I wrote these words to be read at the funeral for my hate!  Letting go has been one of the most freeing experiences of my life.  Forty years of hate have been moved out of the way and there is so much room in my heart to be filled up with love, to be filled with joy.  It was one of the most profound experiences of my life with some incredible friends. This took place after Good Friday service at my house with five very close friends.  It was the perfect night to claim the power of what Jesus did on the cross.

So yes, I want to let go! Yes, I want to be filled with hope, joy and love rather than anger, bitterness and fear.  Today I write a eulogy for my pain, a message of goodbye to my hate.  Hatred has lived a long and very powerful life in my heart.  Hatred has had control of a considerable part of me.  Today, at this funeral, we, I, say goodbye.  I have faced you Hatred and I am fully aware of the destruction you have wrought in my life! You have filled such an enormous part of my life for forty years that I have no idea what it will be like to live without you.  I know this though, I know this!  It’s got to be SO much better!  As of today, you are DEAD!  How did you die?  You died from truth. Your lies and your life of deception have finally been killed by the truth of who Christ is, what he has done and will do.  You are dead.  No longer can you reach up from that dark place in my heart, grab my throat and convince me that you are in control.  Grace is in control.  Forgiveness and reconciliation are in control.  Peace is replacing your chaos.  Surely Jesus has born my griefs and carried my sorrows.  He took them on at the cross.  He broke your grip that day and I choose to live in that freedom!  You are dead.  I have never been to a funeral where I was happy to say goodbye, but tonight I am happy to get rid of you.  I have mourned your affect on my life, I have ached over the scars you have left and I have face the fears you have used to control me.  Tonight I am letting go.  I forgive my brother, I want to care about what happens to him, I want Jesus to work a miracle of compassion in me toward him.  I will fight my scars, my pain, with the healing power of the blood that ran down that cross for me, for him, for the World that God so loves!  I forgive me for living in bitterness and hatred.  I forgive me for knowing Jesus but never letting him have my whole heart.  So, Hatred, you have been defeated and I am glad!  You are DEAD.  I look forward to the power of the resurrection taking the place of your rot and decay.  That is my prayer tonight as I let go of you!  Goodbye.  Good riddance.  I am free!  I am done with you!  I welcome the light into the dark tomb you have lived in, you built in me.  Come Jesus and heal me tonight.  Let the power of Easter start tonight.  Work a miracle in me!  Free me, release me, fill me, invade me.  Use these friends to remind me to stay in the light.  Use these friends you have had walk with me to hold me accountable to living in the light.  Thank you for the way they have walked through the mess with me.  Thank you for using them to be you arms, your voice, your tears with and for me.  Thank you Jesus for taking on the sin of my hatred.  I could never express how much I feel for you and my gratefulness for taking on that which you hate in order to love me.  Thank you!  I finally choose to live in that power today!