Lamb of God...

Someone recently asked me what I would want said of me at my funeral. I couldn't tell him how I want to be eulogized. I just hope whoever does it is somewhat honest. However I do know what song I want to be played: "Agnus Dei" from Requiem by John Rutter.

A "requiem" is a funeral mass; the word means "rest". Rutter composed his Requiem in memory of his father's death. For his text he took selections from the Latin mass and added words from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer and the Bible. The "Agnus Dei" movement is a key component of any requiem mass. Here is the text as it appears in Rutter's:

Agnus Dei
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, dona eis requiem.
(Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, grant them rest.)

Man that is born of a woman hath but a short time to live, and is full of misery.
He cometh up, and is cut down like a flower;
he fleeth as it were a shadow.

Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, dona eis requiem.

In the midst of life, we are in death:
of whom may we seek for succor?

Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, dona eis requiem.

I am the ressurection and the life saith the Lord:
he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.

There it is. The whole gospel reflected in the simplicity, complexity, and drama. That is my hope. That's what I want people to understand at my funeral.