“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!
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