The Bishop's Sermon

Funerals are so common here that they don't often, if ever, have services in the church. So from the tiny Greek community here— I think the Greeks used to be involved in the tea trade, a long time ago, and there's a tiny remnant of a couple families, or maybe only one— a man died yesterday, and we had the "burial"— they don't call them "funerals", but "burials"— that very same afternoon. Nothing at all in the church, and even at the grave, just a Trisagion, which seemed unusually short, even by Uganda standards.

Well, when we were done singing, the bishop preached. Here is his entire sermon:

We were just supposed to throw this man into the tomb without doing anything at all for him, because he never even once appeared where we are. But at the last moment, when I went to see him because I had the feeling he might die, I asked him what were his wishes. And he said, "Please take care of me. Please take care of me. I was very stupid."

I don't want to say anything more. Do any of you want to say a few words, to talk about his life?

A couple of people read condolence letters, as is the custom here, and then one relative— maybe the guy's wife but I can't quite recall— then came forward and said he'd of course been "saved" at some point (though I take it he wasn't seen much in that church either), and that he was a nice guy, and therefore everything was going to be ok and we would meet him in heaven.

That's what I like about being "saved". Eternal security; no consequences!

So then I was talking to the bishop and mentioned that the lady didn't like his sermon too much.

"No problem!" he said.