Sermon Illustrations: Funerals

During a wake in Madagascar, it is customary, before presenting one's condolences to the family, to pause before the body, which is often covered with a simple bed sheet. One day, as friends of ours paused respectfully before a draped form, a relative of the deceased approached them. "Excuse me," he whispered discreetly. "The body is in the other room. This is the piano." Barbra Ramiandrisoa, Australian Reader's Digest, February 2004 p22