I suppose I have been to more funerals than most folk. One of the dynamics I often discover is the attempt to portray the deceased as perfect. A real saint.

I wonder if there isn’t a kind of hidden fear that unless this person is seen as without flaw, God will not accept her into the kingdom.

Such a misunderstanding of the Gospel!

God can’t help but welcome us in. This is the very nature of God, for God is love.

Do you want to get in touch with this holy love? Then think of someone significant in your life, a husband, a wife, a child, a parent...someone you would claim to love. Now think about that love. Does it only include the good parts of that person? Is that all you love?

Then it isn’t love. It is admiration.

To love someone means to accept their faults as well as their virtues. This is why in the marriage service, the pastor asks, "Is it your intention to share with each other your joys and your sorrows and all that the years will bring?"

Everything.

Some of the best funerals I have ever attended have been ones where we celebrated all that this person was...the good and the not so good. We celebrated because we knew that even in our imperfection, we are loved by God.

Although never one for bumper sticker theology, I am drawn to the one that says,

"Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven."

That, for me, points the way to understanding the true nature of love...and what it really means to be a saint.