Who you represent

We laid Carl Badstubner to rest a little over a week ago, last Monday morning, with a funeral service at PCF followed by a simple ceremony at Groton Cemetery.

Because Carl had served in the U.S. Army, there were two soldiers there for the graveside ceremony. One of them played taps and then both unfurled the American flag between them with great ceremony and snapped it crisply in presentation. Then they folded it carefully and one of them presented it to Barbara, saying: ‘On behalf of the President of the United States and the people of a grateful nation, may I present this flag as a token of appreciation for the honorable and faithful service your loved one rendered this nation.’

I was moved to tears. The wonder of the moment for me was the way in which Carl’s life and death were being connected to something so large – he had served his country, and his entire country was now acknowledging and thanking him. In that poignant moment, those two soldiers were authorized to represent and speak on behalf of the President of the United States, and indeed the entire country. Their presence was therefore not only the presence of two individuals; in a very real sense, it was the presence and blessing and gratefulness of millions of people and of our country’s highest leaders. It was breathtaking.

This experience awakened in me a deeper understanding of what it means to represent someone or something else. When you represent someone, you bring their very presence into the room. They are felt, known, experienced through the representative.

This is the role the Apostle Paul claimed for himself. ‘Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God’ (2 Corinthians 5.20). We’re not apostles, but in a derivative sense this is true also of us. God’s gospel word is spoken through those whom God sends (Romans 10.14-17). That’s us (Matthew 28.18-20).

As you speak and work and eat and talk and laugh and walk and play and cry today, remember who it is you represent.

Posted by Stephen Witmer on Apr 21, 05:46 PM