We Need to Hear the Stories

His daughter spoke first. And then his brother. And finally, two of his friends. Several days ago, I turned in at four o’clock in the morning after staying up to watch a friend’s funeral online.  It was the second funeral I had watched in the space of a few days and whilst the formats were similar, the stories were literally worlds apart.  One detailed a life lived in Australia, teaching in theological colleges, a much-loved mentor and friend to many. The other had grown up in a street overlooking Aston Villa Park before a Billy Graham crusade had changed the course of her life. Long before tourists had caught the travel bug to South America, she had moved to Bolivia as a missionary and raised her five children there before returning to the UK. 

“I didn’t know that she spoke Spanish to her grandchildren,” my sister said when I told her about the funeral. Neither did I. We need to hear their stories. We need to hear the tributes. From childhood memories to honed skills, celebrations and losses, untold achievements and comical anecdotes; eulogies may be the hardest speeches to write but they are an immense privilege to hear, often inspiring and encouraging a community of listeners to live well.