Yesterday, I was privileged to attend a Baptist funeral for the first time. It was a bit out of my comfort zone in several ways. First, I felt like a true minority for one of the few times in my life. Years ago, I attended a professional seminar and was the only female present. Yesterday, I was in the racial minority.
It was out of my comfort zone liturgically. The order of the service was unfamiliar and it included elements that I had never seen before. The program titled the service, "A Home Going Celebration" and noted the deceased's date of birth as his "sunrise" and his date of death as "sunset." Letters of condolence were read from neighboring congregations and the obituary too was read.
There was a degree of raw emotion displayed foreign to my experience of controlled and choreographed Roman Catholic funerals-- not just tears, but hard, breathtaking, loud sobbing that could best be described as wailing.
And there were multiple preachers (not sure if this is typical). One of them spoke in a cadence that reminded me of the way that Jesse Jackson delivers a message. Part of his message was that "I'm too blessed to be stressed" and "I'm not disappointed because I'm anointed".
The preachers seemed less concerned about the spiritual welfare of the deceased and more concerned about whether those of us in the congregation were saved, inviting us to accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and praying over those who accepted the invitation.
The repetitive cadence of the "I'm too blessed to be stressed" phrase has been playing over and over again in the background of my mind, like when there is a song that I can't get out of my head.
I've been stressed lately over typical holiday dynamics and dramas; and over my over-consumption of the type of food that should be avoided but that is everywhere. I am getting back on track; and I am blessed -- too blessed to be stressed.
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