I wanted two passages of Scripture written out in full so that everybody passing by could read them: Romans 5:1 and Matthew 10:28-31. I wanted my name on the marker, but I wanted those verses to be as large as my name. And it would contain only my name and birth and death dates, without degrees, positions, or anything else.

This morning I woke up after having had a very vivid dream. It was about my own death. Here it is.

I had been told that I did not have long to live. As I recall I had cancer, but that was not the important part of the dream. What was important and very vivid in the dream was preparation for my funeral. It involved my arguing with other people and being very adamant about what I wanted.

I wanted to be buried, not cremated. Treat my body with dignity: it’s going to rise again, and burial is a witness to that — even though cremation is not a problem for a sovereign God. But I wanted as little as possible to be spent on my funeral itself.

A cloth-covered coffin — what some people in the industry call a cheese box — would do fine for my casket. Our church has a pall to cover the casket, so that doesn’t really matter. The pall is a testimony that in the church all are equal, from the wealthiest who can spend $30,000 on a solid bronze casket to the pauper who can only spend a few hundred dollars on a cloth-covered box.

However, in the dream I wanted some money spent on the grave marker, and I kept insisting on it: a simple, ground level, flat marker. That is not particularly expensive, so why would this be?

This was because I wanted two passages of Scripture written out in full so that everybody passing by could read them: Romans 5:1 and Matthew 10:28-31. I wanted my name on the marker, but I wanted those verses to be as large as my name. And it would contain only my name and birth and death dates, without degrees, positions, or anything else. The marker would completely cover the grave in order for all this to be very legible and clear from a distance, and I wanted it to last until I broke through it on that Day.

In the dream, I even saw the place where my grave would be. It was on the left side of a building that housed the cemetery’s equipment. Then as the dream was ending, I found myself saying, “These are great texts from which to preach.” And I stood behind a lectern and addressed my family and friends.

That was my dream, and I found it odd because it involved a lot of dialogue that I remembered very well when I woke up.

As I reflected on the dream, I decided that this is exactly what I want, but I would be quite happy if my funeral did not take place for another thirty or forty years – Daddy’s sister lived to be 102 and a half, but my brother only made it to 46 – as long as I was not a burden and could be useful to others.

The dream did not leave me sad but happy.

On my grave marker:

Robert Benn Vincent, Sr.
May 16, 1947 – _____ __, 20__

“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Romans 5:1)

“And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.” (Matthew 10:28-31)

Bob Vincent is a minister in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church and is pastor of Grace EPC in Alexandria, La.