Underscoring a Life of Faith

I had the privilege of attending the funeral of the father of one our rostered leaders this past week. Even though I was representing the office of the bishop, I would have made an effort to be present since I consider the rostered leader a friend and I had met her father on at least two occasions.

It is unfortunate that someone from the synod office cannot be at every funeral of a rostered leader’s family member. Sometimes distance is the factor and at other times we are just stretched too thin. I have always felt that attending funeral services is important and I know how much my family appreciated as the Church gathered for my dad’s funeral.

In this funeral worship, I witnessed something that I had never seen before. Prior to the reading of the Scripture lessons chosen for the day, the grandchildren (including a couple of grandchildren-in-law and great-grandchildren) read passages from their grandfather’s Bible that he had underlined.

This gave us a wonderful glimpse into this man’s life of faith. It felt like a gift as these verses and short passages were read. It was a deeply personal witness spoken in the voices of his family.

When I got home, I went straight to the Bible that I use most often for my personal devotions. I wanted to see what I have underlined. One would certainly get a different picture of my faith by looking at this Bible rather than one of my study Bibles! I find that I have underlined verses that give me comfort, strength, and courage. Surprisingly, I found another pattern as I looked for my ink. I have many highlighted verses that relate to God’s call on my life.

What patterns would one find if your Bible were examined? What verses might be read at your funeral? I do not tend to do a lot of underlining, but I am going to consider getting a new colored pencil and marking my own “funeral verses”—passages that are important to me today and might become a witness even after I am gone.

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