Reverence and Remembrance by A.D. Labuschagne

I’ve played the organ at many funerals.

I have seen how death often makes us forget,
Replacing memories with better ones,
Sometimes made up ones,
In an effort to preserve the dignity of the dead…

My reverence for God
Is very much rooted
In the remembrance of
What I once was…

The man I buried when I came to Christ,
Dead to sin and now alive,
Was not a good man.

Although he tried.

But it reached a point
Where although the things he did
Remained hidden from his brothers eye
He could no longer hide
His double mindedness from
The wrath of God Most High…

Arrested by grace and mercy
The old man of sin was sentenced to die,
I embraced the sentence and chose to crucify my flesh,
To let go of self, pick up my own cross
And follow Jesus instead.

Now the exhumation of the man I buried
Serves but one purpose and one alone,
And that is part of how I atone,
Like the skeleton at academy
On display
For others to see,
so others may
See the cure to this disease
Of sin and shame that was eating me…

I dig him up and show him off
To show the world how far I’ve come
From sad, and broken, battered bum
To Co-Heir and Chosen One

I had to die to come alive.

Andre Darius Labuschagne is a pastor, poet and psalmist from Johannesburg, South Africa. He lives amongst the lemon trees with his beautiful wife Kailie and in his free time enjoys making candy.