Rick Gillespie-Mobley
Eulogy 3/25/2013 Adeline Baskerville
God had planned a wonderful gift to be sent into the world on May 19th, 1921 into the arms of Edward Hayden and Estelle Gardener. That precious gift took the form of a beautiful little black girl by the name of Adeline. When she arrived God set back and smiled, because God knew that she would do, what He was sending her to do. And God recently smiled again when Adeline returned home to Him, because the Bible says, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.”
Although the Scriptures tell us that the average of our days would be three score and 10 or four score if by reason of strength which comes out to 70 or 80 years. Sister Baskerville received more years in which to be a blessing to others than most of us are going to receive. The scriptures teach us to number our days that we might gain a heart of wisdom. If we number her days, we find that God gave her just over 33,300 days to carry out His plan for her life. That was all she needed to get the job done.
Death first appeared in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve disobeyed God. It was a frightening concept to them and has been for most of humankind ever since. Most people are afraid of dying, because they wonder what’s going to happen next. There is life after death, because Jesus died and God raised him from the dead. In so doing Jesus conquered death and prepared a place for all those who know him as Lord and Savior of their lives.
When Sister Baskerville died, she was not afraid of what was going to happen. She was even ready for it to happen, because she had a promise from Jesus. He told her and he tells us all, John 14:1-3 (NIV) 1 "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. 2 In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
It’s good to do a homegoing service in which know where the person is. Sister Baskerville stepped out of the hospital, put her in hand in Jesus’s hand and she will continue on with the life she found when she gave her heart to Christ. That made her death precious in the sight of the Lord.
What was it about her life that moved the heart of God? What was it about her, that made her God’s gift to us and to the world.
She was more than a daughter, more than a wife, more than a mother, more than a relative, more than a good friend, and more than a strong independent Black woman who said what she meant and meant what she said. Brothers and sisters I submit to you this day, that Adeline Baskerville was a servant and a child of the Most High God and a follower of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The actual date of Adeline Baskerville death is probably not written down in a record book that we can easily get our hands on, you see the date on the obituary refers to the date her body ceased to function. The real Edna, the part that lives forever, died a long time ago, when she heard of the call of Jesus Christ upon her life. We do know she made a commitment to serve Christ because she confessed Christ when she became a member of Calvary but her kids said as long as they remember, their mother was sharing with them about living for the Lord.
For she once again heard the call of Jesus saying, Jesus said, , "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a person if he or she gains the whole world, yet forfeits his or her soul? Or what can a person give in exchange for his or her soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he or she has done.
Often times, when you look back over a person’s life you can see a theme of one of the principles of God’s word running through it. When I think of Sister Baskerville in meeting with some of her children, the dominant verse which theme which came up again and again came from a description of Jesus when the bible says of Jesus, he was moved with compassion.
Sister Baskerville lived a life which said, “it’s not all about me, but rather about helping someone else to make it through life’s journey.” One thread that wove its way through her life was her spirit of giving and generosity. She did not always have much, but she always had a big heart ready to share what she had.
Her children testified that they did not have much themselves, and the table was not overflowing with food, but if somebody came home with you, she was going to extend an invitation for them to eat with the family.
She had such a compassion to help others, that sometimes people took advanatage of it. She and her kids were already living in their 4 rooms, when a friend asked if Sister Baskerville would watch her kids for a weekend. Even though the lady had five kids, Sister Baskerville said yes. Little did she know that, the lady would not show back up for three weeks to get her children. But not even that experience, caused her to change here desire to give and to be a blessing to others.
When you have a heart of compassion, you want to do the best you can for God. One day, she must have discovered that passage in the bible that says be fruitful and multiply. She had grown up as on only child in that a brother she had died after 3 days.
She must have been concerned that her parents had not fulfilled God’s request to be fruitful and multiply so she went for it herself and had 8 children. Those 8 have produced ____, who have produced_____. She will not have any problem get a positive check mark on this commandment.
When you have a heart of compassion, you want to do the best you can for those you love the most. She loved her children, and she wanted to prepare them for the world. She realized that just because she was poor didn’t mean she couldn’t give them a headstart in life.
They couldn’t afford a tv, but she saw too it that there were books in the house. They had a family reading time together. They were reading the Knights of the Round Table and other classical literature. What if Parents had that same kind of compassion for their kids today. I bet our kids would not be flunking the reading portions of the school exam. Her kids said that even though they grew up poor, they had the books in their house, to do their school reports right at home.
Here was a black woman who understood a long time ago that giving your children a home education goes a lot further than giving them a pair of $100 tennis shoes.
She gave her kids love in the form of being a provider for them. She was not only concerned about their education, she was concerned spiritually about their souls. Another verse she knew about was Proverbs 13:24 (NIV)
24 He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him. Titus is a living testimony that this compassionate woman knew how to give a whipping when a whipping was deserved.
She loved her daughters and her sons by showing them what it was to be a lady while at the same time being a strong black woman. She carried herself in public in very dignified way. She didn’t sterotype her children. The boys and the girls learned how to cook, how to clean, how to iron and how to behave in public. She drilled into them all the need to have a reputation for being honest and trustworthy.
They respected her and loved her in return. They knew she would be there to help them out, but she was going to give them a sermon along with the help to try to keep them from making the same mistake again and again. She never ran out of sermons to give.
When God creates us in our mother’s womb, God throws in little special talents inside of us that God does not give to everybody else. We don’t know how God will bless others, with our talent. God gave her the ability of doing beautiful handwriting. One day Adeline gave her daughter Joyce a hand written note to take to the store to give to the clerk. The clerk took the note and told Joyce to stand to the side for a minute, and she’d help her if she could read what the note said.
The clerk expected there to be chicken scratch on a note from a black girl and she indicated as much through her actions. Joyce watched her when she opened the note. The lady said, “oh my, who wrote this. This handwriting is beautiful.” Joyce said, “she had never felt so proud in her life as when she could say, my mother did.” Sister Baskerville long forgot that note, but it will always be a moment of inspiration for her daughter.
Sister Baskerville had a desire for knowledge. When she worked out in the homes of Jewish families, she brought back menu’s. Her kids may have been poor, but they learned what Beef Stroganuff tasted like. They knew about Hungarian Ghoulish and how it tasted. She started to make them homebread bread. She knew how to make some great fried pies. She could make the meat kind or the fruit kind.
One of the verses that Sister Baskerville will ask for a possible reduction on is the one about gluttony. Her favorite food, was any hot food. If it was hot, that was good enough. She knew how to make a big plate. Give her good size plate of ribs, and she was one happy woman. If you added on some sweets with it, it was pretty close to being in heaven. I guess with all the sacrifices she made on behalf of others during the early years, she deserved a good time at the table. Her compassion always made her ready to share the food she had with you if you were there.
Sister Baskerville had a compassion for the church. She didn’t just talk about a relationship with Jesus Christ, she tried to put it into practice. She invested herself through the years in different people’s lives. She was a Sunday School teacher. She used her voice to sing in the choir and in the choral group. She was serving in the Women’s Guild.
For us as her last pastors, she was a source of encouragement. She had such a warm and inviting smile. She just looked and acted like the kind of grandmother you’d want to have. She’d tell us keep up the work you’re doing. I’m praying for you all. She had a sense of humor that could make you laugh at church with some simple one liners. She had a favorite seat. It was in the middle section about 5 rows up right on the end.
A lot of us may talk about loving God, but our heart is tied to our money. When we stand before God, we are going to be embarrassed by how we gave so little to the church, and spent so much on our pleasures. Sister Baskerville taught her kids they needed to tithe. She taught through the example of her life.
She faithfully gave her tithe of 10% to the work of the ministry. She knew another verse in the bible which says honor the Lord with the first fruit of your income and He will bless you. She was able to be a blessing to so many because the Lord blessed her because of her willingness to test the Lord’s promise. Calvary has lost a great soldier in the kingdom, but our loss is heaven’s gain.
Adline Baskerville has lived her life in such a way to not only glorify God, but to be ready for the judgment that is surely going to take place. For the bible tells us that everyone us is going to die, and after death comes the judgment. If you were to die today, would you be ready to stand before God in the judgment. If you’re thinking, you know your good out weighs your bad, so you’re good, you are sadly mistaken.
The word of God tells us that none of us will be good enough to stand in the presence of God and be declared okay. Instead it tells us that all of us have disobeyed God and are under a death sentence. Not just the physical death of this body, but the eternal death of being separated from God and being cast into hell.
Now I know hell is not in style today, but that does not make it go away simply because we do not believe in it or talk about it.
The only way we can be put back into a right relationship with God is to accept that God sent Jesus to save us. The core teaching of the bible is this, John 3:16-19 (NIV)
16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.
19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.
All of us are on the road to destruction. God loves us enough to get us to make a turn. Nobody can make that choice for us, but us. Adeline is going to heaven not because her relationship to us as pastors, or to this church, but because of her faith and trust in Jesus Christ.
Did you know that according to Jesus, most people will not go to heaven? Jesus said, Mat 7:13 "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. Entering into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ is the only way to enter that narrow gate.
All you have to do is to admit, "God, I have done a lot of things I should not have done. I realize I cannot pay for all that I have done. I ask you for forgiveness. I accept that when Jesus Christ died on the cross, He being holy and righteous, paid the penalty for my sin. I invite him to come into my life and take control of it."
You will make numerous decisions in your life between your birth and your death. But the only decision that will still be personally affecting you a 1000 years from today, is what did you do with Jesus Christ.
The Bible teaches there will certainly be a resurrection of everybody from the dead, and then comes the judgment of God.
Adeline Baskerville is prepared for that Judgment. Like the Apostle Paul she can say, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day--and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.
For those of us who die without Jesus Christ, Sister Adeline Baskerville will only be a passing memory. For those of us who die in Christ, she’s waiting for us to join her in that great reunion that will certainly take place.
For the word of God teaches, 1 Th 4:13-18 Brothers & Sisters, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words.
