Anyone who has lived in a minister’s house knows that
middle-of-the-night telephone calls often bring bad news.
But for many pastors there is one kind of call that is uniquely
painful. There are times when the shock of death is easier to handle
than questions about eternal life.
“It happens like this,” noted the Rev. J. Gerald Harris, who became
editor of the Southern Baptist newspaper of Georgia after 40 years in
ministry. “A grieving widow would call and say with a broken heart
and with tears in her voice, ‘Pastor, my husband had a heart attack
last night and we took him to the hospital, but he was dead on
arrival. I can’t believe it has happened, but we need your help. I
know he was not a church member, but we would like for you to preach
his funeral.’ “
The pastor says “yes,” of course. Then, while talking with the
family, it often becomes apparent that the deceased was not a
believer or may even have been someone who — by word or deed —
flaunted his status as an unbeliever. Others may join the church,
then walk away for decades.
This is awkward, noted Harris, for clergy who believe salvation is
found through faith in Jesus Christ, alone. It’s one thing to step
into the pulpit and preach on the mercy of God and to speak words of
comfort to a grieving family. It’s something else for a pastor to go
a step further and do what loved ones may want him to do — openly
proclaim they will be reunited with the deceased in heaven.
Harris said he started receiving calls and emails soon after he wrote
about this subject in the Christian Index, in part because this
dilemma pivots where the minister draws a theological line, a line
that many liberal Christians no longer believe needs to be drawn at
all.
There is no question, Harris stressed, that pastors should provide
comfort and care for families in these circumstances. Obviously,
there is no need for preachers to speak words that would cause
grieving relatives pain. However, he also is convinced that it’s
wrong for pastors to deliver messages they sincerely believe are not
true — to embrace the doctrine of “universalism,” which proclaims
that all people find eternal salvation, no matter what they believe
or how they live their lives.
This is tricky doctrinal territory, as Sen. Barack Obama learned
during a June 10 meeting with clergy behind closed doors in Chicago.
While other conservative leaders asked Obama about controversial
social issues, the Rev. Franklin Graham — son of evangelist Billy
Graham — asked an openly theological question: Did the candidate
believe that “Jesus was the way to God, or merely a way.”
Later, Obama told Newsweek that — in a candid, personal answer — he
replied: “It is a precept of my Christian faith that my redemption
comes through Christ, but I am also a big believer in the Golden
Rule, which I think is an essential pillar not only of my faith but
of my values and my ideals and my experience here on Earth. I’ve said
this before, and I know this raises questions in the minds of some
evangelicals. I do not believe that my mother, who never formally
embraced Christianity as far as I know … I do not believe she went
to hell.”
In the end, Harris said, it’s all but impossible to ignore this kind
of doctrinal division. However, pastors do have options when handling
these situations, other than delivering sermons that violate their
own consciences.
In many Christian traditions, funeral rites consist of hymns and
prayers that place more attention on the words of scriptures than on
a minister’s message. But if the family insists on a sermon that
focuses on the deceased, he said, pastors can suggest that a friend
deliver this message. In some congregations, loved ones offer
eulogies during gatherings — fellowship meals, perhaps — following
funerals.
“These questions aren’t going away,” said Harris. “For many people
today it’s not enough to be tolerant of other people’s decisions and
religious beliefs. Now they want a kind of positive tolerance, they
want you to accept and praise other people’s beliefs. You have to be
willing to say what they want you to say. …
“That just isn’t possible, for a lot of us.”
