Quite a number of years ago, I got a call from Bob. Bob’s wife had been a member of the congregation I served, but she had died about a year earlier. Now his son-in-law had died and he asked if I would conduct a graveside service for him. I agreed to do so, and met him at the cemetery the next day. It was a small, private, out of the way cemetery in the country. When I arrived, it was just me and Bob. I asked him if his son-in-law had been a believer. He let out a big sigh, waited about 15 seconds and said, “Well, deep down, I’d like to think he was.” So that gave me a clue as to what my message might be.

Soon people started trickling in to the cemetery, dressed like you would expect to see people dressed who were going to church – the men in shirts and ties, the women in dresses. And then I heard this rumbling in the distance. It was growing closer. And very soon the first Harley Davidson turned in to the cemetery, followed by a long procession of riders of those American made machines. As they parked and took their places, about half the people were dressed in their Sunday best and standing on one side, while the other half, including the widow, were decked out in leather biker gear, proudly displaying their tats and standing on the other side.

I stood there for a moment, my mind racing, with all those people looking at me and waiting for me to speak. There was a definite tension in the air, people on both sides of the line standing with arms crossed and furrowed brows.  By the grace of God, the Holy Spirit gave me the words to say, and they were something like this: “I don’t know any of you, and you don’t know me. I didn’t know the man we are burying today, either, so I can’t say anything about him. So what can I say? Well,  I do know Jesus, and I’d like to talk to all of you about him for a few minutes.” And I saw their arms become unfolded and their faces soften and they were ready to give me a chance. I don’t remember everything I said, but I talked about the life and death and resurrection of Jesus that were all done so that anyone and everyone could be brought near to Him and be assured of forgiveness and life everlasting.

Ephesians 2:11-18 Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (that done in the body by the hands of men)— remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

The only hope for any of us is to trust in and cling to our Savior. And we need to share that hope with the world.