God Cares For a Mother Who Died in Traffic
Sermon
We Are The Lord's
AN ANTHOLOGY OF SELECT FUNERAL MESSAGES
Members of the family and friends, in the name of Jesus Christ, our loving Lord and Savior:
A few short days ago, you were together as a family, right here in church. No one could have dreamed how your lives would be changed that day. No one could have foreseen that tragic accident last Sunday afternoon. Now, here in the church, we gather again, but for a different reason.
We take these moments to pay our respects to K_, your wife, your mother, your sister, and your friend. We pause to thank God for the life she has shared and the love she has given especially to you who have been closest to her.
I have not known K_ as you have. But I have realized, even in this brief time, a little bit of how much she has meant to you; and like every busy mother, how deeply she has been involved in caring for you with her love, her concern and her prayers.
Whenever an accident like this happens, many people ask, "Why?" No one I know can answer that question adequately. It may be that there is no answer. It's part of the risk of living, and of going places, and of doing things. The highways are hazardous, and this particular weekend seemed to have had more than its share of tragic accidents. Life itself is risky and perilous at times. Some think only of terrorists and threats like that, but life itself is unpredictable. There is no guarantee that when we set out in the morning, we will return safe and sound to our bed at night.
There is a prayer that has in it this phrase: "We know not what a day may bring forth, but only that the hour for serving Thee is always present." The future is always an unknown quantity. We never know what may come our way.
In the midst of all this uncertainty, the Christian faith makes a strange kind of sense. It is exactly for this fragile, precarious, and uncertain life, that God gives a message of assurance. He seems to know just what we need.
Into our unpredictable existence, he offers a word of assurance. In the fourteenth chapter of Saint John, Jesus says, "Do not be worried and upset." I can't help thinking of K_ there in your home. How many times has she said that to you? "Don't be worried and upset." It may have been a time when, as a child, one of you was sick. It may have been a time when things weren't going well for you. It may have been a time of a minor crisis in your life, when she intuitively told you, "This, too, will pass. Don't be so worried."
It is Jesus who said these words. He said them for the benefit of all of us who are often worried and upset. He said them for people like us who slam doors when we're angry, and who let the rest of the world know how we feel with words or with body language.
For our uncertainty, Jesus also offers a word of hope. He said, "In my Father's house are many rooms. I'm going to prepare a place for you." He's talking about our ultimate destination - heaven.
Every mother can identify with Jesus' reference to getting a place ready. When a baby is on the way, you spend a lot of time getting things ready. You begin to gather those baby things - a crib, a bassinet, baby clothing, diapers; and you start to sort out the shower gifts. You get it all ready so it's there when it's needed.
Sometimes you have to "take the place with you." Those of you with small children know what it's like when you go somewhere with the baby. You load up the car, and the whole back seat is filled with baby things - just for a short visit! All of this is part of preparing a place. You want your baby to have a place to rest and be comfortable among familiar things.
Mothers make things ready more than anyone else. You know how it is when a teenager comes home from a week at camp or a several-days' visit. Mom greets you as you come in the door, saying, "Your room is ready, and as soon as you wash up, come on down and have something to eat; supper is just about ready." Those things make me think of Jesus' words, "I go to prepare a place for you."
Someone said that K_ recently planted flowers in the bed by the house. This summer, when you see those flowers, it will be a symbol of something beautiful that she has left with you.
When Jesus talks about preparing a place, he is talking about heaven. He is saying that this place on earth is not ours forever. We are here only for a while. The place he speaks of is a place where there shall be no more pain, no more crying, no more sorrow, no more funeral homes or hospitals, for all of those things will have passed away.
We get used to this home and often take it for granted. Often we assume that we have all the time in the world, but that's not true. You and I are called to be ready ourselves - ready to go and to be with the Lord. Sometimes we have the chance to get ready, as with a terminal illness; but at other times, there is no advance notice.
The important thing is that there is a place; and, if Jesus has prepared it, you can be sure that it will be beautiful and furnished with all that is needed. K_ is there. She is with the Lord. She and you have shared that same faith, the faith that says we are citizens of heaven. That is the one reason why a Christian funeral is different! There is hope! There is comfort. There is faith. There is a heaven! There will be a reunion.
For our questions, Jesus offers a word of promise. He tells us how to get to the place he has prepared. Thomas the disciple asked about it. This is the same man who wanted to see proof that Jesus had been raised from the dead. Jesus made it plain. He said, "I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life; no one else can make that kind of a promise. He invites you and me to trust him completely.
Today we thank God for K_ and her faith. We give thanks for all that she has meant to this family, to her husband and her children. She has been a support on the farm, doing chores, feeding the animals, mowing the yard, running errands. Those things don't get your name in Who's Who, but you who have lived with her know who she is and what she has done.
Do not be worried and upset ... there are many rooms in my Father's house, and Jam going to prepare a place for you.
May God uphold and hold you in his hand.
A few short days ago, you were together as a family, right here in church. No one could have dreamed how your lives would be changed that day. No one could have foreseen that tragic accident last Sunday afternoon. Now, here in the church, we gather again, but for a different reason.
We take these moments to pay our respects to K_, your wife, your mother, your sister, and your friend. We pause to thank God for the life she has shared and the love she has given especially to you who have been closest to her.
I have not known K_ as you have. But I have realized, even in this brief time, a little bit of how much she has meant to you; and like every busy mother, how deeply she has been involved in caring for you with her love, her concern and her prayers.
Whenever an accident like this happens, many people ask, "Why?" No one I know can answer that question adequately. It may be that there is no answer. It's part of the risk of living, and of going places, and of doing things. The highways are hazardous, and this particular weekend seemed to have had more than its share of tragic accidents. Life itself is risky and perilous at times. Some think only of terrorists and threats like that, but life itself is unpredictable. There is no guarantee that when we set out in the morning, we will return safe and sound to our bed at night.
There is a prayer that has in it this phrase: "We know not what a day may bring forth, but only that the hour for serving Thee is always present." The future is always an unknown quantity. We never know what may come our way.
In the midst of all this uncertainty, the Christian faith makes a strange kind of sense. It is exactly for this fragile, precarious, and uncertain life, that God gives a message of assurance. He seems to know just what we need.
Into our unpredictable existence, he offers a word of assurance. In the fourteenth chapter of Saint John, Jesus says, "Do not be worried and upset." I can't help thinking of K_ there in your home. How many times has she said that to you? "Don't be worried and upset." It may have been a time when, as a child, one of you was sick. It may have been a time when things weren't going well for you. It may have been a time of a minor crisis in your life, when she intuitively told you, "This, too, will pass. Don't be so worried."
It is Jesus who said these words. He said them for the benefit of all of us who are often worried and upset. He said them for people like us who slam doors when we're angry, and who let the rest of the world know how we feel with words or with body language.
For our uncertainty, Jesus also offers a word of hope. He said, "In my Father's house are many rooms. I'm going to prepare a place for you." He's talking about our ultimate destination - heaven.
Every mother can identify with Jesus' reference to getting a place ready. When a baby is on the way, you spend a lot of time getting things ready. You begin to gather those baby things - a crib, a bassinet, baby clothing, diapers; and you start to sort out the shower gifts. You get it all ready so it's there when it's needed.
Sometimes you have to "take the place with you." Those of you with small children know what it's like when you go somewhere with the baby. You load up the car, and the whole back seat is filled with baby things - just for a short visit! All of this is part of preparing a place. You want your baby to have a place to rest and be comfortable among familiar things.
Mothers make things ready more than anyone else. You know how it is when a teenager comes home from a week at camp or a several-days' visit. Mom greets you as you come in the door, saying, "Your room is ready, and as soon as you wash up, come on down and have something to eat; supper is just about ready." Those things make me think of Jesus' words, "I go to prepare a place for you."
Someone said that K_ recently planted flowers in the bed by the house. This summer, when you see those flowers, it will be a symbol of something beautiful that she has left with you.
When Jesus talks about preparing a place, he is talking about heaven. He is saying that this place on earth is not ours forever. We are here only for a while. The place he speaks of is a place where there shall be no more pain, no more crying, no more sorrow, no more funeral homes or hospitals, for all of those things will have passed away.
We get used to this home and often take it for granted. Often we assume that we have all the time in the world, but that's not true. You and I are called to be ready ourselves - ready to go and to be with the Lord. Sometimes we have the chance to get ready, as with a terminal illness; but at other times, there is no advance notice.
The important thing is that there is a place; and, if Jesus has prepared it, you can be sure that it will be beautiful and furnished with all that is needed. K_ is there. She is with the Lord. She and you have shared that same faith, the faith that says we are citizens of heaven. That is the one reason why a Christian funeral is different! There is hope! There is comfort. There is faith. There is a heaven! There will be a reunion.
For our questions, Jesus offers a word of promise. He tells us how to get to the place he has prepared. Thomas the disciple asked about it. This is the same man who wanted to see proof that Jesus had been raised from the dead. Jesus made it plain. He said, "I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life; no one else can make that kind of a promise. He invites you and me to trust him completely.
Today we thank God for K_ and her faith. We give thanks for all that she has meant to this family, to her husband and her children. She has been a support on the farm, doing chores, feeding the animals, mowing the yard, running errands. Those things don't get your name in Who's Who, but you who have lived with her know who she is and what she has done.
Do not be worried and upset ... there are many rooms in my Father's house, and Jam going to prepare a place for you.
May God uphold and hold you in his hand.
