to crawling on a green leaf on a tree in the woods. All it knows of life is limited to that world. But one day, some stirrings within cause the caterpillar to enter a cocoon, and shortly it emerges, transformed into a beautiful, elegant butterfly with wings. It is no longer limited to the territory of the green leaf but can soar above the trees and world around it. Like the caterpillar, death takes us through a process of transformation where we are no longer limited by our earthy existence but enter into a new creation into the heavenly home which God has prepared for us. Death is a birthing from our earthly life into our spiritual existence.
It is a birthing from this life to the spiritual life. There we meet God, our loving Father, who awaits us to give us a new and abundant life that is beyond our imagination. Death is a birthing from this life to the eternal life. Today we affirm our hope and assurance in life everlasting. For us as Christians, death is a birth from this world to the next. May God give us the sense to know that his presence and assurance are with us today and in the weeks ahead.
Eternal Father, bind up the broken hearts today with the balm of your presence. Draw Clarence, Rose, John, and Guy and other family members and friends close to yourself and may they sense your shepherding care and presence in the days ahead. May the memories of the good life with Phyllis and Brandon and the assurance of life everlasting give to each of us in this hour comfort and assurance. Through Christ we pray. Amen.
4: A Homily
for
Lola Harvey
(A Heart Condition)
Easter Season
The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
Job 1:21 (NRSV)
This morning we have gathered to pay tribute to a departed loved one, Lola Harvey. We have gathered to express our grief and to sense the supportive, loving presence of God. We acknowledge our sadness but celebrate the gift of her life. We acknowledge that our grief and pain are real, but we also affirm our faith and hope in life everlasting and in the goodness of God. Job wrote, centuries ago, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21). Let’s see if we can draw some comfort from this text.
The Lord Gave/Gift
All life is a gift. We acknowledge that everything that we have comes to us as a gift from God. God is a loving creator. God has given us life as the most wondrous gift. We pause today to thank God for the years that we have shared with Lola, for the joys, hopes and blessings. We know that she loved life and rejoiced in it. But life is always brief, even at its longest and to see Lola’s candle extinguish so quickly has been difficult.
The Gift of Happiness
Family and friends focus today upon the many years of happiness they shared with Lola. Friends and family spoke about her sense of serenity, peace, and contentment. She was a strong person, but a giving person who was always reaching out to others. She expressed her gift of life through love. She was a loving wife. She and Wilson shared sixty-six years of marriage together. She was not only his wife but soul mate and best friend. There was an absolute trust between them. She was a supportive and a loving wife in the finest sense of that word.
She was also a loving mother. She made her home a place where not only her children felt comfortable and loved but so did their friends. It was a place their friends wanted to come after school and games. She was always there for her family. She took care of them with love and devotion. Her grandchildren were a great delight in her life. She loved them and expressed it in so many ways.
Lola was also a caring person. Those who knew her well always saw her as a tender person, concerned for others and their problems. She was also always doing for others. She was completely unselfish and supportive of all of her family. Her sisters said she had been like a second mother to them. She was a great influence on all of her family. Her sisters said she may have been the smallest in size but she was the biggest in influence.
She welcomed everybody into her home. She was always willing to stretch out her hand and her food at mealtimes to include others. She loved her church and was always there for Sunday School, worship and on Wednesday night. You knew how supportive she was of her church by her faithfulness in attendance. She lived her faith by her action and faithfulness.
In one of Lola’s devotional books she had included a leaflet entitled “Life’s Little Instructions.” Let me read some selections from that which are certainly symbolic of her attitude toward life and which I think greatly influenced her:
“Compliment three people everyday.”
“Watch a sunrise once a year.”
“Treat everyone you meet as you want to be treated.”
“Never waste an opportunity to tell someone you love them.”
“Become the most positive, enthusiastic person you know.”
“Be forgiving of yourself and others.”
“Say thank you a lot.”
“Rekindle old friendships.”
“Be the first to say hello.”
“Make new friends but cherish the old ones.”
“Be there when people need you.”
“Never underestimate the power of love.”
“Start and end each day with a prayer.”
These words are instructive of Lola’s philosophy of life and exemplify her attitude toward others.
We also celebrate the gift today of God’s salvation. Paul says, “Thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift.” One of Lola’s favorite passages was John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.” Today we are sure that Lola shares in this eternal life because of her deep faith in God. In her own very quiet personal way, she committed her hands in absolute faith and trust to God.
The Lord Takes Away/ Grief
The writer of Ecclesiastes reminds us that for everything there is a season, a time to be born and a time to die, a time to laugh and a time to cry. Job knew that, just as God gave the gift of life, so suffering and death were also a part of life. Today we acknowledge that life is filled with seasons that come and go. We are now passing through the season of winter with its coldness, damp rain and freezing weather. We are on the dawning of springtime. We have already seen buds breaking forth on trees, flowers pushing up toward the sun and grass beginning to turn green. The warmth of springtime is upon us. Soon the seasons will move on. There will be the heat of summer and then, later the dazzling colors of fall. Seasons come and change and move on. They are a part of the mystery of life. Birth and death, laughter and pain, joy and grief, are also a part of life
Pain and Suffering
For many of us today there is a sense of shock that this good woman has slipped away so quickly. We acknowledge that we can not understand all of the mystery of life or death. Suffering and death have no easy word. There is not just one right word for such a time as this. Nevertheless, we continue to affirm our faith in the goodness of God even in the face of death. We will rest upon the conviction that God’s love is eternal and strong. God created life out of his love and God sustains life. I do not know why
