A friend of mine, who is a church musician, told me about a funeral he once played for.  At the end of the service a recorded message was played for the congregation over the church's P.A. system.  That recording was a message from the deceased, which had actually been taken from the person's answering machine. (I'm not making this up!)  So, as the congregation said their final good-byes, they heard the voice of their loved one leaving them with one final bit of telephone wisdom.  I'm assuming that the deceased, at the time of leaving the message, had no idea that it would be played at his funeral.  I don't know the contents of the message, but I’ve had fun speculating: "I'm sorry, I can't come to the phone right now as I am ... dead.  When you hear the beep, please leave your name and number and I'll call you back after the Resurrection

......[BEEP]........"

It makes me wonder how many of you out there right now have my voice recorded on your answering machine.  If you do, please erase it immediately and don’t even think of playing it at my funeral! 

I’ve noticed that no matter how well I’ve planned out what I want to say, when the machine goes “beep” my mind goes blank.  I want to sound sincere and pastoral... to convey, through my voice, a deep sense of Christian caring and warmth.  But instead I feel like a preschooler with rented lips:

“Hi....um.... this is Pastor.....uh... Pastor Russ, I mean.....um.....I was calling....[short pause while I try to remember why I was calling].....well, could you give me a call at the church?....uh... I mean if you have time..... or..... I’ll just call you back..... unless you call me first......[long pause while I realize the redundancy of what I just said].....uh.....yeah...Thanks!....... (click)....”  “Smooth,” I say sarcastically to myself.

I’m so glad that God doesn’t keep our old messages.  During this Easter season we celebrate the fact that we have new life in Christ.  All things are new... our past failures and shortcomings are gone.... Jesus has erased our old messages.  We start fresh again.  In the high-pressure, high-expectation world of today it’s easy to be hard on ourselves... to compare ourselves to others......to feel like we don’t measure up.  But Jesus says, “Be at peace..... don’t worry about all that.... my spirit is with you.... I love you..... go and share my love with others .”  Sounds a lot more productive than worrying about the past, doesn’t it? 

Maybe I don’t leave the most thrilling answering machine messages in the world... so what!  I’m a beloved, brand-new, spirit-filled, child of God!  So, on second thought, go ahead.....play whatever you want at my funeral.  I don’t care....I’ll be too busy to basking in the presence of God to notice.

Peace,

Pastor Russ