Funeral Template Series

Good afternoon

On behalf of the Family, I would like to thank each of you for being here today. Moments like this are never easy. Saying goodbye to someone we love is one of the hardest things we must do, but having people show love and share in the loss eases the pain. Let's start this ceremony off with prayer

Tod is all about remembering and celebrating the life of a great man. It's about placing the 75 great years he had on this earth and not making his life story about just his last few moments. Today is about each of you remember the time you spent with him. We're here to share in the life that started in 1945 and to honour that life that he then led as a son, a brother, a partner, a father to two, a grandfather, and energy that he led as a friend, an uncle, a work colleague.

All of you knew them in different ways, and so you'll all feel his loss in different ways, but you also all have something to celebrate as you look back and remember your time with him, and I know that its important to the Family that we celebrate his life in that way today.

And we're going to start by standing and singing a great Hymn called -Amazing Grace...

I love that we can stand and sing a song like that at a ceremony like this because it reaffirms that we are children of hope! And why do we have hope in the face of Death? Well, this is what 2 Corinthians 5 says:

2 Cor 5:6-8 "So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord. 7 For we walk by faith, not by sight. 8 We are confident, yes, well pleased rather be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord."

A few years ago made one of the most critical decisions he could have made in his time on earth, he gave his heart to the Lord, and for the Christian, there is no greater joy than to be in the presence of the One that loves them as no one else can. Because of that, even though there is grief and sadness at the loss of life, there is still great joy knowing that Hannes is now experiencing God's pure, undiluted presence.

We had a relationship with some beautiful promises found in John chapter 14:1-6. Let me read that portion of scripture to you.

John 14:1-6 "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, also believe in Me. 2 In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not, I would have told you. I am going to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may also be. 4 And where I go you know, and the way you know." 5 Thomas said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?" 6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

The First Promise to Christians is that We Don't have to Fear Death. Jesus said, "Don't let your hearts be troubled. I think that trouble only creeps into our hearts when we don't know what is going to happen when we die – but Jesus has removed the fear and uncertainty from Death, and I think that if Jesus were here in the flesh today that He would say those exact words: Don't let your hearts be troubled. And if we could hear today, I'm sure we would listen to similar words – if he could explain Heaven's incredible mysteries and wonders.

But Jesus has conquered the grave and Death, so there needs to be no fear in our eternal future. That means there is good news this morning - Death had no hold on Jesus, nor does it have a hold on us. So as children of God, we have no fear and worry when it comes to Death because we know that Death has been defeated.

2 Cor 5:1 "For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."

Has exchanged the temporary for the eternal, the stained for the spotless and the passing for the everlasting. In exchange for an earthly body subject to decay and disease, he now has a heavenly body that will endure for all eternity.

Not only are our bodies upgraded, but the entire environment of Heaven is infinitely better than earth. Rev 21:4 And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away."