Doris Rita Braun
When I serving on staff at a church in Tulsa, I had a mentor in ministry who told story of one of his first funerals. Mac was a pastor in Muskogee, OK, just a year out of seminary and one of the women of the church had died. It had been raining for days and the funeral home had actually told him they didn’t know if they were going to be able to dig the grave and have the internment. But there had been a break in the clouds the day before and they were able to dig the grave. They held the service in the funeral home chapel and then made their way in the rain for the graveside portion of the service. It started to pour and all the family and friends huddled under the tent. The ground was soaked and Mac was standing in puddles. Mac started the graveside service and just as he was saying, ashes to ashes and dust to dust, he felt the ground begin to move. And before he could step back, the side of the grave caved in, taking Mac with him until he found himself with one foot in the grave and one out. And then he said, “I have come to understand that’s how it is with us, we have one foot in life and the other in death.” It is \today that we now find ourselves still in the midst of life but also standing in the midst of death. And it is the midst of death that we as Christians come together seeking the strength of God. In this time of loss, we seek the comfort of Jesus Christ. In this time of pain we grasp for the loving arms of God.
James Doyle tells the story of growing up and as a 5 year old he would pretend to fall asleep during the evening worship service! If I did, I knew my dad would carry me home. I would do this because we walked to and from church. It was about 1 mile each way. Being little wasn’t my problem. The length wasn’t my problem. I enjoyed the walk with my family. However, my older brothers teased me by telling me that at night in one of the fields we’d walk through there was a "boogey man" who would "get me". Now that frightened me! One night I really did fall asleep. Dad picked me up. I woke up right away but continued to pretend to be asleep as he carried me. That night we went right through that frightening field and I was not one bit afraid. I felt the warmth, the strength and the protection of my dad’s arms. To this day, some 50 plus years later, I can still "feel" his arms and "hear" his breathing as I remember his ultimate protection. So, it wasn’t long until I would constantly pretend to fall asleep on the pew knowing I could go through that frightening experience safe in my dad’s arms! And then he writes, “Today, when I talk about death and dying I realize that it, too, can be a frightening experience. But one thing I know for sure, I am always safe in God’s Arms. He made me a promise that when my room was ready, He would come for me and take me there. Even the frightening experience of death’s field is no match for our Father’s secure and strong Arms!” Today God holds us close in his loving arms as we experience both the mystery and fear of death.
That’s why we turn to the cross. As we look at the cross, we are reminded that death has been defeated and today among all days we cling to the hope of the cross. And just as God was with Jesus in the midst his scourging and his last hours of life on the cross, we know his loving arms embrace and comfort us as we face this difficult time. For He knows what it is to lose someone close to him, whom he so loves. He knows what it is to lose a part of himself to the hands of death.
Today, we have come to remember the blessings, memories and lessons of Doris which we will carry with us. We come to give thanks for her life and the blessings she gave to us, for she was an example for us all: a true embodiment of a life focused on giving to others and a life focused on God. In many respects we also come to give thanks to God for the precious years which were given to us by God after Doris had her massive heart attack nine years ago. By all medical accounts, she was living on borrowed time. But as Christians we do not believe in borrowed time. We believe in life as a gift and all the days of our lives as gifts from God. There was still work for Doris to do and God was not quite done with her yet. And we received the lagniappe of that as we got to spend more time with her and receive more blessings from her.
Family came first in everything Doris did, from raising Cheryl and Charlene to giving treats to her grandchildren when they would show up on her doorstep. Her happiest times always centered around those she loved the most, her family. And so what a gift it was to her when she went to live with Ted and Cheryl. I know that I can speak on her behalf when I say thank you Ted and Cheryl for bringing Doris into your home and for the sacrificial love and care you gave to her. Thank you for every one of you who in the last weeks and months of her life came and visited her and shared those precious family moments together. Doris’ family was her life and she loved the opportunities when everyone gathered together. She may not have been the center of the conversation for often times she would just listen in on conversations but she reveled in those moments. They gave life to her spirit and her soul. Those times just added to those moments of joy in her last days.
Doris was also a dedicated wife, who cared for Charles through thick and thin. Every day when he got home from work, she handed him a cup of coffee, let him go have a seat in the living room and decompress from work and then prepared his dinner plate for him. I believe they both knew how blessed they were to have one another. They had 47 wonderful years of marriage together. The time apart the last 14 years were difficult on Doris, especially after spending almost 5 decades together. But the joy now is that they will have an eternity together.
Doris was also a child at heart. When so many of us lose our whistful and playful side of ourselves as we age and mature, Doris kept a part of that and its what made her so special. She loved to get down on the ground and play jacks. She did so as long as she was physically able. She loved to play cards and board games. And don’t even get her started on Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! But it was that playfulness which gave her life and gave life to the others around her.
Lastly, she was a follower of Christ. Married in the Algiers United Methodist Church, she became a member of the St. James United Methodist Church until it closed. Along with 25 other members, she made Gretna United Methodist her spiritual home. It’s hard to leave your church home when it closes and many did not make the switch with her. But she was a Methodist and a follower of Jesus and those two things took precedence. She was faithful in her attendance and in her worship of Jesus and I believe that was part of what allowed her to carry on for so long after Chrles’ passing and after her attack as well. In fact, the last time she was in the hospital, Doris remarked that “she felt Jesus.” He was right there with her and for her. It was her faith and her Savior which made all the difference in the world to her.
And it makes all the difference to us as well. For Jesus is right here with us today too. And if you can attune your heart to him, his presence, his loving and protective arms can be felt around us too. For even in the midst of death we can celebrate new life and give thanks for the life which we hae shared with her. And we have the hope of life with her in the next life.
Dr. W. A Criswell, former Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Dallas Texas, tells a flight where he found himself seated beside a well-known theologian. He desperately wanted to start a conversation and they did get to talk. The man told Dr. Criswell about how he had recently lost his little boy through death. Dr. Criswell listened as he told his story: His son had come home from school with a fever and we thought it was just one of those childhood things, but it was a very virulent form of meningitis. The doctor said we cannot save your little boy. He’ll die. And so this seminary professor, loving his son as he did, sat by the bedside to watch this death vigil. It was the middle of the day and the little boy whose strength was going from him and whose vision and brain was getting clouded said, "Daddy, it’s getting dark isn’t it?" The professor said to his son, "Yes son it is getting dark, very dark." And he said, "Daddy, I guess it’s time for me to go to sleep isn’t it?" He said, "Yes, son, it’s time for you to go to sleep." The professor said the little fellow had a way of fixing his pillow just so, and putting his head on his hands when he slept and he fixed his pillow like that and laid his head on his hands and said, "Good night Daddy. I will see you in the morning." He then closed his eyes in death and stepped over into heaven.Dr. Criswell said the professor didn’t say anymore after that. He just looked out the window of that airplane for the longest time. Then he turned back and he looked at Dr Criswell with the scalding tears coming down his cheeks and said, "Dr. Criswell, I can hardly wait till the morning."
Yes there is also a part of us which can’t wait for the morning, when we will be reunited with Doris. For Doris, the morning has come for Doris. That’s why we can stand in the midst of death and celebrate and give thanks to God. And though we may feel as if it is getting very dark, the light of Christ and the light of the resurrection are breaking in. Let the sure hope of the resurrection, the presence of God’s loving arms, the light of the world, Jesus Christ and the comforting of the Holy Spirit carry us through this day and every day. Amen.
