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"At least the preacher wasn't too religious," James said. He pouched out his cheeks as was his older brother manner when speaking the summary of his thoughts.

"And he pronounced 'Smythe' correctly," Dorie said. "Better than that preacher at Aunt Wilma's funeral." She sat at the kitchen table, looking right and left as she spoke to her two brothers. The early evening wind blew hard against the house. Everyone else had left the reception at their father's home. Just the three grown children now, without their spouses, in the kitchen of their dead parents' home.

James and Dorie looked at Phil because, by a lifetime of practice, it was now his turn in the rotation to comment on their father's funeral. Dorie tapped her foot under the kitchen table. James remained standing, arms crossed, back against the refrigerator.

Beside the kitchen window, Phil watched the wind strip the last leaves from their parents' giant cherry tree. He was 35 and the youngest. He chewed his gum slowly. His sister and brother waited as they listened to the breeze.

Although Phil was next in the siblings' order to speak, James, deciding to wait no longer, coughed and offered another observation. "And the music wasn't as bad as I feared." He ended the sentence on an upturn, for Phil to pick up the conversation; but Phil furrowed his forehead with a deeper look of concentration to his gum chewing.

"I think Mom would have liked it," Dorie said, tapping her foot now against the leg of the kitchen table. She turned again to Phil as though handing a baton. But the room fell silent. After two or three minutes, James said, "Come on, Phil." He held out his arms toward Phil. "What did you think of Dad's funeral?"

Phil moved a step toward them, although still half turned to the window. The wind pushed a few drops of rain sideways against the glass. He spoke quietly, "Dad kept saying he wanted to see the end of the building project."

"Absolutely," James said. "He was fixated on it. Even when I was here a month ago and he'd entered the hospital for the first time, he said, 'I want to see the end of it.' "

Their father had taken the chairmanship of the church's fund-raising for a new building. The congregation raised the money and the construction of the gym and classroom complex was nearly complete.

"I'm amazed he got into the religion stuff at all," Dorie said. "He never even talked about church when we were kids. I think neighbors took him to church after Mom died."

"Well, they saw his abilities real fast," James said. "They threw him into the chairmanship after only a couple years. 'I've got to see the end of it,' he'd say. Like he was obsessed. I thought maybe in the last month he had a little stroke thrown into his heart problems."

Phil slowed chewing his gum and said, "I was able to drive and visit him once a week in the last month before he died, and he had graphs and charts and blueprints all over the house. He was pretty sincere about it. 'I got it started. I want to see the end of it.' Seems that's all he could think of."

"But the service," Dorie said, bringing them back to the subject at hand.

"It was short enough," James said as he laughed, "even though the preacher wandered from beginning to end. He seemed like the cowboy who jumped on his horse and rode off in all directions."

"But he made such a big deal out of Dad's peace at the end," Dorie said. "Even when he read from that Revelations book."

"He was trying to make a point, I could tell," James said. "It sailed over me, and I think over everybody. Who reads Revelations at a funeral? Pretty baffling stuff: alpha, omega."

"I think he said that seven times in seven minutes," Dorie said, "and each time talking about how calm Dad had been during the last week."

"That he was," James said. "In fact, a couple times when I was with him in the hospital he smiled and cried at the same time. He wasn't upset. I'm sure, even though he couldn't talk well. And like a recording he mentioned the end again. The last thing he mumbled was that he'd seen the end. And he smiled. I guess I hadn't told you two that."

"No," Dorie said, "you hadn't. He smiled? Said he'd seen the end?"

Phil chewed his gum harder, brow wrinkled, nearly a frown. "That Revelation the pastor read." Dorie and James nodded their heads. "The alpha and omega he kept repeating."

"Those are Greek letters," James said. "I wondered when he read it if that's why fraternities got Greek letters."

Phil stopped chewing his gum, "Well, alpha and omega are the beginning and end of the Greek alphabet. And the Bible said that God was the alpha and the omega."

Dorie's foot stopped. Her eyes became very wide. "So God's the beginning," she said as she turned to James, who spoke slowly, "and Dad saw the end."


Discussion Questions

1. What immediate responses do you have to the story?

2. Do you identify with a character in the story? If yes, how and why do you identify with the person? If no, why don't you identify with anyone in the story?

3. Would you like to have a conversation with a character in the story? What would you say, ask, or suggest to the person? Why?

4. How does the story bring the biblical text into a clearer focus for you?

5. How would you improve or modify the story? Why?

6. Have you and your siblings discussed your parents' faith? If you don't have siblings, have you spoken of your parents' faith with relatives?

7. Did you figure out important things about your parents' or relatives' lives and faith after they died?

8. Has a loved one's dying brought you to a fuller understanding of God?

9. What further depths of meaning, symbols, connections with, or applications of the biblical faith do you find in the story?

10. Since Jesus Christ has risen from the dead and is alive among us through his Holy Spirit, what of this story would you like Christ to activate in your life?