Here is the funeral sermon I preached for a 95-year-old member. Pr Bell
------------------------------------ +In Nomine Iesu+ Funeral of THOMAS DUTCH ABELE 4 December 2010 It was Shirley Schultz who called me Tuesday morning to tell me Dutch had died. Youll recall that weather-wise Tuesday wasnt a nice day. Driving up that day took awhile, and I had lots time to think. <> A number of thinks came to mind. First, I remembered the last time I spoke to Dutch. It was after church last Sunday. Nothing unusual there, and thats the point. Dutch was in church almost every Sunday. It was rare that he missed. It struck me that here was an instance where someone had been in church one Sunday, and by the next his funeral would have been held. How quickly things change. How fleeting life is. As our processional hymn put it, A failing breath, and I in deaths strong grasp may lie. But at the same time, how merciful God is. He bears with us. All of life is given us so we can prepare to die. And never are we left to do this preparing on our own. God gives us His Church to point the way. <> That caused me to think of something else. The Lutheran Church is liturgical. In other words, there is a framework within which our weekly worship takes place. Certain things are repeated Sunday after Sunday. And the result? Words, phrases indeed, whole chunks of language sink into our memory. Without our even thinking about it we develop a reservoir of truth from which to draw upon in times of trouble times of grief. We are being prepared. For instance, each Sunday, together, we confess our sins. You who are Lutherans will recognize the words. . . . we poor sinners confess unto Thee that we are by nature sinful and unclean . . . Sometimes the words get even more pointed more personal: I, a poor, miserable sinner, confess unto Thee all my sins and iniquities with which I have ever offended Thee and justly deserve Thy temporal and eternal punishment. And then, as soon as we have confessed who we are, we always hear Gods response. The voice is that of the pastor, but the declaration is Gods. I forgive you all your sins. Week after week we speak the truth to God. We are sinners. And week after week God speaks His truth to us we are forgiven. <> Then as forgiven sinners we confess the faith into which we have been baptized and in which we live. Using the words of either the Apostles or Nicene Creed we confess the truth about God. And in this we simply continue doing what the Church has done for at least 1700 years. <> Then it occurred to me I wonder how many times Dutch made that confession of faith. Dozens? No. Hundreds. Indeed, many hundreds of times he joined his voice to those surrounding him and confessed what he believed. If you would, please, turn to page 22 in the hymnal. There you will find the Nicene Creed. This creed is unique as is the Apostles Creed. It is not only a statement of faith it is also a statement of fact. The Creed states the truth about God. As St Augustine once said, The Bible is the evidence, the Creed is the verdict. And the truth that the Creed confesses is summed up in two small, little words. I will begin reading, (you can follow along) and when I get to those two little words I will stop. <> I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of His Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God, Begotten, not made, Being of one substance with the Father, By whom all things were made; Who for us . . . There they are. Two little words. For us. Everything that God does is for us. And, as I teach my catechumens, if God is for us that must mean He is for me. It becomes very personal. God acts for me. And so it is for each of you. God acts for you. God acted for Dutch. Whether we talk about creation in the first article of the Creed, or the work of Jesus in His crucifixion and resurrection the second article , or the work of the Holy Spirit in the creation of the Church through which the Gospel comes to us in preaching, in the water of Holy Baptism, in bread and wine of the Holy Supper and by that Gospel brings forgiveness, resurrection and life everlasting all of Gods activity is pro nobis for me. <> Even the Benediction that ends our Divine Service week after week echoes this. What do you hear? The Lord bless thee and keep thee. The Lord make His face shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up His countenance upon thee and give thee peace. The countenance of God. Thats His attention His awareness. When you speak to God confessing your sins, confessing the faith, praying that you be kept in His mercy in all of these God turns His entire attention toward you. It is as if no one else in the entire world were speaking at that moment. Gods total concentration is on you. Thats what the for us of the creed means. And, by the way, in case we missed it the first time the Creed repeats itself. Later on in the Second Article we read, And was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary and was made man; And was crucified, also, for us . . <> Crucified for us. The incarnation of God in human flesh Christmas finds its purpose, its completion on Good Friday and Easter. The birth of Jesus is explained by His crucifixion and resurrection. From beginning to end, the entire work of Jesus is for us. <> But why did Jesus have to be crucified for us? Because we are sinners. I am. Dutch was. Each of you are. Deny that and you have denied any need for Jesus you have set Jesus aside. You see, you carry in your veins the blood of Adam and Eve. They disobeyed God, remember? You have inherited that disobedience. And, not only have you inherited their disobedience, you have added to it. And what did Adam and Eve do after they disobeyed God? They hid from Him. Their sin caused them to fear God. So it is with us. Our sin causes us to fear God. We hide. Most commonly we try to hide within ourselves. We hide by making ourselves into our own god. We take to ourselves the right to decide all things. What we will do. And say. How we will act. Determining whats best for us. Really, we become the objects of our worship. We place ourselves first ahead of everything and everybody. But, truthfully, the only thing we are capable of by ourselves is sinning. Remember, Jesus says that whatever is done apart from faith in Him is sin. <> So, whats the solution? Surely not to wait until we sinners can figure things out. Wait until we can figure out how to come to God. That will never happen. It didnt happen in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve didnt come to God. Man has never come to God. Instead, God comes to us. He searched out Adam and Eve in the garden. Just so He searches us out. As He created Adam and Eve out of nothing, so He creates our faith out of nothing. That, too, is part of Gods for us. <> In Exodus 20 we find the Ten Commandments. But what people often miss comes just before the commandments. We call it the prologue to the Commandments. God says, I am the Lord, your God. There already far back in the Old Testament is this idea of God for us. Before we have done anything, or said anything, or decided anything before everything else, God has determined to be our God. <> Then comes the First Commandment? Thou shalt have no other gods. In our boastful ignorance we ask Why not. And God responds, Why would you want other gods? I have decided to be your God. Ill care for you. You see whats happening? All over the Bible we find the same thing. We find God for us popping up everywhere. <> In our second reading today we heard how St Paul speaks of this. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by His blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by His life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. <> It sounds rather strange to speak of rejoicing at a funeral, doesnt it? But thats what we can do. We rejoice in the mercy of God. We rejoice that God keeps His people in the one, true faith. We rejoice that God hears our confession of sins and forgives us. We rejoice that God hears our confession of faith and acknowledges us. We rejoice that God turns His face toward us that God is for us. <> You may have noticed that just before this service began Dutchs casket was turned so his body would face the altar. Theres a reason for that. Even though Dutchs earthly body has died he is still a member of the Church. Last Sunday he was among us here in the Church Militant the church on earth. Now he is in the Church Triumphant the Church in eternity. Last Sunday with the rest of us he gazed upon Jesus through a glass darkly as St Paul puts it. Now he beholds his Savior face to face. And yet, whether on earth or in heaven it is one Church. <> It is to the likes of us that God comes. Sinners all. Sinners, yes my friends, but sinners who have been forgiven, redeemed. Forgiven and redeemed by a Savior who is for us. Thanks be to God! Amen +Soli Deo Gloria+ ___________________________________________________________________ 'CAT 41 Sermons & Devotions' consists of works that are, unless otherwise noted, the copyrighted property of the various authors; posting of such gives members of this list implied consent for redistribution _with_attribution_ unless otherwise specified by the author (as long as no charge is made for the work and it is not made part of a compilation), as well as for quoting or use in a congregational setting _with_or_without_attribution_. Note: This list's default reply is to the *poster*, NOT the list. Do *not* reply to the list with your comments, but to the poster. Subscribe? Send ANY note to: [email protected] Unsubscribe? Send ANY note to: [email protected] Archive? <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/> For more information on this or other lists offered by Confess And Teach For Unity, you can contact the CAT 41 list administrator at: Rev. Fr. Eric J. 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