A pastor preparing for a funeral has asked about a story I shared long ago. I first heard it as a child from my pastor, Arthur A. Brauer.
An older man was talking with a young man who had just graduated from high school. “Congratulations! What are you going to do now?” “I’m going to go to college and get a good education.” “Excellent! Then what?”
“Then I’ll go to law school and become a lawyer. I’ll work hard and get a reputation as the best lawyer around.” “Excellent, I wish you well. Then what?”
“After I’ve established my practice, I’ll get married, we’ll have children, and have a good family.” “And then?”
“Well, after the children are raised, I’ll retire, we’ll travel around the country and do the things we couldn’t do when we were busy working and raising a family.” “I wish you well. Then what?”
For the first time the young man didn’t know what to say. Finally, he stuttered out, “I guess I’ll die.” “And then what?”
As this story was told to me, both the old man and the young man were church members. Both would have known that Jesus died for their sins, but only one knew that there was more to the story of our lives. Today many congregations see vitality slipping away, their church in slow decline. The culture that surrounds us is obsessed about the here-and-now and we’ve stopped talking about the long view. Might the church, for its own sake and for the sake of its witness, lead people to think about the question, “And then what?”
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