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.
Now as things would have it, Jack Anderson’s Aunt happened to live next door, and she thought she would introduce the two. Well, the rest is history.
Lucille, she was the all American Mom - bridge club, loved cards, woman’s club to name a few. She was a wonderful neighbor, grandmother, wife, friend.
When I was reading our second Scripture, it came from Rom 12:9-18, when I was reading that passage, who did you think of?
Lucille of course.
You know, in that section, Paul is writing about how a Christian should live their life. Does that describe Lu or what? Now, you know what that means for us here today, it is solid assurance that Lucille was the absolute real thing. She just lived the Christian life, it was her, she was it.
Wasn’t she fun to be around? She loved to cook, and more than that she loved it when everyone was in the kitchen with her. The more the merrier. She love it, cooking the best pancakes, lemon mirange Pie, Swedish meatballs….She loved having folks over, loved to be with people, it was no great effort for her.
During the 64 earthquake the family was at Aleksa for a day of skiing. When the quake hit, some of the kids were already on the road heading back to Anchorage. Since the road was damaged by the quake, they had to turn back to Girdwood, but that took hours. By the time the kids got back to the cabin, Lucille was up to 17 guests and making sure everyone was well fed. For three days she made things happen.
Was she worried about the kids being gone so long? – I’m sure she was – but you’d never know it.
Perhaps it was her faith that held her steady.
Her husband Jack, remember Jack, he was quite active in the community doing this and that, starting the chamber of Commerce, starting the Presbyterian Hospital, Getting Lake Eklutna Reservoir lined up etc. – and he could do all that because Lucille was there behind the scenes enabling him. No Lucille, no Jack.”
Often there was a call, “Lu, Jack here, I have a man I’m going to bring by for dinner….” Lucille, expected that. She was always ready and just set out another setting.
When they came here in 47 – she went to work as a soda Jerk downtown – you know, and all the young guys were in love with her.
Soon Jack come up wit the idea of flying in the Seattle Paper so it would be here by noon. The first day he tried this he sold all his papers within an hour at Fort Rich – Then he took subscriptions, paid in advance – and their business was born soon they had the exclusive distribution rights to all periodicals brought into the state. Hey worked very hard and the Lord Blessed them in a mighty way.
Jack at one time said, “At one point I got involved in so many committees and local organizations that I was spending every evening and all my weekends trying to build up the town. Now, I’ve cut it down to the Chamber of commerce, Lions Club, the Elks, and work for the church.”
You got to love that!
He cut back! That’s great.
I believe we could just say Lucille was married to Jack and she put up with all his business, and that would be enough to prove the strong character of this woman.
She was steady, unflappable.
Next to their house here in Anchorage was the best sledding hill in the neighborhood, so of course all the kids come over to sled. Lucille would keep an eye on the kids making sure there wasn’t any funny business, and when she appeared outside, everyone would straighten up – she might go into sergeant mode, especially if there were any fights. Now she was there so everyone would be able to play and have a good time. What a wonderful woman
But you know, when she was in charge, she was in charge.
She was the disciplinarian in the family. You would mind your P’s and Q’s at the table with her. Dad he only disciplined, reluctantly.
Faith was everything. On a typical Sunday the family might start here at First Presbyterian, then go to a Pentecostal church, maybe a Catholic church. There was a thirst, a hunger for more, for a greater understanding of who God is.
She used to say “takes a bit of living” but “Ask and He will answer”.
And you know what, Lucille was right on target.
Death first came to humanity because of sin in the Garden of Eden, striking fear into Adam and Eve as they hid from the sight of God. To this day we fear death, and our fear is based on the fact that we are powerless against it. Do what we will, death still waits in the shadows. Though we don’t think about it, though we don’t talk about it, though we avoid the subject whenever possible, like our sister Lucille, we will all have to face death someday too. We all fear death, but to God, we read in psalm 116:15, to God, the death of his saints is precious. How can this be? The thing we fear most, God finds precious.
What is precious for God isn’t death, no, God, in the resurrection in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ has conquered death and holds full dominion over death, God hates death; What is precious to God, is the death of his saints. Here in our presence we have the honor of one of the Lord’s saints – our sister, Lucille Anderson. She was, and still is, a servant of the Most High God and Lucille was and still is precious in His sight.
As we look at the death of a believer we see eternal glory, an eternal body, an eternal purpose being fulfilled, an eternal fellowship being entered into -- eternal fulfillment.
Now, this is not legend, this is not myth, and this is not something we tell ourselves so we can sleep well at night. This is reality. We saw Paul tell us in our passage from Thessalonians that we are not to be ignorant, like those who have no hope – those who see this as the end…..and we are not ignorant.
Lucille Phyllis Anderson,
child of the covenant,
beloved sister in the Lord,
Miss you, we will without a doubt.
Long for your love and understanding – everyday without exception.
Mourn our loss, deeply and for the rest of our lives.
Confident that we will be with you again, never a hesitation;
For our hope is in nothing less than Jesus Christ, and He is risen and alive indeed.
