Dick Rowe, November 20, 2008
Grace be unto you and peace, from God our Father and from our Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Let us pray: Dear Heavenly Father, through your Holy Spirit, open our hearts and minds to your Word, granting us a renewed and strengthened faith, that we might find comfort in your grace, and hope for the future. Enable us to trust in your gift of eternal life, accomplished for us through our baptism into the death and resurrection of your Son, Jesus the Christ, so that we might live our lives in the confidence of being reunited with all your redeemed saints in the life to come. This we ask in Christ’s holy name. Amen.
Let me begin my meditation by expressing to you, Dick’s family and friends, not only my own personal sympathy, but also the sympathy of our congregation. Although Dick was not a member of St. John’s, he did worship with us on a few occasions, and was known and well liked by many of our members. And so we share in your grief, and lift you in our prayers and concern, that God’s grace might bring you his peace.
I can’t tell you the shock that Josie and I felt Sunday afternoon, when Janet called to inform us of Dick’s death. While taking to Janet, Josie came over to where I was sitting and put her hand on my shoulder. I looked up at her and saw the look of unbelief in her eyes, as she struggled to keep her composure, and I knew that something terrible had happened. And when she hung up and told me about Dick’s death, we were both just numb, trying to absorb the reality of what we had just heard. And I’m sure that each of us here this morning are still feeling a little numb, trying to process the fact that Dick has so tragically died.
I came to know Dick through my association with the Reynolds VFW. Shortly after joining the Vets, I came in and took a seat next to Dick. Before my beer was on the bar, he turned to me and said, “Hi! I haven’t seen you before. I’m Dick Rowe. How are things going for you today?” I remember replying to him, “Hi! I’m Ron, and I’m doing just fine. How about yourself?”
We then entered into one of the most pleasant conversations, as I quickly discovered that Dick was a person who truly cared about people. And during our conversation Dick said to me, “Ron, now I don’t know if you know this, but I work up at Rowe’s Auto Parts, what do you do?” When I told him that I was the pastor of St. John’s Lutheran Church, he put his elbow on the bar, and rested his head on his hand, and said “Really! Now you’re my kind of pastor. I’ve never known a preacher who would sit at the bar and have a few beers.”
Of course, over the years, as the people at the Vets came to know me, I developed a few nicknames, as a result of my profession. I’ve gotten used to answering to “Hey Rev,” or “Hey Preach,” or even “Hey Amen.” But Dick had a special nickname for me. He called me “Captain Ron.” I once asked him what he meant by that, and he said, “Some things just need to remain a secret.” And a secret it remains, even though I have always taken it as a term of endearment. Dick was too nice a person to have meant anything derogatory by his greeting.
And over the years, there have been times when I have asked him some questions about what I have needed to do to fix my vehicles. Dick even worked on my wife’s car, when she had an accident a couple of years ago on the way to work. But Dick also returned the favor. He would often ask me questions about theology and talk to me about his faith. Even though Dick may not have attended worship on a regular basis, he still was a person of faith, and truly believed in God and the redemption that we receive through Christ’s death and resurrection.
That is really why I am here this morning. I’m here to proclaim the Good News of our faith in Christ’s death and resurrection, a faith that Dick held to be true. And if I might, I would like to begin b sharing with you something that I have learned from my jet-set daughter. My daughter Amy, has lived and worked in many countries. She has lived in Maui, in Poland, in Switzerland, in Kenya, and currently, she and her husband are living and teaching in the international school system in Tokyo, Japan.
Needless to say, I don’t get to see my daughter, her husband and my two grandchildren very often. However, I do cherish the moments that we are able to get together, for they share with me many of the insights that they have learned from the cultures in which they have lived.
There is much that we can learn from our neighbors in other countries. One is how we relate our faith to the issue of life and death. For instance, when one of our loved ones dies, we, in this country, normally say something like, She has departed,” or He has left us.” And as a result, we tend to focus on the loss that we feel, because the person whom we love is no longer with us.
But Christians in Africa take the opposite approach. When they talk about the death of a loved one, they say, “She has arrived,” or He has reached his destination.” What a beautiful expression of the Gospel! For a person who is baptized into Christ’s death and resurrection, their death is not the end of life, but the beginning of a new and much more glorious life than they have ever experienced here on earth.
To be sure, there is grief felt by us today. There is a natural feeling of sadness and loss that Dick’s presence is no longer here among us. But in the midst of our sadness, God enables us to shed tears of joy. Joy in the sure and certain hope of being reunited with Dick in the very presence of our God, through his forgiving and redeeming love, poured out for us in Christ’s death and resurrection.
Think about the opposite message we hear, between our saying “Dick has left us,” and “Dick has arrived.” And then think about the promise that Jesus made to his disciples, just before his own death. According to our Gospel lesson, Jesus said, “In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you. And when I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and take you to myself, that where I am, you may be also.
To be in the presence of the risen Christ is the destination of every person who has ever been baptized into Christ’s death and resurrection. It is the promise of the Christian faith, a faith that Dick confided in me to hold dear. And as a result, God has fulfilled his promise, made to Dick at his baptism, as recorded by St. Paul’s words to the Roman, with which we began our service.
Listen again to what Paul writes: “When we were baptized in Christ Jesus, we were baptized into his death. We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live a new life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.”
According to the Gospel, and the faith of the Christian Church, Dick has arrived at the destination of his baptismal faith, a faith that he has confessed to me on various occasions. And personally, I really like this idea of celebrating Dick’s arrival, rather than his departure. For it is what the Gospel of Christ’s death and resurrection promises to all who come to faith in him. Thus, we may well be doing the opposite of what we think we are doing here this morning. Although we temporarily might be saying our goodbye to Dick, we are also celebrating his presence with our risen Lord, in the kingdom of God.
And speaking of opposites, listen again to what Paul writes in our second lesson. “What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. What is sown in dishonor, is raised in glory. What is sown in weakness, is raised in power. What is sown a physical body, is raised a spiritual body.”
The first word in each of these four sets of opposites, is reflective of the grief we are experiencing at this moment, as we entrust Dick into God’s loving care. It is a reminder of our finite life here on this earth.
But the second word in each of these four sets of opposites describes what we are not able to see at this moment. These words describe the work of God to bring to fruition, to bring to reality what was promised to Dick at his baptism – his arrival at the destination of his faith.
May we take these words to heart. “What is sown is perishable, what is raised in imperishable.” This says to me that although Dick was born a finite person here on earth, a child of mortal parents as we all are, yet because of his baptism and faith in Jesus the Christ, he still lives on. More than this, it says that the life he now has in the presence of Christ, will never be taken from him.
Secondly, Paul tells us that, “What is sown in dishonor, is raised in glory.” Does this not describe the relationship that we each have with God? Even though we sin, not live according to God’s will for our lives, and leave this earth as less than a perfect person, through God’s gracious forgiveness in Jesus the Christ, we stand before God as his redeemed saints. No one is perfect, not even Dick, yet through our baptism and faith in Christ’s death and resurrection, we are able to stand before God as his children, whom he loves.
Thirdly, Paul tells us, “What is sown in weakness will be raised in power.” For whatever reason, and who among us really cares, Dick was not able to totally free himself from truck and reach safety. And his weakness took his life. But Paul’s message is that as a result of his faith, Dick has overcome all human weakness, and through the power of God, has been restored to wholeness and strength.
And finally, Paul tells us that “What is sown a physical body, is raised a spiritual body.” In all honesty, this set of opposites is hard to describe. All we know in this life is our physical being. We know the senses of physical life: we touch, we feel, we see, we taste, we hear. And when we cease to view life from these functions, we cease to live life as we have come to know it. Nevertheless, I trust in God’s promise of redemption, and St. Paul’s insight, that what we consider to be important here on earth, will be surpassed, not limited, in the life to come.
So, in conclusion, let me say that what we believe we are doing here today, may well be the opposite of what we think we are doing. Instead of mourning the end of Dick’s life, we are celebrating his arrival at a new and more glorious life, due solely to the tremendous grace of God, in Jesus the Christ.
Amen.
