(Harvest House Publishers)

Jeff guessed that the entire town had shown up for the funeral. The sanctuary was filled with flower arrangements and the somber friends and family of Ray Claudy came and sat in silence as the music from the organist softly drew them in from the outside where the bright, sunny day had given an uplift to the thoughts of Ray Claudy’s home-going to heaven. There are always mixed feelings at such times, Jeff thought. We are surely glad the suffering is over, but the loss leaves an empty place in our hearts.

The coffin lay below the pulpit in the center of the altar area and on the front row to either side sat the Claudy family, their children and the fidgeting grandchildren. The service had been uplifting and a blessing to the gathering of family and friends. As Jeff finished his remarks, the Organist began an extended rendition of Rock Of Ages with well practiced hands gliding across the keys. There was something of an inner sigh from the family as the peaceful promise of heaven’s reality filled their hearts as this time of sorrowful good-bye came to an end.

Jenny caught Jeff’s eye and smiled her little ‘I’m proud of you smile’. She was pleased at his gentle handling of this, his first funeral. They had been with the Claudys almost continuously since they raced to the hospital. That long night, as Ray slipped away, Jeff proved to her once again that he had the anointing of the Lord in his pastoral ministry to these people. Perhaps things will get back in perspective again, she thought.

Suddenly, she felt something heavy come upon the place, something dark. She turned to face the source of this dire thing and saw a group of somber men coming into the back of the chapel from the side room. Her father was in the forefront. She spun to look at Jeff. His face was drained and he looked like he was literally going to get up and bolt from the place. With deathlike ashen faces, the group marched in procession up the center aisle as though in some medieval trance. Jennifer barely breathed as she watched.

They were some of the older men from the Masonic Lodge, dressed in dark lifeless clothes, black ties, white gloves. Some wore white aprons and others, aprons with fringes and figures within them. All wore black armbands and green evergreen sprigs on their breasts. Her father carried something that appeared to be a Bible, while several others carried rods or batons with black and white ribbons tied to them.

Jeff felt physically ill and pushed back into his chair as though to get away from the approaching group of men. The somber beat of their steps as they approached the coffin drove away the quiet peace he had experienced during the earlier portion of the funeral and he sensed a form of spiritual darkness falling upon the congregation. These men have brought an evil, contrary spirit among us, he thought in panic. He and Jenny looked at each other in alarm and both begin to pray silently as they watched what ensued.

Rigid in their movements, the Masons gathered around the coffin and chanted the Lord’s Prayer in a desolate monotone. Roy Wallace stepped to the head of the casket, then spoke a few words, the understanding of which were obscured by his mumbling recitation. Jeff did remember the words, ‘...the dread messenger of death..’ The fellows on his right and left traded equally bleak and mystic bits of memorized words of mourning. Jeff could only catch brief snatches of the words, such as ‘..he comes forth as a flower and is cut down, ...man dieth and wasteth away, ..all men shall be judged according to the deeds done in the body, ...the house of mourning, and ...the gloom of death’.

They continued, as though driven by mechanical control, in a series of mutterings and sprinkling of leaves and their evergreen sprigs over the coffin, upon which they had placed a white apron that symbolized what Roy Wallace murmured was the ‘...universal dominion of death’.

Declaring the words, ‘So Mote it be’ in deep unison, they turned and marched out in that same sepulchral fashion, leaving the entire congregation in some sort of stunned, hopeless stupor. Jeff saw Betty and Mick stand in the back of the church, their lips moving rapidly as they prayed while the procession marched out past them.

That peace and confidence in heaven that filled the sanctuary just minutes ago was replaced by a jagged disquiet. Jeff could see that Mrs. Claudy seemed disoriented and fraught with a spirit of depression and despair. He hurried to the pulpit.

"It is so wonderful to know that our brother is already in the presence of the Lord. He went there the moment he closed his eyes. We stand firm in the peace that passes all understanding. Sister Claudy and family, we want to express our deepest sympathy and love to you today. The ladies of the church have prepared food and we invite you all to visit with the family for a little bit over in the activities building." He motioned for the ushers to come forward and bring the service to its close.

(c) copyright, Ed Decker 1999

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