Really Here for Life!

I had to do a double take last week when I saw the article on a new trend among some funeral homes that offer their facilities as wedding venues.  For some reason, I had never equated funeral homes with beginnings, but as the article suggests, funeral homes, in comparison to other venues, are less expensive, are more readily available, and can be nothing short of wedding-picture perfect.  The article goes on to explain that funeral homes are also looking into hosting other life-stage activities like birthdays, anniversaries, holiday parties, and proms.

 

I have to hand it to the owners of these places for thinking outside the box.  But despite their clever marketing, I don’t think the masses will look at funeral homes for anything other than what they were designed to be – places to gather to mourn our losses and remember the legacies of loved ones.

 

How do people see our church?  I ponder that question from time to time, if for no other reason than my heart is for us to be a church “for life.”  It won’t be long before our construction project will be finished, and then we will have facilities that will be wonderful venues for all the activities I just mentioned – birthdays, anniversaries, holiday parties, weddings, and, yes, funerals.  But more than anything, I hope that people will be able to celebrate the life that Jesus calls us to know.

 

Any place and people can offer itself and its services any way they please.  But people see past the glitz and shine to the substance that lies under the surface.  Let’s just be who we say we are – a “God-centered, Bible-directed, people-focused body of believers in Jesus Christ.”  And let’s introduce them to a life that pales in comparison to anything they might find any place else.