Romans 8:28-39

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers,
nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor
depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us
from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (8:38-39)

Today’s reading from Romans is among those assigned for funerals.
My family chose it in March 1992, when we buried my father at
age 72.

I read this passage at Dad’s funeral, and as I reached verses 38 and
39 (“For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels …
will be able to separate us from the love of God...”), I began thinking,
“I really believe this.” I read aloud with greater passion, and I will
always remember it as one of the thinnest spaces I’ve ever known
between heaven and earth.

Today, at age 51 and 19 years closer to joining my father, my
struggle is to remember this sustaining vision, day after quotidian
day. I expect it would be easier to recall if my actions said more
often, “I really believe this.”

—Douglas LeBlanc