Funerals are another time of community social/religious gatherings. In Bill’s culture, “the wake” is an important part of the activities following a person’s death. In a typical situation, the body is kept in the house or the community hall, until the actual burial service. Close family, extended family, neighbours and friends go to the bereaved to offer comfort by their presence. Sometimes the grieving family members remain in a back room for much of the time to keep their grief more private, but others attending the wake do not usually express much grief. They tell stories about all kinds of things. Some of the stories center on interesting aspects of the deceased person’s life. 

        The wake can last one to three nights. Sometimes, every religious leader in the area is invited to attend and say a few words. In the area around Whitefish Lake, there usually is a lot of singing of Christian songs. Some people come and go but many stay overnight, and are offered food by family members of the deceased person. The actual funeral service will be held in the church that the dead person had attended, or in the community hall. 

        If the death occurs in winter, old rubber tires, straw, and other combustible items are burnt to soften up the ground so a grave can be dug. Then burial is made and the grave filled in by mourners.

        Funerals for those who follow the Native Traditional Religion are conducted differently. 

        There is a tremendous contrast between Christian and non-Christian funerals. When Bill conducts the service for a person who had a clear testimony of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, it becomes a time of experiencing the reality of God’s promises. The hope of the Gospel is emphasized and people are invited to consider their own relationship to God and to come to Him through Jesus Christ. 

        The death of a non-Christian is a different matter. Bill especially remembers one time when he had to conduct funeral services for a young woman who had been murdered. Like other funerals of people who lived lives which gave no evidence of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, this service was full of sadness unbroken by any ray of light or hope. All that Bill could do was express sympathy to those who had been bereaved and plead with the community to prepare for eternity by coming to God in His appointed way. 

        One memorable service involved a person who appeared to be one of very few evangelical Christians on his reserve. Converted to Christ through the ministry of an evangelical television evangelist, Rex Humbard, the man left instructions before he died. “I have accepted Christ as my Savior,” he told his family. “I want only an evangelical believer to lead my funeral service.” The reserve was seventy-five miles from Goodfish and Bill had never met the man. Nevertheless, when the family phoned and made their request, he consented to go. Arriving there for the funeral, he discovered he knew only a half dozen or so people there. Bill preached the Gospel in the simplest terms possible. 

        “God’s Word says, if a person believes this, then God promises this.” Explaining the Gospel yet once more, and defining what believing on Jesus Christ means, he told the people about God’s offer of mercy, forgiveness, and new life. God had used a T.V. evangelist to penetrate the darkness of this one man’s life. God then used Bill to expound God’s message to the whole community which had gathered to pay its last respects to the deceased.

        The funeral service for Wilfred Desjarlais, the husband of Doreen who was mentioned earlier, was also a memorable occasion. “It was a great blessing for me to take part,” Bill pointed out. “The wake was marked by a joyous assurance of the reality of God’s grace. We sang Gospel songs, shared testimonies, remembered our brother’s love for his Savior and rejoiced together that he was now with the Lord. What a difference there is between a Christian’s home-going to Glory and an unbeliever’s departure from this life.” 

        Not all wakes or funeral services were like that one. Bill remembers a number of occasions where he was called upon to take part in the wake or service of some troubled person who had committed suicide. 

        “It’s impossible not to see the contrast,” Bill states. “Family members are left feeling numb and often guilty. They wonder what they could have done to prevent the suicide. At a time like that, I can only try to help the living. The dead person has put himself or herself beyond the reach of help.” 

        Bill has known of fifty or more Native people who have committed suicide. He also knows many who were tempted but found help and deliverance through faith in Jesus Christ. “I am sure of this,” he insists. “People with hope in Christ may suffer a lot. They may lose a lot. But they need never be without hope because they have the Savior Who is their hope. Jesus promises, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you’ (Hebrews 13:5). The Savior’s promise is totally dependable. Many people grow up into adulthood without experiencing genuine love. They grow up with a ‘nobody cares’ attitude.” 

        Absence of hope, thinking that there’s no way out of the dilemma, struggling with some sinful practice, and losing the struggle again and again, Bill believes, are among the most common factors in the widespread problem of Native suicides. “Just about every reserve I know has this problem,” he says. “I don’t know all the reasons why people do it. But I know that suicide is not an answer. It only carries this life’s problems into the next life.”

        Bill’s firm convictions that hope in Christ is the strongest barrier to suicide developed from years of personal ministry. He reports, “I remember one family; a man in the prime of life shot himself because of problems with his common-law wife. She would leave him for somebody else, then come back to him. He would leave her for the same reasons, then come back. There was no stability in their relationship. Then he got depressed, shot himself in the stomach. He was dead on arrival at hospital. That untimely death brought an end to that man’s day of opportunity.” 

        By day of opportunity, Bill means the opportunity everybody has to put their faith in Jesus Christ and let Him into their hearts and lives. When Jesus comes in, He gives a whole new life with a new way of looking at problems. He gives strength and wisdom to overcome life’s difficulties. Above all, He brings hope to replace the hopelessness which fills the lives of so many people. 

        “I remember another person, a woman, who shot herself,” Bill continued. “It was the same tragic pattern. There was nothing in her life to say that she knew God. She drank, gambled, and lived common-law with a guy who she argued with a lot. One night, she took her own life.” 

        “God has given me a great burden about Native people who feel so hopeless that they commit suicide,” Bill declares. “I know that Jesus Christ is the answer for them. Yet, at the mo­ment of suicide, they probably really believe there’s no other answer. Jesus is the answer. People don’t have to end their lives in a fit of emotion. If only they would come to Jesus, the high suicide rates among our Native people would disappear. I thank the Lord that I have never had thoughts of suicide, even before I became a believer in Jesus Christ. Especially now, knowing Him as Savior, I have every reason to believe that problems will come and they will pass.” 

                
For added information on the subject of suicide, read “Suicide and Then... the Dreadful Discovery,” by Bill Jackson, available through NEFC.