Here and NOW: a Short Funeral Homily with reference to 1 Corinthians 15:20-58—for Kathleen Carlyle

 “NOW is Christ risen from the dead” wrote St Paul in that passage Gillian just read. NOW. It’s built right in to the Order for the Burial of the Dead. Page 595 in the Prayer Book.  

NOW. It was NOW when Paul wrote it. It is still NOW. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8) and he is risen from the dead. NOW. 

And by the power of that resurrection, Kathleen, even though she has died, has been made to live on in Jesus. NOW. So although we miss her, we don’t have to worry about her. She, along with her sisters, Marjorie and Dorothy—the Three Graces, as they were called, (and Bill, Kathleen’s beloved husband)—are those “that are Christ’s” as St Paul put it. They belong to Jesus. How do I know this?

Marjorie and Dorothy told me that they gave their lives to Jesus while listening to the Sunrise Gospel Hour—now the Oldest Gospel Radio Broadcast still produced in Alberta, seventy-seven years straight, by the way—they were too far out in the country for regular Sunday Church going. Kathleen told me, their mother would regularly call the three girls in from whatever they were doing in the yard to listen to hymn sings on the radio. Kathleen also told me she didn't start going to church until she was twenty. And yet the seeds had been well sown, and with the help of their parents, roots were solidly established in Jesus. And those beginnings led to them, all three, becoming  followers of our Risen Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and stalwart members of St Barnabas.

So. NOW, I think it’s safe to say, in the words of one of the hymns Dorothy chose for her funeral, these three faithful women are Safe in the Arms of Jesus. 

But we—are all left behind in this here and NOW.  Not that I’m complaining. But what do we do NOW? What do we do when a dear friend, aunt, cousin, sister, saint, like Kathleen has died? And what do we do NOW with something else St Paul wrote in that same passage: that in Christ Jesus all shall be made to live? 

What do we do NOW if we want to get safely from the corruption, dishonour, weakness, earthiness, sin, mortality and death in the here and NOW of this life as listed in 1 Corinthians 15—to the life we’re REALLY made to live in INcorruption, glory, power, with spiritual bodies, heavenliness, inheritors of the kingdom of God and enjoying victory through our Lord Jesus Christ? 

St Paul tells us how. Be steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. 

What is the work of the LORD? The disciples asked Jesus the same question in John chapter 6. “What must we do, to be doing the works of God? (v28). Jesus answered, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” (v29). 

So believe. God loves you Be steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in belief that Jesus is your Lord and Saviour. We’ll all get an opportunity to confess that belief out loud in the Apostle’s Creed in a few moments. If it’s your first time or if there’s been some slippage or drift in your life, find someone to help you begin the journey or get back on track. Reverend Oz would be happy to help. 

The important thing is to do it NOW because just as St Paul wrote, such labour is not in vain in the Lord. And tomorrow might be too late. We don’t want this holy NOW provided by Kathleen who is NOW in Christ, to become never.

So my sisters and brothers, look at the last sentence in our reading from 1 Corinthians, “be stedfast, unmoveable, always—not just NOW and then—but always! abounding in the work of the Lord.”

Here are two good reason why it’s worth the effort:  

• Such work of the Lord will affirm and show respect for what was important to Kathleen and will honour her memory. 

And

• you can be absolutely confident that your labour will not be in vain because it is in the Lord here and NOW, and in the NOW and forever to come in Jesus! 

Here are links to the funeral sermons for Kathleen’s sisters:

Dorothy,

Marjorie

and her husband, Bill.

Being Ready Now: a Funeral Homily with Reference to 1 Corinthians 15 and Revelation 21—for Marjorie Langdon

 NOW is Christ risen from the dead (1 Cor 15:20—BCP p595)

It's Advent. Christmas, we're waiting for—again (five sleeps if anybody's counting). Advent is also about our waiting, preparing and being ready for Jesus to come again, but Jesus is risen from the dead NOW.

Now, look at the top of page 596, because Jesus is risen from the dead NOW:

…even so in Christ shall all be made to live. (1 Cor 15:22—BCP)

Even so. Made to live. But everyone in their own order:

Christ the first fruits; afterward they that are Christ's (people like Marjorie Langdon) at his coming" (1 Cor 15.22-23—BCP p596)

Christ has died, Christ has risen NOW, Christ will come again!

I believe Marjorie is one of those "that are Christ's," who believed in her bones that Jesus is risen NOW, and so she was ready for his return, or to go a meet him.

Marjorie and I didn't agree on everything. She had definite opinions on the way God should be worshipped and with which books, for example. She didn't particularly care for my guitar playing and some of my changes to our style of worship. If she wanted to hear that kind of music, she once told me at the door on her way out, she could listen to the radio. But we agreed about Jesus and his Resurrection. I had absolutely no doubt that she was a woman of great faith—a faith that endured through some hard things for her. We have evidence of that today in her choice of readings and hymns. For example, notice the Psalm we prayed earlier. Psalm 46, about God being her hope, her strength and her very present help in trouble (v1—BCP p388)—she suffered plenty of trouble through her years of severe arthritic pain and immobility.

The hymns she chose and which were written in her Bible also give a good sense of that firm, determined faith and how important Jesus was to her.

JESUS, SAVIOUR, pilot me! we sang earlier. 

O Jesus, I have promised
To serve Thee to the end," we'll sing shortly,
"O guide me, call me, draw me,
Uphold me to the end;
And then in heaven receive me,
My Saviour and my Friend.

These last few years Marjorie's was, indeed, as we also sang earlier,"A dark and toilsome road." "O guide me through the desert here," Marjorie prayed no doubt, and had us sing, "And bring me home at last." Home at last. How did Marjorie know she had a Pilot, a Saviour and Friend?

She and Dorothy told me that they gave their lives to Jesus while listening to the Sunrise Gospel Hour—now the Oldest Gospel Radio Broadcast still produced in Alberta, seventy-seven years straight, by the way—they were too far out in the country for regular Sunday Church going. Kathleen told me, their mother would regularly call the three girls in from whatever they were doing in the yard to listen to hymnsings on the radio. Kathleen also told me she didn't start going to church until she was twenty. And yet the seeds had been well sown, and with the help of their parents, roots were solidly established in Jesus. And those beginnings led to them, all three, becoming stalwart members of St Barnabas. Marjory was a follower of our Risen Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ—so was Dorothy and so is Kathleen.

So Marjorie was READY. Ready for the new Heaven and earth we heard about in the reading from Revelation where the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ will be with her and "shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain and all things will be made new and good for ever and ever. Amen. It must feel good to be able to stand up straight, to move without pain again and to hear the heavenly choirs clearly. Who wouldn't want to be ready for that?!

Christ has died. Christ is risen NOW. Christ will come again. We don't know when. Jesus just says be ready.

So this Advent what might you and I take from Marjorie's example, the Scripture and hymns she chose for us to hear and sing and our good memories of her? A good way to honour Marjorie's memory this Advent and as Christmas is only a few sleeps away would be for you and me to consider our state of readiness to celebrate our Lord's birth on Sunday and for his approaching return.

Here are three Marjorie Langdon Memorial steps to readiness for the Lord's return:

1. Invite Jesus to be risen from the dead in you NOW not keeping him locked up in some tomb of my own ailments, carelessness or sinfulness. 
2. Invite Jesus to be born in you this Christmas.
3. The best starting place is to simply say "Yes" to Jesus. In a moment you and I, too, will have the opportunity to do just that as we pray the Apostle's Creed together. For many of us it will be Yes again, for some of you it may be Yes for the first time in a long time, or the first time ever. Saying such a Yes would be a good way to honour Marjorie's memory by expressing your trust in the LORD—Pilot, Saviour and Friend—who was present all through her illness and loves her still. Saying such a Yes, and meaning it, would also place you, along with Marjorie, safe and sound in all the Yes's God promised in Jesus (2 Cor 1.19-20).

There is no better time than right NOW.

Gene+