What do you want people to say about you when you are no longer on earth?
Today, many folks will gather at Spry Funeral Home in Huntsville to remember Margaret Frances Frederick. I had the privilege of being her pastor for about nine years. Miss Margaret was an extremely-positive lover of people. She openly showed concern for her family, church, friends, and privately demonstrated compassion with prayer, cards, and gifts. Few knew of her creation, involvement and leadership with Valley’s “Sunshine Girls” (a anonymous group that focused on acts of kindness). Over the past several days, I have heard hundreds of stories about Miss Margaret that honored her memory. I expect that I will hear many more.
Today, Monday, January 21, is also a national holiday in the United States in recognition of Martin Luther King Jr. He grappled with answering the question “what do you want people to say about you when you are no longer on earth?” Not too long before he was killed, King shared at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta.
If any of you are around when I have to meet my day, I don’t want a long funeral. And if you get somebody to deliver the eulogy, tell them not to talk too long. Every now and then I wonder what I want them to say. Tell them not to mention that I have a Nobel Peace Prize; that isn’t important. Tell them not to mention that I have three or four hundred other awards; that’s not important. Tell them not to mention where I went to school. I’d like somebody to mention that day that Martin Luther King Jr. tried to love somebody. (William Willimon, Pastor: The Theology and Practice of Ordained Ministry, p. 53)
My dad once commented, “When I die, I hope that someone will say, ‘He made a difference’.” Following his death, many people testified to that fact. My mom honored Dad by putting a footplate on his grave – “J.G.S. He Made A Difference”.
About a thousand years after King David’s death, Paul uses David’s achievement as a sermon illustration to people in in Pisidian Antioch: “Now when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep.” (Acts 13:36a NIV) What do you want people to say about you when you are no longer on earth?
