I Bind Unto Myself Today
Preaching
The Life Of Christ And The Death Of A Loved One
Crafting The Funeral Homily
A Funeral Homily For Trinity
Music: I Bind Unto Myself Today
Depart, O Christian soul, out of this world;
In the Name of God the Father Almighty who
created you;
In the Name of Jesus Christ who redeemed you;
In the Name of the Holy Spirit who sanctifies you.
May your rest be this day in peace,
and your dwelling place in the Paradise of God.
(BCP p. 464)
This prayer is most appropriate for today, as we just celebrated on Sunday what is known to Christians as Trinity Sunday. Trinity Sunday puts before us the mystery of the one God in three persons - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
As we gather here to mourn the death of N., this same mystery is held up before us today: the mystery of God the Creator, God the Redeemer, and God the Sanctifier. Let us come, then, once again, in this hour of loss and sadness, in the words of Cecil Frances Alexander, to ''bind unto ourselves today the strong Name of the Trinity, by innovation of the same, the Three in One, and One in Three'' (''I Bind Unto Myself Today,'' The Hymnal 1982, 370).
First, we affirm today God the Creator. As the Psalmist wrote:
For you yourself created my inmost parts;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.
I will thank you because I am marvelously made;
your works are wonderful, and I know it well.
My body was not hidden from you,
while I was being made in secret
and woven in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes beheld my limbs, yet unfinished in the womb;
all of them were written in your book;
they were fashioned day by day,
when as yet there was none of them.
God knew us before time. God was present with us while we were being woven in the depths of the earth, and knit us together in our mother's womb. God loved us before we ever lived one day on this earth. Is this same Creator God present with us after our departure from this earth? How could it be otherwise?
As the Psalmist writes:
Where can I go from your Spirit?
where can I flee from your presence?
If I climb up to heaven, you are there;
if I make the grave my bed, you are there also.
God the Creator who was at work in us before we were born and during our life continues to be at work within us after our death.
We affirm also today God the Redeemer:
I bind this day to me forever, by power of faith,
Christ's incarnation; his baptism in the Jordan River;
his death on the cross for my salvation;
his bursting from the spiced tomb, his riding up
the heavenly way, his coming at the day of doom ...
(The Hymnal 1982, 370)
Do you remember Job, that poor fellow in the Old Testament who lost everything in one fell swoop - wife, family, home, health, and business? As he lay in grief and pain, he was still able to affirm his trust in God the Redeemer.
In chapter 19, Job speaks out in stirring words:
For I know that my Redeemer lives,
and that at the last he will stand upon the earth;
and after my skin has been thus destroyed,
then in my flesh I shall see God ...
Job believed in his redeemer.
In another time of distress, when Lazarus died, Jesus and Lazarus' sister Martha mourned. Jesus said to Martha, ''I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?
Do you believe this? Do you believe in God the Redeemer, Jesus Christ? Have you ever put your faith and trust in his grace and love? If you have not, I invite you to do so today, to bind unto yourself today the power of faith in the one Redeemer, Jesus Christ.
In death, as in life, you will be privileged to turn to Christ, and sing:
Christ be with me, Christ within me, Christ behind me,
Christ before me, Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me.
Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ in quiet,
Christ in danger, Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.
(The Hymnal 1982, 370)
Finally today, we affirm God the Sanctifier, the Holy Spirit who inspires and sustains and sanctifies and comforts us.
In your sorrow and grief, I invite you to look to the Holy Spirit for strength and comfort.
I invite you to bind unto yourself today
The power of God to hold and lead, his eye to watch,
his might to stay, his ear to hearken to [your] need.
(The Hymnal 1982, 370)
God the Holy Spirit is with us to hold and embrace us, to carry us through this time of sadness. The Holy Spirit's eye is watching over us. The Holy Spirit is our source of strength and courage to face this day, and the next day, and the next, and the next. By the energy of the Holy Spirit, we are enabled to go on our way strengthened and without fear.
''His ear to hearken to my need.'' When you have no one to turn to, when you have grief and pain to pour out, turn to the Holy Spirit, whose ear is turned to you.
In death, as in life, we look to the Triune God who creates us, who redeems us, and who sustains us. It is with confidence and faith that we sing together the last verse of Alexander's hymn:
I bind unto myself the Name, the strong Name of the Trinity,
by invocation of the same, the Three in One, and One in Three.
Of whom all nature has creation, eternal Father, Spirit, Word:
praise to the Lord of my salvation, salvation is of Christ the Lord.
(The Hymnal 1982, 370)
Amen.
Music: I Bind Unto Myself Today
Depart, O Christian soul, out of this world;
In the Name of God the Father Almighty who
created you;
In the Name of Jesus Christ who redeemed you;
In the Name of the Holy Spirit who sanctifies you.
May your rest be this day in peace,
and your dwelling place in the Paradise of God.
(BCP p. 464)
This prayer is most appropriate for today, as we just celebrated on Sunday what is known to Christians as Trinity Sunday. Trinity Sunday puts before us the mystery of the one God in three persons - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
As we gather here to mourn the death of N., this same mystery is held up before us today: the mystery of God the Creator, God the Redeemer, and God the Sanctifier. Let us come, then, once again, in this hour of loss and sadness, in the words of Cecil Frances Alexander, to ''bind unto ourselves today the strong Name of the Trinity, by innovation of the same, the Three in One, and One in Three'' (''I Bind Unto Myself Today,'' The Hymnal 1982, 370).
First, we affirm today God the Creator. As the Psalmist wrote:
For you yourself created my inmost parts;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.
I will thank you because I am marvelously made;
your works are wonderful, and I know it well.
My body was not hidden from you,
while I was being made in secret
and woven in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes beheld my limbs, yet unfinished in the womb;
all of them were written in your book;
they were fashioned day by day,
when as yet there was none of them.
God knew us before time. God was present with us while we were being woven in the depths of the earth, and knit us together in our mother's womb. God loved us before we ever lived one day on this earth. Is this same Creator God present with us after our departure from this earth? How could it be otherwise?
As the Psalmist writes:
Where can I go from your Spirit?
where can I flee from your presence?
If I climb up to heaven, you are there;
if I make the grave my bed, you are there also.
God the Creator who was at work in us before we were born and during our life continues to be at work within us after our death.
We affirm also today God the Redeemer:
I bind this day to me forever, by power of faith,
Christ's incarnation; his baptism in the Jordan River;
his death on the cross for my salvation;
his bursting from the spiced tomb, his riding up
the heavenly way, his coming at the day of doom ...
(The Hymnal 1982, 370)
Do you remember Job, that poor fellow in the Old Testament who lost everything in one fell swoop - wife, family, home, health, and business? As he lay in grief and pain, he was still able to affirm his trust in God the Redeemer.
In chapter 19, Job speaks out in stirring words:
For I know that my Redeemer lives,
and that at the last he will stand upon the earth;
and after my skin has been thus destroyed,
then in my flesh I shall see God ...
Job believed in his redeemer.
In another time of distress, when Lazarus died, Jesus and Lazarus' sister Martha mourned. Jesus said to Martha, ''I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?
Do you believe this? Do you believe in God the Redeemer, Jesus Christ? Have you ever put your faith and trust in his grace and love? If you have not, I invite you to do so today, to bind unto yourself today the power of faith in the one Redeemer, Jesus Christ.
In death, as in life, you will be privileged to turn to Christ, and sing:
Christ be with me, Christ within me, Christ behind me,
Christ before me, Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me.
Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ in quiet,
Christ in danger, Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.
(The Hymnal 1982, 370)
Finally today, we affirm God the Sanctifier, the Holy Spirit who inspires and sustains and sanctifies and comforts us.
In your sorrow and grief, I invite you to look to the Holy Spirit for strength and comfort.
I invite you to bind unto yourself today
The power of God to hold and lead, his eye to watch,
his might to stay, his ear to hearken to [your] need.
(The Hymnal 1982, 370)
God the Holy Spirit is with us to hold and embrace us, to carry us through this time of sadness. The Holy Spirit's eye is watching over us. The Holy Spirit is our source of strength and courage to face this day, and the next day, and the next, and the next. By the energy of the Holy Spirit, we are enabled to go on our way strengthened and without fear.
''His ear to hearken to my need.'' When you have no one to turn to, when you have grief and pain to pour out, turn to the Holy Spirit, whose ear is turned to you.
In death, as in life, we look to the Triune God who creates us, who redeems us, and who sustains us. It is with confidence and faith that we sing together the last verse of Alexander's hymn:
I bind unto myself the Name, the strong Name of the Trinity,
by invocation of the same, the Three in One, and One in Three.
Of whom all nature has creation, eternal Father, Spirit, Word:
praise to the Lord of my salvation, salvation is of Christ the Lord.
(The Hymnal 1982, 370)
Amen.
