"Go Buy Yourself A Drink, Reverend."

"Go Buy Yourself A Drink, Reverend."

 

Have you ever heard, after attending a funeral, a relative of the deceased speak to the preacher and say, “Go buy yourself a drink, Reverend,” as he hands him some money?  Although I sometimes smile when I think of it in hindsight, it also makes me pause.

 

While pastoring in Brooksville I conducted a funeral service for a non-churched family.  This was not unusual, for Mr. Turner, the funeral director, often called on me for such services.  However, the comment I got following the service was unusual.  A member of the bereaved family handed me a ten-dollar bill and said, "Go buy yourself a drink, Reverend."  Besides making me feel like a "rent-a-reverend," that comment spoke volumes to me:

     

1.  It saddened me because obviously his association with ministers was rare and perhaps his only concept was one gained from movies or television which usually portray the Reverend as a bumbling fool or an Elmer Gantry hypocrite.  It further saddened me because here was a family that had built no relationship with a church nor a pastor upon whom they could call in their time of bereavement.  To them the funeral service was only a ceremony to be scheduled and the nearest available minister would do.

     

2.  It convicted me because perhaps in my funeral message I had not been specific enough when speaking of the issues of life, the preparation for death, and eternal values.  My presence as a minister of the Gospel, and the reputation of the church in the community had not impressed him to the point of his avoiding such a comment.

     

My prayer:  Lord while I may not always measure up to the ideal minister, nor be able to please all those who call me "Reverend," You know my heart's desire to be a man of God.  By Your Spirit help me to "set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity" (I Timothy 4:12b).