I had my car repaired not long ago. It took about as long to check out at the cashier’s desk as it did for the mechanics to do the work, because at the desk I had to sign several forms, initial a couple of others, present my credit card and sign the charge slip, and then wait for the clerk to retrieve the keys that were hanging on the wall. Lots of procedures to take care of; when it was over, she said, "I think you are finally ‘good to go.’"
I’m hearing that phrase more and more these days: "Good to go". In an era when doing business involves standing in lines and filling out forms and signing documents and retrieving the items you came for, you are never sure you are actually finished until someone says, "Good to go." It’s a phrase that tells us we have done what we need to do and can finally be on our way.
For followers of Christ who come to the end of their days, that phrase has a special meaning. When the labors of life are over; when our bodies need rest and our spirits need repair; when the physicians have finished and the hospitals cannot help us – how fine it would be to hear, deep in our souls, "Good to go." Brother, sister, you have done well; you have finished your work; you have done all that is required. You are good to go.
Good to go, with the emphasis on "go." Alberta Faulkner was just about the goingest person I know. The obituary tells you a little bit about that – all fifty states and sixteen countries. But there is no list of all the church meetings, the expeditions, the Scout camping trips, the missions gatherings, the band sponsorship journeys, and all the rest of it. Alberta Faulkner knew what it was to go, go, go, and never apparently to be tired.
But make no mistake. It was not just about going for the sake of going; it had a meaning. It was not just about moving around restlessly; for Alberta, the travel had significance. It was about who she was; it was about what mattered to her; it was about mission, God’s mission.
I began my work at Takoma Park Baptist Church in the summer of 1984, serving as interim pastor while I was on the staff of the D. C. Baptist Convention. One of my colleagues at the Convention was Gloria Grogan, who said to me, "You’re going to Takoma Park. You must meet the Faulkners. Robert and Alberta, they are such good Christians." So I came to preach at Takoma Park, but met no Faulkners. I led some midweek prayer meetings at Takoma Park, but found no Faulkners. I attended a deacons’ meeting, and no one there was named Faulkner. Nowhere to be found; so back at the office I said to Gloria, "I’m afraid these folks are not such good Christians as you think they are. They have not been to anything at the church for several weeks. I have still not met them." How chagrined I was when I found out why: Alberta and Robert had given away their entire summer to serve as volunteer staff members at the American Baptist Assembly in Greek Lake, Wisconsin! I had defined "good Christian" as someone who stays at home and comes to church every time the doors open; Alberta and Bob had discovered that good Christians do not come. They go. They go where they are needed. They go on mission. They are good to go.
And so I think of the Great Commission as Alberta Faulkner’s life theme. I understand Alberta’s life as a fulfillment of what our Lord said to us in His last moments on earth. I know of no one who has heard His word more clearly and has endeavored to follow it more closely than Alberta Perry Faulkner.
I
The first word in the Great Commission is "go." "Go," says the Lord. But it is not just a touristy "go," it is not just a gadabout "go." "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations …" Making disciples of all nations was Alberta Faulkner’s abiding passion. Alberta would go to Baptist Women’s Council meetings, she would go to Baptist World Alliance conferences, she would go to American Baptist gatherings – in fact, she served on the American Baptist General Board, which is concerned with sponsoring missions work. Wherever it was she needed to go for the cause of making disciples of all nations, Alberta would go.
And, more than that, Alberta would take you along with her if you would let her. How many of the ladies of Takoma Park Baptist Church found themselves in meetings of something called "Church Women United" because Alberta Faulkner got them to go? For that matter, how many of the men of that church found themselves in meetings of D. C. Baptist Women? Because, for Alberta, it did not matter whether you were male or female, old or young, black or white, Baptist or something else – what mattered was that you learned about missions, participated in missions, gave to missions.
I venture to say that her persuasions raised more money for missions out of Takoma Park church than all the missions sermons I ever preached or all the guest missionaries we ever brought. Dr. Trice, here is a suggestion: that you all forget about raising missions money under the names of Lottie Moon and Annie Armstrong and other worthy ladies; call it the Alberta Faulkner offering, and you will raise more missions money for the Master than you might think possible!
Alberta was good to go; to go anywhere, any time, for the cause of Christ, especially if it had to do with missions. "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations …" Alberta did go for that purpose, and Takoma Park church is all the better for her going.
II
But notice also that the Great Commission has another component. It is not just about going, not just about being on the move, even for making disciples of all nations. When you get where you are going, what are you to do? What is the task to be performed when you go?
"Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you." You go and you teach. You go to all nations, all peoples, and you teach them to obey and follow the ways of Christ.
Alberta was always teaching somebody something. She started with the toddlers up in that corner nursery room on the second floor. She used her skills as a nurse to check on their health, but also to teach them simple rules of hygiene. And then she taught them, by her sheer warmth and her embrace, what it is to be a child of God. No, you may not be able to teach little ones many theological concepts, but you surely can make them feel safe and loved, and you can teach them to love their church. I would be in my office between Sunday School and worship, getting myself together for the service, and in would come Alberta Faulkner, pulling along a string of children, hand in hand in hand, to say "Hi" to the pastor. She taught them, at that tender age, to "obey what [the Lord had] commanded …"
She taught young boys. She and Robert gave themselves to Scouting, and Alberta particularly devoted herself to the Cub Scouts, the younger ones. Only heaven knows how many scraped knees and runny noses she treated; and only heaven knows how many life lessons she taught those boys. Those February Scout Sundays became memorable occasions, because Alberta donned her uniform and taught those boys to read the Scriptures and carry the flags and share their stories. She taught them to "obey what [the Lord had] commanded …"
She taught senior citizens too. Never mind that she was also a senior citizen; she always thought of those older than she as those whom she should protect and encourage. That Friday Fellowship crowd … well, you will understand me if I tell you that Alberta ran that thing. She decided what events they should attend; she got them to the Arboretum or the Cherry Blossom Festival. I never knew when the church building would start filling up with senior citizens, getting ready to go to something educational cooked up by Alberta Faulkner. "Teaching them to obey what [the Lord] had commanded …"
In fact, so passionate was she about her seniors that I just have to tell you about one instance that really got to me. It was Holy Week, just like this very week. We had had a moving Maundy Thursday service, and I had done my best to keep it as solemn as possible, profoundly spiritual. We finished the evening in candlelight, and the idea was that we were to exit in silence, contemplating the Lord’s betrayal and the suffering that was to come. But just as I was about to pronounce the final benediction, Alberta jumped up, took over the microphone, and cheerfully announced, "Friday Fellowship, don’t forget, tomorrow we’re going to go see the cherry blossoms!" I could have died; my dramatic atmosphere was destroyed, and I grumbled about it for a while. But in the end, I realized that it was nothing more than Alberta’s exuberant commitment to her seniors – their education, their recreation, and their fellowship. I had to forgive her, because Alberta was always, you see, "good to go." Good to go in the interest of teaching others to know and to follow Christ.
III
Today we have come to say our fond farewells to Alberta, and to understand her life and its message. Today we have come to remember a woman who was always "good to go." But let us remember that it was not just about going, even going for missions; and it was not just about teaching others, whether toddlers or Scouts or women or seniors. It was about much more than that. To be "good to go" meant that Alberta knew a Lord who would be with her to the end. To be "good to go" meant that Alberta understood profoundly the forgiving, redeeming power of Christ.
Do you remember the final promise of the Lord as spoken in this Great Commission? "And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age." Nothing else explains Alberta’s life commitments; nothing else interprets more fully this grand woman – she had experienced Christ. She knew Christ. Not ideas, not concepts, but Christ. Not churchmanship, not missions boards, not groups or organizations, but Christ Himself. Nothing else but a relationship with Him would explain the power of her resolve; nothing else but the staying power of the presence of Christ can tell us why and how she could go and go and go.
For in the end, brothers and sisters, to be "good to go" is not about how many miles you travel or how many meetings you attend. To be good to go is not about how many lessons you have taught or how many lives you have influenced. All these things are fine; but to be “good to go” is to have a profound confidence born out of knowing Christ and out of understanding that you are His and He is yours, forever. "I am with you always, to the end of the age."
When they repaired my car, before I was told I was "good to go" I had to sign on the dotted line, I had to pay the bill, and I had to retrieve my keys. But when it is time to repair our souls, God says that the bill has been paid by the blood of Christ and that the very keys to the Kingdom belong to us! Thank you, Alberta, for reminding us of God’s all-embracing love; thank you for showing us what it is to be "good to go."
Go, then, dear friend; for Jesus paid it all. You are ready; you are, "good to go."
