What Will They Say About Us?
a sermon based on Deuteronomy 34:1-13
by Rev. Thomas Hall

Mark Twain once read a notice of his death in the local paper, to which he responded, "Rumors of my death are greatly exaggerated." Mark Twain wasn’t the only one to read his own obituary in the paper. Same thing happened to Franz Joseph Haydn. When the great composer read his own obituary notice in the paper and noticed that his death would be honored by the performing of one of his symphonies in Paris, he decided to attend his own memorial service. Afterward, Haydn remarked that if he had been alive, he could have conducted it much better.

Now listen to perhaps the world’s oldest obituary column . . .

So Moses, the servant of the LORD, died there in the land of Moab, just as the LORD had said. He was buried in a valley near Beth-peor in Moab, but to this day no one knows the exact place. Moses was 120 years old when he died, yet his eyesight was clear, and he was as strong as ever. The people of Israel mourned thirty days for Moses on the plains of Moab, until the customary period of mourning was over . . . There has never been another prophet like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face. The LORD sent Moses to perform all the miraculous signs and wonders in the land of Egypt against Pharaoh, all his servants, and his entire land. And it was through Moses that the LORD demonstrated his mighty power and terrifying acts in the sight of all Israel. (New Living Translation (Tyndale House, 1996).

The dry, cold facts are stated for us:

Name of the deceased: Moses
Occupation: Servant of the Lord
Cemetery: Geth-Peor
Age at time of death: 120 years
Burial Plot #: N/A

Seems to be all in order don’t you think? But did you notice anything else in this notice? Of course, the eulogy! Someone has added a eulogy postscript to the cold, dry facts. "He was as strong as an ox and his eyesight was 20/20 . . . there has never been another prophet like Moses." What a powerful eulogy! A eulogy is from the two Greek words, eu and logia, which mean roughly, "good words"" that someone utters as a tribute to a deceased person. Eulogies are those words that we use to recall a person’s worth; the things about a person that we will never forget.

So we come to the end of Moses’ life. But did you know that at least seven times in this book of Deuteronomy, Moses talks to God about his impending death. Dying has been on his mind during the last third of his life. I wonder if he might have been concerned that the eulogy at his funeral would reflect for all history his life of striving to hear and obey God. At the end of his life he could look back over his twelve decades and remember how God had helped him to lead the Israelites out of slavery, guide them through the wilderness and most of all, how he had taught them the Law as a way that leads to life. He had even put himself in severe jeopardy in an attempt to gain forgiveness for Israel when they did not keep God’s law. Cost him entrance into the land where they would eventually settle. But, for better or for worse, Moses’ life work is now done. He finally nears death.

Not all lives end in flattering eulogies. I read recently an interview with Timothy Leary. His eulogy will include "the father of LSD" and the saying, "turn on and tune out." At the end of his journey, he planned his own demise. And on the computer terminal over the internet, he ended his life, the same as he had lived. He keyed the phrase, turn on, tune out and then tapped out his final two words, and delete. And Timothy Leary’s life ended. Turn on, tune out and delete.

I remember a docudrama about the wealthy Howard Hughes. The program tracked his rise to becoming one of the wealthiest people in the world. Yet as he got closer to the end of life, he became increasingly reclusive. At the very end of the drama, we hear a voice booming over the clanging din in an Atlantic casino. "Your attention, Howard Hughes has just passed away. This casino will offer a moment of silence." For sixty seconds the casino is deathly silent. The slot machines, the pursers, the crap tables fall silent. Then at the close of the minute life come roaring back with all its mesmerizing gambling sounds. Howard Hughes—the richest man in the world—is able at the end of his life achieves sixty seconds of silence. Then his memory is forgotten in the cacophony of the gamblers.

What eulogy will they write about us? What about our congregations? What are they going to say about your pastor? Yesterday, I faced a eulogy that I don’t want to own at my death. It came from a very successful and godly Episcopal priest. When I asked if maybe he would like to be a guest preacher at my church, he responded, "I have had five angioplasty surgeries." Must be genetic, right? Dixie, my wife responded. "Not really," he said, "it has more to do with stress that I’ve faced in the ministry." Then he looked at me until he had my eyes locked in his. He said, "Your family is the most important thing in the world; if you neglect your family, your children will grow up to hate the ministry. That’s the stress that I’m talking about." As he looked back over his life, he had realized too late that in the process of doing ministry he had encountered spiritual causalities from within his own family. That’s a tough eulogy to admit at the end of one’s career.

What will they say about us? What eulogy would honestly describe our existence? "Too busy?" "Played lousy golf?" "So far behind in his work, he had to postpone his funeral for a decade?" "Worked hard, but didn’t take much time for his own family?" There are some things that I want to change about my eulogy before it’s too late.

And what about out church? "Good church, but played it safe . . . never took risk . . . resisted change?" "Beautiful and pleasant, but the congregation and pastor lacked vision." Or maybe we’ll get a footnote like, "For awhile it seemed in the 90s is looked like they were going to bust out of the walls, but then they settled back and enjoyed fifty more years of maintenance instead of mission."

The obituary column of Moses reminds us that even in life it is important to see our own mortality, our own death. The story invites us to wonder about the legacy that today we are preparing to leave to those that will succeed us.

Of John Wesley, these words are engraved on his grave marker:

This great light arose, by the singular providence of God, to enlighten these nations, and to revive, enforce, and defend, the pure apostolic doctrine and practice of the Church . . . for more than fifty years, he continued to defend both by his work and writings . . . whoever reads this, if you are inclined to bless this instrument, give God the glory.

Hear the good news of the gospel: In Jesus Christ, God invites us to write our eulogies now by inviting the Spirit to help us. Through God’s powerful Spirit, we have the power to change our maps, our patterns, our passions, our habits. In Jesus Christ we can grow in vision and commitment and compassion.

With the Spirit’s help, let it be said of this congregation fifty years from now:

First Church took off in remarkable ways in 2002. They grew in their outreach—began a ministry for battered women, a program to help troubled teens, purchased two vans—one to bring older adults to the library to serve as volunteers; the other to take the youth on mission trips to the Appalachians to help others rebuild their homes. First Church began to fully underwrite and financially support missionaries around the world. They created a budget of $300,000 to help them do mission. A pastoral counselor now offers help to troubled families, and a visitation pastor has equipped this congregation to offer pastoral care to its members.

Moses died. But his vision that God gave him survived. Joshua grabbed onto the legacy of Moses and guided the Israelites into the land of settlement and a nation was born.

How about us? By God’s grace let us write the eulogy of our personal lives and church such that in the years to come, many will hear of our accomplishments and will be inclined of us as others were inclined to do of John Wesley, "to bless this instrument and give glory to God."