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“America’s Pastor,” Billy Graham, will embark on his final crusade today when he is buried next to his wife in Charlotte, North Carolina.
According to WRAL.com, mourners have been lining up for hours inside the last “Canvas Cathedral” to house the preacher who brought millions of souls to Christ during 56 years of fearlessly proclaiming the Gospel around the world.
Today’s funeral is meant to evoke the tent revivals that launched Graham’s ministry decades ago. His family wished to capture, for the last time, the feeling of the crusades that made Graham the best-known Protestant preacher of his time.
“His fingerprints are on this service for sure,” family spokesman Mark DeMoss said in a phone interview with the Associated Press (AP). “The Graham family has long considered that his funeral eventually would really be his last crusade.”
Musicians who long shared the stage with Graham will sing at the funeral and the preacher’s own children will deliver personal remarks.
Graham, who died last week at the age of 99, is one of the few civilians to be given the honor of lying in honor at the Capitol Rotunda in Washington DC. An estimated 13,000 people are believed to have paid their respects, including former presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton.
Today’s event, which begins at noon, is by invitation-only and will be held on the grounds of his Charlotte library. His oldest son, the Rev. Franklin Graham, will deliver the funeral message followed by shorter addresses from his other children. The service is expected to last about 90 minutes and will include prayers by pastors from all over the world.
President Donald Trump will be among the mourners today.
Afterward, Graham will be buried next to his wife in a memorial prayer garden at the library. He will be buried in a simple pine casket, crafted for him by inmates at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, with his grandchildren serving as pallbearers.
His headstone will read, simply: “Preacher of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Pope Francis sent a message to the family in which he applauded Graham’s “long and dedicated service to the Gospel,” and commended his soul to the merciful love of Almighty God.
His Eminence, Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo, Archbishop of Galveston-Houston and President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, said the Reverend Graham was “a preacher of God’s Word not only in his sermons, but also in the very life he lived. His faith and integrity invited countless thousands around the world into a closer relationship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Thanks be to God for the ministry of Billy Graham.”
In spite of the accolades that have been pouring in since his death on February 21 from natural causes at his home in Montreat, North Carolina, his loved ones say he would have been embarrassed by all the fanfare. In spite of living most of his adult life as a Christian superstar, he never saw himself as anything more than a humble preacher of God’s word.
According to the Washington Post, Graham was in his late 70’s when he was asked to comment on his thoughts about facing death. “I’m looking forward to it — I really am,” he said in 1995. “I’ll be happy the day the Lord says, ‘Come on. I’ve got something better planned.’ ”
Let us pray that he is now enjoying those “better plans.” May he rest in eternal peace.
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