Three Funerals

Three funerals in eight days. Grief has a way of clearing your sight. You start to see how much of life is gift. A shared meal. A phone call. A small kindness. Time with the people God gives us is holy. Ecclesiastes 7.2 tells us that the house of mourning teaches the living.

A conversation sparked me to think about two words that shape our faith. The first is εὐχαριστία (eucharistia, “thanksgiving”¹). Jesus gave thanks before breaking the bread in Luke 22.19. Gratitude was His posture even in the shadow of the cross. The second word is connected to the first, εὐλογία (eulogia, “a good word”²). Paul uses this word when he blesses God for every spiritual gift in Ephesians 1.3. A eulogy is not flattery. It names the grace of God at work in a life.

Both words bloom out of the Hebrew Scriptures. Israel spoke of תּוֹדָה (tôdāh, “thanksgiving”³). Psalm 50.14 and Psalm 107.21 call God’s people to offer tôdāh for His steadfast love. They blessed God with בָּרַךְ (bārak, “to bless”⁴). Psalm 103.1 opens with that call to bless the Lord with all that is within us. To bless someone is to speak truth about God’s generosity.

These funerals have reminded me that gratitude and blessing belong to daily life, not only to tables and gravesides. Speak a good word now. Give thanks while the gift is still in your hands. Every hour with those we love carries the mercy of God. Psalm 90.12 teaches us to number our days so we gain a heart of wisdom.

~PW 🌮🛶

1. Arndt, W., Danker, F. W., & Bauer, W. (2000). A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (p. 416). ↩︎
2. Arndt, W., Danker, F. W., & Bauer, W. (2000). A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (p. 408). ↩︎
3. Brown, F., Driver, S. R., & Briggs, C. A. (1979). The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon (p. 392). ↩︎
4. Brown, F., Driver, S. R., & Briggs, C. A. (1979). The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon (p. 138). ↩︎