A Short Funeral Sermon with Reference to 2 Corinthians 5.1-9, John 14.1-6 and Muscular Prayers: for Ken and Victoria Gair on Saturday 13 August 2022 at St Barnabas Anglican Church, Medicine Hat, Alberta

Jesus is The One through whom are all things—all the lives and deaths and loves and relationships that bring us together this afternoon. Jesus is The One, the Bible tells us, through whom we all exist. (1Cor8.6) Jesus. Full of grace and mercy. Exemplar and perfect embodiment of the Father’s love. Jesus. He brought Ken and Victoria together in the first place, made them one flesh, and—just as we heard in the reading from John’s Gospel—went on ahead to prepare a place for them where they will always be with him where he is. With Jesus himself in that “house in heaven…made…by God himself and not by human hands,” (2Cor5.1) we heard about in the first reading from St Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians—“wearing heavenly bodies like new clothing.” In death, “swallowed up by life”! At home with The LORD forever and ever. Amen. 

Good to know. Together again. In the presence of God. We don’t have to worry about Victoria and Ken any more. 

Ken once told me that he’d built a house, all with hand tools. I love that idea that he will now, or soon, be living in one he didn’t have to build or buy himself! 

But what about us? Still weary, groaning and sighing in these earthly bodies, and living in earthly tents, as St Paul put it in that first reading. How can we have the confidence he describes, “even though we know that as long as we live in these bodies we are not at home with the Lord”? (2Cor5.6) “We live by believing,” writes Paul, “and not by seeing.” Walking by faith, not by sight. 

Jesus says something similar in the second reading: “Don’t let your hearts be troubled,” at times like this, he said. Just trust because, even though you might not see it right now, especially if you’re grieving and in pain, and somebody you loved very much dies there is a heavenly and spiritual reality that will swallow up these earthly bodies—as fearfully and wonderfully made as we are—with a such a splendour of glory and beauty that our earthly understanding can only barely, scarcely glimpse let alone comprehend. Because, “There is more than enough room in my Father’s home.” More than enough—for Victoria and Ken and you and me. 

You know the way, Jesus said. Thomas said, No, we don’t. We don’t know where you’re going so how on earth can we know the way? 

Believe, wrote Paul. Trust, said Jesus. This is how, wrote Ken in one of his wonderful poems (did you know Ken was no mean poet?) called Ordinary Time (which is the church calendar season we’re in now)—written at a different time of year—one snowy, pre-Lent, February: 

This is no festal day; 

no saints nor martyrs

of any note have glorified this day 

living or dying. 

The season plods toward

the long deep valley of Lent.

Snow obscures 

the end of a late February

afternoon, stopping vision, 

wrapping us

in a white robe of anonymity. 

- Now may whatever martyrs and saints there be

preserve us; may the God

whom we glimpse only dimly, 

now and then,

through the frosted windows, remember our names,

bring us safely to our rest, 

and pardon us

if we should celebrate 

this day our own 

small saints: the woman who with grace endured 

martyrdom by cancer; 

the man who smiled through a lifetime’s petty chores; 

the father who built with quiet hands a workman’s muscular prayers; 

the mother who loved us, 

against all odds.

On days like this, believing and trusting, we, too, can celebrate our own small saints (like Vic and Ken), celebrate the grace to endure suffering and cancer, celebrate those smiles through our lifetime’s petty chores, pray muscular prayers (there are some in this service) and love one another against all odds—like that mother in Ken’s poem and the Father Jesus tells us about, 

These are all wise ways to live the way, the truth and the life Jesus provides. Look him up if you haven’t already. Believe and trust in him. Be confident in his promises—good ways to honour Vic and Ken, too. Then these dying bodies of ours will be swallowed up by the abundant and eternal life that can only come through Jesus. 

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.

Of Preaching at A Score of Weddings and Three Score and Ten Funerals

Recently this blog turned fifteen. It has been far from viral but I’ve enjoyed writing it and it has been interesting to watch and wonder at the number of visits over the years. Sometimes they are thinly and evenly spread from around the world as things putter along. And then there has been the occasional burst of interest from Russia, of all places, to the tune of hundreds of views for a few days. Perhaps our brief (and most enjoyable) visit to St Petersburg in 2015 excited the fevered imagination of some algorithm or other, or one of their hack-factories is assessing my Anglican scribblings as a potential vehicle for cyber mischief. But I digress. 

The most traffic has been not so much to do with the potential for espionage as it has been funeral and wedding sermons related—of which there are around 70 and 20 or so posted on GENEralities respectively. I don’t know whether anyone has gleaned any useful ideas from them or found them helpful, but they get the most clicks. The two most visited are a funeral sermon delivered on Holy Saturday in 2012—22, 600 visits—and a sermon for a wedding in July of the same year—21, 100 visits. You can read them here and here. 

Why these two in particular? I have no idea. 

To let you in on a little secret, the thing about my funeral and wedding sermons, especially the funeral ones, is that they’re pretty much all the same. Perhaps people have noticed and are too polite to say anything. If ever I was asked to suggest readings for a funeral, as happened frequently, I always suggested Ecclesiastes 3 (There’s a Time for Everything) and John 14 (In My Father’s House Are Many Rooms). Then I would try to weave the story of the person who had died and the people who were remembering him or her into the Biblical story and draw their attention to Jesus and what he can do for them. So my funeral sermons were variations on that same theme. Over and over again. 

Weddings tended be variations on the 1 Corinthians 13—The Love Chapter—theme. Which is not about weddings as much as it is about how to do the charismatic gifts and church. But it can be spun into loving one another and a discussion about the difference between the love the couple have fallen into and the agapé-1-Corinthians-13-Jesus-kind-of-love they will have to rise into if their marriage is to grow and last. 

The truth is that most of the people who are there are not really thinking about Jesus or the things of God. They’re grieving and thinking about the loved one or friend who has died or they’re wishing the nuptial couple well and looking forward to the fun of the reception party to follow. But still, such occasions are good opportunities to address real life and death—from “until death do us part” to when it has. 

And the most important, the best, the abundant life giving thing that everyone needs to hear and be reminded of is that a marriage, even a really good one, without Jesus will end eventually. So will a life without him. Lives and marriages with Jesus as an active participant, on the other hand, never end. They just go from glory to glory for ever and ever. 

Amen. Alleluia!

For Doreen Montalbetti.. My Cousin

Just back from deepest Alberta where I got to preside over a funeral/memorial service for my cousin Doreen Montalbetti. She had been seriously injured in a car accident at the end of August and succumbed to her injuries on the 20th of October. A sad day shot through with good memories and good time with cousins and family. After introducing and reading Ecclesiastes 3.1-8, this is what I shared. The hand-written notes in red I took as David Montalbetti, Doreen’s son, shared some delightful and insightful memories of his mother.

Check Doreen’s full obituary out here

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Born to Be Wild: a Short Funeral Sermon for Colleen Sheardown—with reference to Ecc 3.1-8, John 14.1-6 and the song

Jesus, had some comforting words for his friends who he knew would soon be grieving like we are this morning. Canon Ottrey read them from John 14 just a few moments ago. Don’t let your hearts be troubled, even at times like this, believe in God, believe also in me, Jesus said. I’m going on ahead to prepare a place for you in my Father’s heavenly home. I’ll be there for you. Even in death. I promise. 

Jesus knew about the seasons and times for every matter under heaven we heard about in the first reading from Ecclesiastes, because he lived them too—times to be born and times to die—way too early in this case—and so we have this time to weep and to mourn. There’s laughter from good memories, too, but mostly it hurts. 

When we come up against real life when it comes hard, and dark and fast, we can mistake what Jesus is really like and what he is saying through his Church. It can come across as a bit soft for life as it really is—too religious and other worldly for things like motorcycle crashes. But that’s not true. Jesus lived hard and full on. He just didn’t sin. Born under irregular circumstances, driven out in the wilderness to prepare for his life’s work by fasting for forty days and being tempted by the devil. He was a rebel. Constantly at odds with the religious leaders of his day. Caused a scene at church by overturning the tables of those making money in the temple. He lived a full real life like that described in the reading I read in Ecclesiastes. We’re born, we die, we break down, build up, weep, laugh, mourn and dance, we love, we hate. Jesus experienced it all. Betrayed by a close friend, falsely accused of religious crimes, condemned by a kangaroo court, flogged within an inch of his life, crucified. Jesus knew how hard and unfair life can be. Yet, he always encouraged people to go for it—hit the road, let the wind whip through your hair, make a difference—enjoy a super-abundant life. 

Remember this? (Played the first minute or so of Steppenwolf’s Born to be Wild https://youtu.be/5UWRypqz5-o)

That’s Canadian rockers Steppenwolf playing Born to be Wild. That song was released just a few years after Colleen was born and became the theme for the movie Easy Rider. It came to my mind as I prepared for this and thought about Colleen and her love of motorbike riding (not to mention the white water rafting, sky diving, shooting off guns, thrill riding and Foam Festing—that I read about earlier). I think the lyrics in that song capture the spirit of Jesus’ words and how he said them. When he spoke people got stirred up. They were offended. They argued and tried to catch him out. They are words people like Colleen and folks who like to ride motorbikes get (although I’m not sure you associate them with Jesus—but from now on, and when you remember Colleen, I hope you do). Think of it: 

Get your motor runnin'

Head out on the highway

Lookin' for adventure

And whatever comes our way

Yeah Darlin' go make it happen

Take the world in a love embrace

Fire all of your guns at once

And explode into space

Okay, I admit it—the gun firing is a bit problematic—but Colleen did enjoy the shooting range. And I suspect the so-called “love” Canadian rocker, John Kay and Steppenwolf are singing about isn’t the for-God-so-loved-the-world kind Jesus talks about. But it could be and it should be. So hit the road. Get out there. Love one another. Bless. Serve. Help.

The song goes on: 

Like a true nature's child

We were born, born to be wild

Nature is part of God’s good creation. We are all born into God’s good, natural created order. Colleen was. You were, so was I. 

“We can climb so high,” sings Kay.

We can. We can climb to the heights of human endeavor just by being good friends, by being good employees and bosses. We can write books and songs. We can love our husbands and wives well no matter what. We can take on the risks and joys of parenting—if that’s not looking for adventure and being wild, I don’t know what is. We can ride motorbikes, for heaven’s sake. And,

“I never wanna die,” the song goes.  

Which brings me back to Jesus. Not only are born to be wild, to be adventurous, to live life to the full, but we’re born to live forever—to never die. And just as Jesus said in that reading from John’s gospel, he is The Way to have a life that never ends, he is The Truth that never dies, and he gives The Life that never ends in one of those rooms in his Father’s house. That’s how high we can climb with Jesus if we never want to die. 

One day the Bible says the heavens will open and Jesus will coming riding on a white horse with eyes like a flame of fire. Written on his robes and thigh will be his colours which will say King of Kings and Lord of Lords (Rev 19.11-12). But, with all you motorbike riders present, I wonder what would Jesus ride in the meantime? I reckon it would be a Triumph. That would be the ride for The One who has triumphed over sin and death and before whom one day every knee shall bow. Why not ride with and for him. King Jesus. 

Colleen knew about him, so does her family. So get your spiritual motors running, head out on the faith highway, look for the kind of adventure that makes the wind of heaven blow through your hair. Be a little wild and crazy. Make it happen now. As days like this remind us, tomorrow could be too late. That would be a good way to honour Colleen’s memory and to get connected with the rider from heaven, the triumphant one, Jesus. 

Jesus Comforts His Disciples: a Short Memorial Service Homily with Reference to Isa 61.1-3, Ro 8.31-39 and John 14.1-6—for Dave Hoose

Jesus Comforts His Disciples is the section heading for that passage Al just read from John 14. Don’t let your hearts be troubled, he said to them knowing that they’d soon be mourning and grieving and confused and feeling lost without him. Trust in God, my Father and yours, and trust in me. 

He’s saying the same to us this afternoon through all the Scripture passages we’ve heard. When we hear Isaiah’s words in the passage Liz read, we hear Jesus and we hear about him. Jesus was The One sent to bind up the broken-hearted, to comfort all who mourn and to provide for those who grieve (Isa 61.1-3). So when Jesus says don’t let your hearts be troubled, he’s behaving like The One Isaiah was inspired to write about. And the Psalmist has words of comfort, too:

The Lord himself watches over you!” (Ps 121.5)

They are God-given and eternal words of comfort. 

So were Paul’s words in the passage from Romans that Deb read. 

Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. (Ro 8.34)

That means Jesus himself was praying for Dave as he went through all he suffered as his health declined, and for Mary and Stephen and Auralyn, and for us as we go through times like this. That’s stretching it a bit you might say! How can he be praying for all of us and billions of other people besides and all at once? Because he is raised to life and glorified and at the very right hand of God the Father in the Glory of Holy Trinity which means he now transcends time and space and mere numbers—the things that keep us so tethered to and entangled with the things of earth. He can now be to Dave and Mary and all the rest of us as if you and I were the only person on earth. 

It’s a mystery, but not to be dismissed because of that since 

Mystery is not the absence of meaning, but the presence of more meaning than we can comprehend. (Eugene Peterson in The Unnecessary Pastor, Eerdman’s, 2000, quoting Denis Covington, Salvation on Sand Mountain, New York: Addison-Wesley, 1995, pp. 203-4). 

Paul goes on…

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? (Ro 8.35)

No. 

…neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Ro 8.38-39)

Not even death can separate us! Compelling words of comfort inspired by and from Jesus himself. There are more in the Gospel reading. Trust me, he says, because 

In my Father’s house are many rooms. (John 14.2)

Trust me, because

…if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going to prepare a place for you. (John 14.2)

Here I can’t help thinking that Dave would probably have to be restrained from immediately helping Jesus prepare by embarking on some sort of renovation project in his room, sitting cross legged on the floor or in other people’s rooms around him. Dave was a man who, I discovered when he was clearing out his garage to move to the island, owned 16 tape measures! There was never any question that Dave could measure up!  

Above all, Dave was a man who loved Jesus. 

Trust me also, said Jesus, because when it is time, 

I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. (John 14.3)

Can you imagine? Taken to be where Jesus is. Comforting words, indeed. Jesus goes on…

You know the way to the place where I am going. (John 14.4)

Dave did. Mary does. Thomas, that’s Doubting Thomas in the Gospel passage, didn’t at first. And in this, the comforting words of Jesus gently, but pointedly, bring us to, and remind us of, the most important decision we ever have to make in our lives. It has to do with what happens when we die. Where has Dave gone? Where do we go from here? Do I know the way to the place Jesus is talking about? Some of us do. Some of us knew once but have forgotten about it or grown careless and have set off down some other paths looking for a better way. Some of us find it hard to admit it when we’re lost and we don’t know where we’re going. Us guys, they say, tend to be particularly reluctant to ask for directions. But Thomas wasn’t afraid to ask, God bless him. 

Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way? (John 14.5) 

Trust me, Jesus says, when I tell you that

I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14.6)

Well that’s a bit narrow, you might say. Exclusive. Yes, but so is the Father’s love for each of us as it is expressed in this one man, Jesus. Not so much narrow, as exclusively and wonderfully focussed—from which, as we heard in Romans 8, nothing can separate us. Nothing. So, really! Says Jesus. 

Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, trust also in me. (John 14.1)

In closing. Here’s a home truth about Jesus. What's The Way to that home place with all the rooms Jesus has gone on ahead to prepare? "I am" he says. I am also The Truth and The Life (John 14.6). Since Jesus rose from the dead and was taken into heaven, his heart still beats here on earth—in his body, the Christian Church. The only way to one of those rooms runs through it, his truth is proclaimed and celebrated in it, his life fills it to the brim with light and love and Dave Hoose worshipped and found his way in it. I know he hopes that all of us will also trust in Jesus and do the same. 

Gene+

Following Directions: a Short Funeral Sermon with Reference to Ecclesiastes 3.1-8 and John 14.1-6—for Rita Yolanda (Castelani) Todd

There is a time for everything,

a season for every activity under heaven.
A time to be born and a time to die.
  
A time to cry and a time to laugh.
  
A time to grieve…(Ecc 3.1,2 & 4)

Jesus had first hand experience of death and grief during his short life under heaven. He wept over his friend Lazarus when he died (John 11.35). He wept over the coming destruction and suffering for Jerusalem (Lk 19.41). He comforted Lazarus' sisters, Mary and Martha. He also comforted his disciples with the words we just heard in the reading from John's gospel because he knew they, too, would soon be in mourning over his death. "Don't be troubled," He said to them (and to us). "You trust God, now trust in me."

Even when we're celebrating a life like Rita's, who loved and enjoyed life, as Mickey wrote, lived to a good old age (Gen 15.15) and died full of years (Gen 25.8), there's still a sense of loss and sadness. And occasions like this bring us, who are still living out our times and seasons under heaven (Ecc 3.1), face to face with the great mystery of death and life. You've heard all the questions and have probably asked them yourselves. Why is there suffering and evil? Why are some lives so short and others so long? Why to bad things happen to good people?And on and on. All Rita's questions about those mysteries will have now been answered, but what about us? What is there to help us who are still busily tearing down and building up, crying, laughing, grieving, dancing, loving and hating and living through the list we heard about in Ecclesiastes? Do we just have to accept that we all have our time to be born, that we go through the list of seasons and activities we've been assigned and then we die? Or, is there more?

That's what Jesus is saying. There is more and it's good. Don't worry about it. Just trust. Trust in God and trust in me, he says. Especially in the hard times and seasons, even when they don't seem to make any sense, because I've looked after it for you. I've been through it all and gone on ahead to prepare a place for you that is so over-the-top delightful and good that everything you've ever experienced, no matter how good or bad, painful or pleasurable, pales in comparison. You can't earn it, or do good enough to deserve it, all you can do is believe in me and what I say, and one day, when everything is ready, I will come and get you so you will always be with me where I am (John 14.3) with your own room in my Father's heavenly home. Some of you, like Thomas, may not know the way to the place Jesus describes. Some of you may have forgotten and need to be reminded of the directions. Some of us are men, who are reluctant to ever ask for directions even when we totally lost. Notice Thomas didn't ask for directions either. But Jesus gave them to him (and us) anyway.

"I am," he said. I am The Way, follow my example. I am The Truth. Learn about that truth in the Scriptures. Rita's grandmother was right when she told them "everything you want to know or do can be found in that book!" I am The Life. My heart now beats in my body on earth, the Church. Become a part of it so your heart will come to beat in time with mine. The Church is where my truth is taught and where you learn to live your lives in The Way I teach.

Enjoy your life like Rita did! Live it to the hilt! But what Jesus wants us to know is that the best, most satisfying, safest, most secure, most joyful way to live our times and seasons under heaven is follow the directions given by Jesus.

Gene+

Heavenly Light: a Short Funeral Sermon with Refence to Romans 8.26-28; 15.13 and 2 Cor 1.3-4—for Mary Simpson Dudley

Jesus said, “I am the light of the world." (John 8.12) Jesus is the Heavenly Light Mary wrote about in the poem Erin read to us earlier. Jesus is

the Heavenly light
that surrounds us day and night
A gift from above that will never
be gone from our sight

…provided we keep our eyes open for him.

And whether it warms your heart and
brightens your day
or simply lights your path to help
you find your way
He promised to be there during even the
darkest hours
And now a special Heavenly light
will be forever yours

The Holy Spirit Paul wrote about in the reading we heard from Romans is the one the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ sent to be with us after Jesus was crucified, died, rose from the dead and ascended into heaven. Jesus called the Holy Spirit, The Comforter or Helper (John 14.16). The Holy Spirit is The One who now helps us in our weakness at times like this when we're grieving and, as Mary wrote in her poem, "during even the darkest hours" in our lives. He is The One who prays for us with groanings too deep for words (Ro 8.26) and who pleads for those who believe in Jesus "in harmony with God's own will" (Ro 8.27)—in harmony with "the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" who "is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort," who "comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others." So, "When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us." (2 Cor 1.3-4) just so, we're here to comfort one another.

Not only is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the source of all comfort, he is also the source of the kind of hope that overflows with confidence and is able to fill you and me "completely with joy and peace" when we trust in him, because even in those darkest hours Mary wrote about in her poem, even when someone we love dies too soon and it feels like we'll never get over it, Jesus promised he would never leave us or forsake us (Heb 13.5), that his Father causes everything to work together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to his purpose for them (Ro 8.28)—even things like this. Because, as Charlie sang in Morningtown Ride earlier:

Somewhere there is sunshine
Somewhere there is day
Somewhere there is Morningtown
Many miles away

And there we will find Jesus, source of Heavenly Light, the Resurrection and the Life, gone ahead to prepare rooms in his Father's heavenly home for those of us who want one (John 14.1-3). Where Jesus is, death cannot prevail. Where Jesus is we "won’t have to walk in darkness, because we will have the light that leads to life.” (John 8.12) Everlasting life.

Mary knew that. I know that she hopes we all do, too.

Gene+

A Short Funeral Homily—for William Van Buskirk

Jesus is at the centre of all this. We're here to celebrate the life of William Van Buskirk who died old and full of years and to mourn his death, but we do it, at Bill's request, enveloped in the truth of the birth, life, teaching, miracles, death on a cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, Lord and Saviour. Look at the first words I read at the beginning of our service on page 591. "I am." Who is? Jesus. In John's gospel—"the resurrection and the life." This morning Jesus comes to us in beautiful language. Elizabethan. Shakespearian. From The Book of Common Prayer (1962 Canada). Translated from a language and a culture even older.  It can be hard to get our 21st century ears around it, especially if we haven't grown up with it as Bill did. But it's worth the effort. Especially when we're doing what we're doing this morning because not only does it tell us something about Jesus, but it tells us something about Bill.

For example, Bill had those verses from Isaiah and Hebrews Jessica read earlier noted in his Bible. That he had a Bible with his own notes in it is revealing. Bill must have taken special comfort from those passages in particular.

Fear thou not; for I am with thee:
Be not dismayed; for I am thy God:
I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee;
Yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. (https://ref.ly/Is41.10;kjv1900)

Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me. "
(https://ref.ly/Heb13.5-6;kjv1900)

These verses show from who Bill drew his strength and who he believed was his helper—the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. They also give some insight into his character—hear are some of the words his family used to describe him to me as we were preparing for this service the other day: honest, integrity, consistent, an example, kind, gentle, quiet, modest. Canon James Robinson, his priest, at St Augustine's Anglican Church in Lethbridge, called Bill "a deeply faithful Christian," and told me about the generous transportation Bill provided in his little red truck. The church secretary there told me about how Bill would come in regularly to check the food donations box and top it up with what was needed. It's easy to give thanks for such a life.

Which brings me back to Jesus—another life for which we can be thankful—and The One from whom or about whom all the words of this service were written. What can we learn about him? More than I have time to cover this morning although you could learn more of him tomorrow morning here at St Barnabas at 830 and 1030 and at other times in church services all over the city and every Sunday. The learning never ends because, just as John wrote in the very last verse of his gospel,

And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen. (https://ref.ly/Jn21.25;kjv1900)

Here are two things to go on with just from the beginning of this morning's service. Look again at the first words of the service on page 591:

1. I am (Jesus is) the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in him, even when he (or she) dies, yet shall he (or she) live. Whoever lives and believes in Jesus shall never die. 
2. Look at the verses on the bottom of the page. There is a place for those who believe in God and Jesus, his Son. A place Jesus has gone on ahead to prepare in his Father's house. A place with more than enough mansions, or rooms, for Bill and for you and me. If we want one and decide to accept Jesus' invitation to believe in him. 

If that is true, and I believe that it is—so did Bill—then although the earthly first part of his life is over, he lives on, as does Jesus.

To seriously consider the reality of Jesus, and him risen from the dead, in the stately, beautiful, grace-filled words we've heard and will hear in the rest of this service this morning and to decide to take the plunge of faith in him would be a good way to honour the memory of William Van Buskirk by following his example. It would also deliver you safe into the arms of Jesus.

Let’s pray:
Lord Jesus, you claim to be the resurrection and the life. If what you claim is true, please guide me, teach me, and open to me the reality of who you are. Give me an understanding that is coherent, convincing, and leads to the life and the home that you promise.

Gene+

Home Truths—A Short Funeral Homily with Reference to Ecc 3 and John 14: for Margaret Mattson

Jesus said, "My Father's house has many rooms," (John 14.2) in our reading from John's gospel. That sounds to me like a home, a home with many rooms. A heavenly home for God's children. A home where Jesus, himself, is. A home to which Jesus said he has gone on ahead to prepare places to come home to for those who have chosen to believe in him. Jesus is talking home truths.

I think of Margaret Mattson knew something about home truths, too. She grew up in one home, married the hired man, raised her own family in another home across the yard. All from 1919 to 1985. She lived and loved and baked jumbo raisin cookies and filled her home with the hum of sewing and home-made clothes, pies and scalloped potatoes. She made a home for her family. From what I heard from her daughters the other day, she was pretty good at making places for each one of them and their brothers there. She was a home maker. You can see it in her children.

That wonderful passage from Ecclesiastes we heard earlier has some home truths, too. "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born" (Ecc 3.1-2) True. Margaret's was ninety-seven years ago. Her parents brought her home. When she was six months old they brought her to Canada. And then came all the activities of being and raising families in a farm home: times to plant and uproot, to kill and to heal, to tear down and build, to weep and laugh, mourn and dance, embracing, searching, giving up, keeping and throwing away, tearing, mending, silence, talking around the kitchen table (but not when Dad was trying to listen to the news), and always time to love and those precious moments of peace that pop up every now and and again in a busy family's life. Yes and there were times to hate and even to war against the things that might threaten the security of that home. Then, finally, after all that comes a time to die. True. It comes for all of us. Some of us, like Margaret, get to be old and full of years. For some, too young and too soon.

Which brings me back to Jesus and home truths. He wasn't very old yet he'd been through the seasons and activities of Ecclesiates 3. He knew about death and he knew that his time to die was close and he knew how the ones who loved him would feel. That's why he said what he said in John 14. He says it to us on days like this, too.

Don't be troubled. Believe. Believe in God, my Father, who has the big home with lots of rooms. Believe in me he says, because if it were not so, I wouldn't tell that it is. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am (John 14.1-4).

And you know they way to the place where I'm going, h said. Well, not so much. Some of them did. Except Thomas. He didn't, or thought he didn't. Same with us. Some of you do. Some of you did and forgot or life happened and crowded it out or it became too much trouble. Some of you may have never known.

So here's a home truth about Jesus. What's The Way to that place with all the rooms? "I am" says Jesus and that way runs through my church. Jesus also says he is The Truth and The Life (John 14.6). His heart still beats only now it beats in his body on earth, the Church. No one comes to the Father or one of those rooms in that great heavenly home except through him and his Church—Churches like this one where Margaret Mattson worshipped and found her way.

To explore the home truth that The Way, The Truth and The Life Jesus represents would be a good way to honour Margaret's memory.

Let’s pray:
Lord Jesus, you claim to be the way, the truth, and the life. If what you claim is true, please guide me, teach me,  and open to me the reality of who you are. Give me an understanding that is coherent, convincing, and leads to the life and the home that you promise.

Gene+

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+

Getting to Yes: a Short Funeral Homily with Reference to Prov 3.5, Ro 8.28-39, 1 Cor 2.7-11, 2 Cor 1.19-22, Phil 3.13-14 and Rev 21.6-11—for Suzanne Shust

Jesus is here. This is his church, his body on earth for now. This Jesus "died for us and was raised to life for us," Elizabeth Murphy read just a few moments ago, "and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us." (Ro 8.34) Jesus died for Suzanne, was raised to life for her and was pleading for her all through her life and illness. Suzanne knew it, even when she was struggling with having to die before she was ready. Suzanne wanted you and I to hear it because she carefully chose the readings for this service. These readings are what amounts to her understanding of what has happened to her and are also her message of hope to us.

First was "Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding." (Pr3.5) Suzanne's favourite verse. A good word—it was for Suzanne and it is for us now—as we try to make sense of hard times like this.

Here's something in which we can choose to trust on a day like this, for example, whether we understand what's going on around us or not. From Romans 8. Nothing can ever separate us from Christ's love. Nothing. Not trouble, calamity, persecution, hunger, destitution, danger, cancer—not even death (Ro 8.35). No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord (Ro 8.39).

I'll be honest. That's not always easy to believe. It wasn't easy for Suzanne at times—when she was in pain, when she was having to come to terms with her grief and disappointment over all the things she had hoped for but which were not to be. It's not easy for us who share her disappointment and grief. It just seems so unfair. Even if I'm not separated from the love God that is revealed in Jesus, things can feel pretty awful. And yet, trust in the Lord, Suzanne would say, rather than leaning my own so limited understanding, especially when my efforts to understand are so skewed by how rotten I may be feeling when I'm sick or when I'm grieving at times like this.

Trust in the Lord especially because, as Margo read from the passage Suzanne chose from 1 Corinthians, all God's promises find their Yes in Jesus. If we're trusting in the Lord with as much of our hearts as we can and not leaning too much on our own understanding (or feelings) then those promised Yes's remain and work through cancer, grief and the Romans 8 list—trouble, calamity and danger, and all the rest.

"Well, it sure doesn't seem to work like that in my experience." I might respond."Suzanne's illness and death don't feel very promising to me."

"Trust in the Lord anyway," says Suzanne in the verses she chose for us to hear this afternoon—and I can also hear her tone and see the expression on her face as she says it–you know the look I'm talking about. "I wasn't separated from God's love and promises revealed and fulfilled in Jesus—and nothing can separate you either. So focus on this one thing," she says to us through the verses she chose from Paul's letter to the Philippians (3.13-14), "Forget the past and look forward to what lies ahead. Don't give up, press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling you!"

Jesus was key as far as Suzanne was concerned. Here are some more things about that Jesus in the readings we heard that Suzanne must want you and me to know or remember:

• Jesus is God's son (Ro 8.24, 2 Cor 1.19)
• Jesus is our glorious Lord (1 Cor 2.8)
• Jesus does not waver between Yes and No (2 Cor 1.19)
• Jesus always does what he says (2 Cor 1.19)
• The more we love God the more we become like Jesus (Ro 8.29)
• Overwhelming victory is ours through Jesus, who loved us (Ro 8.37)—victory over what? Sin and death, for a start. Many people also report that faith in Jesus also gave them victories over sickness and addictions. 

Suzanne is now enjoying that ultimate victory. Because she trusted in Jesus she now dwells in one of those promised rooms Jesus went on ahead to prepare for her (John 14.2-3) and that we heard about at the beginning of the service. So we don't have to worry about Suzanne any more.

What about us who are left behind? The trick is not to miss out on the promises or reject them in our grief and anger or because we're letting our failure to explain or understand things that are beyond us drown out any trusting in the Lord. There were times in Suzanne's life when she could easily have given up on God and rejected him, not the least of which was during these last sixteen months. But she didn't. Suzanne really rocked apparently. Not only did she show great strength of character and great faith, she showed that she really did trust in the Lord with as much of her heart as she could manage. Sure she struggled with her own understanding and what to make of her situation and I'm sure she had some pointed words with the Lord over it. But in the end, she trusted in the Lord and she continued saying Yes to Jesus and all the promises he embodies. I believe she chose these readings in the hope that you and I will do the same.

In a moment you and I, too, will have the opportunity to say Yes to Jesus 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 Suzanne's memory, to express your trust in the LORD who made her and her children, was present all through her illness and loves her still. Saying such a Yes and meaning it would also place you safe and sound in all the Yes's God promised in Jesus.

Gene+

A Short Funeral Homily with Reference to Rev 7.9-12 and John 14.1-6: for Shirley Corbett

Jesus said, “Don’t be troubled.” (John 14.1) Don’t be troubled? How can I not be troubled? It seems to me poor Shirley Corbett had to lie in that bed at Masterpiece, unable to communicate with those who love her, for way longer than she deserved. And there’s a myriad of other things that trouble me, too; sick friends, strained relationships, addictions that I can’t control, and on and on—not to mention it being Friday the Thirteenth. Tell me how I can not be troubled and rise above all of that!

Jesus said “Don’t be troubled” to his disciples because he loved them and to prepare them for what he knew was to come. He knew his crucifixion and death would cause them great fear and pain. A couple of chapters later, after describing some of the additional troubles they would face, Jesus said, "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16.33)

“In this world you will have trouble.” True enough and Shirley certainly had her share, but if there was anyone who lived by what he said next; “Take heart! I have overcome the world,” it was Shirley Corbett. “You trust God,” Jesus said in our reading from John, “now trust in me.” (John 14.1) And Shirley did. I will never forget her faithfulness in bringing Chantel and Mensha to St Barnabas, having taken responsibility for their care at the age of seventy, I believe, when Mensha was eighteen months old, I can’t remember how old you were, Chantel, and I know she’s still trusting in Jesus for their welfare and benefit. I admire Shirley Corbett because, whatever the trouble and the set-backs she faced, even when she was unable to communicate she never gave up on trusting in Jesus. I could tell even in her last years with us by the way her face lit up whenever she heard the old familiar prayers from the prayer book. 

Consider the fruit of that trust according to the readings we’ve just heard. First, a room and a place for her in the heavenly home of the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ himself (John 14.2) because Shirley knew where Jesus was going and how to get there (John 14.3). And, she’ll be one of that vast crowd, we heard about in the reading from Revelation, standing in front of the throne and before Jesus clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands shouting with a great roar, “Salvation comes from our God who sits on the throne and from the Lamb!” who is Jesus. Something to hear! And Shirley now, freed to speak again after these last few years of speechlessness and to join in the celebration, gets to enjoy that, her new room and the exuberant worship, perhaps even dancing, for all eternity. 

At times like this, when I’m trying to come to terms with trouble and suffering and things that don’t seem fair, and death, I find myself hoping and believing—trusting—that Jesus is right, trusting in him is the only Way, Truth and Life (John 14.6) which can bring me through life’s troubles alive. I hope, as I know Shirley would, that you will choose to do the same. James, Chantel and Mensha, I’m sure if your Grandma Shirley could speak to you now she’d say she is hoping and praying that you will, too, in the church she loved so much.  

“And all the angels…fell before the throne with their faces to the ground and worshiped God. 12 They sang, 

“Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom 

and thanksgiving and honour 

and power and strength belong to our God 

forever and ever! Amen.”

And, now, with God’s help, as we continue our worship this afternoon, if we incline our hearts just so and listen very carefully, we might just hear Shirley’s voice among them.