Funeral Message

1Th. 4:13-18

Rom 12:9-18

Let us not be ignorant…so St. Paul informs us, let us not be like the rest of men who have no hope.

No hope. Darkness, emptiness, zero.

No hope. Fear. Anxiety. Apprehension.

Is there anything more than what I can see and touch?

Is this all there is?

Most people, they push it aside, they let it remain in the background of life. And they remain ignorant, and ultimately, they hold a deep sense of trepidation inside.

Never knowing; never being sure; never….

But we, we who are Christians are not ignorant in the death of our sister Lucille. We are not ignorant because we do not look at what is temporal. We do not look at what can be obviously seen - Age slowly creeping up upon each one of us and the end of a life.

See, the reason we don’t lose heart is because we’re really looking past the physical, we are looking past the psychological.

We are looking to the spiritual. Now the spiritual isn’t this unknowable mystery, something we can’t place our finger on, no that’s nonsense; We see the spiritual – through the person of Jesus Christ – Who as a historical fact, lived, died and rose again from the dead.

Sometimes people -- they think that when you die, that’s the end of any meaning in your life; They think that you’ve got to cram this temporal life with everything you can, because that is all there is.

That is a fairly typical perspective, isn’t it?

We know better than that.

We know that through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we who have given our life over to Jesus Christ will live – period. For us there is life, for Jesus Christ has conquered death.

Now that may seem like an unusual statement to make at a time like this, but in reality it is not – it is quite a natural statement to make. You know, we are spiritual beings, destined for spiritual things. Who I am, who you are, is much more than what we see when we look in the mirror. God tells us that He knows us in the womb – when you were a single cell – God knew you!

See we have one continuous life, the here and now, and then, the hereafter, in the presence of the Lord. All who we are, all that we have done, all we have experienced – we take with us. We don’t leave it behind. It is not one life here and everything starts over. Who you are, is who you are, and who you will continue to be…And who Lu was, she still is, and will continue to be….and let me reassure you, when the time comes, it will be no mystery who Lucille is.

Lucille is a believer, and we can be confident that as we all gather here – she is with the Lord.

We are all here because of our love for Lucille – the wonderful lady that she is. But if you have come her today to say your last goodbyes, you have come to the wrong place, you have come to the wrong person. Lucille, as Jesus lives, she lives also. So today, we come not for a final parting, no, today we come to celebrate a life well lived among us, and firm knowledge of the hope of assurance that, yes, we will be with Lucille again.

Born in Starbuck Minnesota, Lucille enjoyed growing up on the family farm, thinking life would always be the same, that life would never change, like all little girls do. But change it did. Lucille lost mother at age ten and when her father remarried the new wife announced that the oldest five had to go.

Perhaps it was a cold heart that sent Lucile away, but the Lord Jesus is gracious and she was sent to live in Arlington Washington with the Rod family. They were a wonderful family, very devote Christians and Lucille quickly became a part of the family.

You know I wonder, it had to be incredibly difficult to leave home at age ten, but you have to wonder, was she spared a much more difficult life by leaving home? Would have staying at home with the new wife been such a curse on her life that she would have never overcome the difficulties?

Upon graduation from High School Lucille joined the Marines and stayed in until the war was over. She rose to the rank of sergeant working in San Francisco at the Presidio and working for the general that oversaw the Japanese interment camps.

After the war, this beautiful blonde sergeant came back home to the Rods home. This Marine sergeant promptly singed up for beauty school - I guess the opposite of the Marines – She never worked professionally with it, but everyone in the family experienced her beauty education.