forty minutes of this. I decided to completely change and abbreviate my service.

All this was in Vietnamese - including the words to the family - until he finally ended. Then he turned to the people and in English told them that to get to the afterlife they needed to live a good life now. He actually mentioned not stealing, not lying, honoring others and other sorts of good deeds. I decided then and there that I wasn't going to abbreviate much - especially not the gospel.

I dealt with the tragedy of the situation - somebody needed to help these people deal with the murder and how they are supposed to respond. Then I went straight into the gospel - emphasizing that there is an afterlife and that the way to it was not a big mystical religious secret. Specifically, it had nothing to do with being good - but knowing the truth - accepting the truth - trusting in the truth. I even pointed out how glad I was that it wasn't about being good because I do try to be good but I mess it all up so often. Thank God He provided another way - Jesus...

They got to hear the gospel - so we'll see.

I had never been through a Buddhist burial ritual. What a sad, futile experience. Thank God we, "don't have to grieve like the rest of men who have know hope."

Thank you, again, for your prayers.
 
yuck. I can see why people left. Even though the last funeral I attended took nearly an hour, the mood was much, much different.
 
I'm sorry to hear it turned out awkwardly, but I'm encouraged to hear you had an opportunity to present the Gospel (and in a context that made you and your faith comparably with Buddhism).
 
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