Eulogy For Eleanor Carter Reese
Psalms 139:13-139:16
There are some people in the Bible who we know instantly at the sound of their name. Names like Moses, Esther, Peter, Mary and Paul. Yet there are people whose names we don’t know yet their actions changed history, the little girl who told Namaan the great Syrian General how to be healed, the little boy who shared his lunch with the disciples so that Jesus could feed 5,000, or the woman who used her hair to wash Jesus’ feet with her tears and her perfume so that Jesus could teach us the heart of forgiveness.
Though we do not know their names, their actions are emblazoned in the Christian hall of fame.
God creates some people who are to become well known in the world, and God creates some people who to be very special in the world. Now some would say it is better to be well known than to be special, but I think when we come to the end of our days, we’re not looking back to see how well known we were, but rather were we special in the lives of others.
When death is staring at us in the face, we do not usually take great pride in our degree from Harvard or Yale or in our position as executive vice president, nearly as much as we do from a child saying I love so much because of all that you did for me and I’m going to miss you, or from a person coming in and saying, when I was hungry, it was you that saw to it that I got a meal and for that I am grateful.
Eleanor Carter Reese was not created by God to be somebody well known whose name would cover the country and the globe at large, but I cannot think of anyone else who has been more special in the way that she has touched the lives of others.
There is wonderful woman known as the Proverbs 31 woman in the Scriptures. I have never chosen that passage of Scripture for a funeral, but as I reflect upon it, I believe here is a description of Eleanor’s life right there in the bible. A committed, hardworking, industrious, strategic thinking woman who put the needs of her family and others ahead of her own.
We sometimes forget, that no matter who we are, what we have done, or who we have become, we all started out in the hands of God.
For the Scripture tells us in Psalm 139:13-16
[13] For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. [14] I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. [15] My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, [16] your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
God knew that Eleanor was going to be special from the moment she entered the world on August, 20th 1936, because He intended for her to be special. While knitting her there in her mom’s womb, God gave her a heart of compassion for the needs of people, He gave her the gift of hospitality to offer to the world, he put in a sense of humor to bring smiles to the lives of others, and the gift of encouragement to fill others with hope.
Eleanor came into this world already bathed in prayer because her grandparents were believers who had founded a church on Cleveland’s west side. They prayed for this little girl that she would know God. God answered their prayers and God had ideas on how He was going to use Eleanor to help build the kingdom of God.
But God also knew that he had ordained a specific number of days for her to live, and that he fully expected her to return to Him. Eleanor knew her days were limited, and she attempted to live her life to its fullest extent.
We on the other hand, simply take it for granted way to often that we will always have each other around, and we fail to appreciate the incredible special people that God places in our lives. We even make the mistake of thinking that we ourselves have an indefinite number of days ahead of us that we can control and determine, but I can tell you with certainty, unless Jesus comes first, we shall all surely die and we will die in times and methods not of our own choosing.
The Scriptures tell us that there is a way that seems right to a person, but at the end of it is death. If we are all living in order that we might some day die, then we should do a reality check to find out if we’re going to be prepared when we get to our final destination.
If we’re living simply for status, money, degrees or fame, keep in mind none of these things go out with us when we leave this world. They may make you feel important, but they won’t make you special. Our money will be left in the bank, our degrees will hang on a wall, our fame will be forgotten, and our status will not impress Jesus who is the ultimate Judge of everything.
When God got ready to use Moses, he asked Moses, “What is that, that you have in your hand.” Moses replied, a staff. Little did he know that staff, would be used to do miracles throughout Egypt and that it would be used to split and close back the red sea. When God asked Eleanor, what do you have in your hand. Eleanor, said, “well Lord I Can Cook”. God said, good let’s use that.
Now some of you are very glad God gave Eleanor the go ahead with that one. You may recall the macaroni and the cheese that you ate. You may envision the spaghetti with the giant meatballs, the cheese potato casserole or perhaps the collards and the corn bread. I am told the supreme desert she made was Caramel Cake. But God knew that Eleanor would combine her gift of cooking, with her heart of compassion and her servant spirit to impact the lives of others. Some have a calling on their lives to sing, to preach, or to dance. Eleanor had a call on her life to cook.
Whereas we may view the holidays of Christmas, Easter and thanksgiving as a time to receive and be blessed, Eleanor saw them as an opportunity to serve others. Each Christmas in honor of God sending His son into the world, you would find her cooking and serving a meal at her own expense at Rose Mary Hall, which was a home for young women who didn’t have a home on Christmas. God loved and God gave, Eleanor loved and she gave. Each Easter in honor of her risen Savior, she rose up early in the morning to prepare breakfast for whoever wanted to come and eat at no charge at Calvary Presbyterian Church.
I have to admit, I wasn’t quite as generous as Eleanor when I say how many people came to eat and then went to another church for service. But Eleanor’s heart was in the joy of being a blessing to feed whoever wanted to come.
Eleanor used that gift of cooking for comforting many a family after a funeral service. She used it for Spring Camp, Summer Camp, Sixty Plus, Women’s Guild, and just about anything else that had something to do with food in our church.
When Eleanor would do catering, she often thought of helping people a little too much by giving them too good of a deal on the price, because at the end she would often say, “I didn’t charge enough for this event.”
Now that was bad news if you happened to be working for her at the event, because that was her warning signal for you not to expect to get paid very much. You had to be careful when working for her, because you might be doing more volunteer labor than you had thought you were doing.
Another thing Eleanor had in her hand was compassion. If you were down and out and needed a few dollars, Eleanor would find a job for you to do around her house. Some of her employees didn’t have suits and nice resumes when they came to her. Denise would look at them with a great deal of suspicion waiting for them to try to steal something from her mother’s house.
Eleanor’s desire to help others get on their feet was often stronger than her concern for her own safety. She was able to see that Jesus really does show up in the least of these who we run into each day of our lives. The body of Christ would be stronger today if more of us could see people through the eyes of Eleanor.
Eleanor believed that you should not love money, so she tried to give it away as fast as she got it. She knew that money was not going to last so she spent it quickly. The lady loved to shop. She loved having the ability to travel. She has been all over North America.
She knew that God gave us the world to enjoy, so she traveled to see as much of it as she could. She didn’t believe in keep saying, “one day I’m gonna.” No, if it was possible, she went ahead and did it while she had the chance. She knew that God was her source and her supply, so she supported the work of the ministry of her church. She was a financial blessing to the kingdom of God.
Another think Eleanor had in her hand was the gift of encouragement coupled with the gift of humor. How many of us here can think of a moment in which she said something that lifted our spirits, or turned us toward the direction of God? How many of us laughed with her because of her amazing humor? It did not matter if she was feeling great or feeling pain, she would take the time to try to brighten your life. She could find humor in just about any situation.
Eleanor had a tremendous love for her family. At times they thought she behaved a little too much like Pharaoh over Egypt and were praying that God would send a Moses to tell her “let my people go.” After folding hundreds of napkins and place settings for catering events, Linda and Denise often hoped they would be fired and set free. Then they came up with the solution of firing themselves.
It didn’t matter, Eleanor simply rehired them for the next time. Even though there were long waits to eat on holidays, and long hours helping out, they would not have traded their mother for the world. She loved them and she loved her grandchildren. The birthday party given to her by her grandchildren was one of the best birthdays of her life. All she had to do was simply show up.
You know from the moment I met Eleanor, I felt like she had been a part of my life for years. The Christ in her immediately bore witness with the Christ in me. I thank God or the encouragement she has been to me. Her name for me was Rev. Rick. The last day I visited her in the hospital, she had me laughing even though she was not feeling well. She had a rock solid faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Eleanor was a wonderful gift in the midst of New Life At Calvary. She was ordained to our highest office of ruling elder and she served our church and our God well. She had a burning desire to get to know who God was, and to become the woman that God wanted her to be.
She thanked God for the times she could be present in Bible Study class. She didn’t mind not being seen, because she had the heart of a servant. We have lost a tremendous worker in the body of Christ, but we know it’s not the end.
Eleanor has had a lot of special relationships with a lot of people in this world. But our greatest reason for hope and for joy today is that she had a relationship to Jesus Christ.
For we as believers have the promise from Jesus himself when He said John 14:1-3 "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.
I do not understand the ways of God, in determining the length of our years or the number of our days. We like to think the good will live a long life and the rest will have short lives. But God never said that’s the way it’s going to be.
God said something far more encouraging and filled with hope. It says in Psalm 116:15 Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. God knows something about death and its purposes that we do not. Eleanor was one of the special saints of God.
God said her death was precious in His sight. God knows that Eleanor’s death was not in vain. We may want an answer from God, and that’s okay. Maybe it will lead us to acknowledge who God is and what God is expecting of us. Eleanor knew God created her, God walked with her, and God called her to a place prepared for her .
In the bible it says "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. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 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.
Do you realize God loves us all, but death will be the final separator between those who are living for Christ and those who are not. It’s not matter of who was good and who was bad. We all were bad, and God wants to give us all the same chance he gave to Eleanor . If we do not know Christ, we are condemned to eternal death.
Sometimes we don’t understand when we lose the special people in our lives. But somehow like the apostle Paul, Eleanor Carter Reese could declare 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.
Jesus has gone forth to prepare a place for each of us. But like Eleanor , we must make a choice. None of us know the day nor the hour when we shall leave this world. Christ has died on our behalf that we might have life. It’s as simple as confessing our sins, our yielding our lives to him. For in the end, the only decision that will matter is what did we do with Christ. For only what’s done for Christ will last. Her decision made her not only special, but also important. For her fame of eternity in heaven will be remembered for generations after the important people of this world have long since been wiped from the pages of history.
To those who do not know Jesus Christ, Eleanor Carter Reese will only be a memory. It will be a great memory, but still just a memory. For those who do know Christ, Elder Eleanor Carter Reese is waiting to meet us. For the word of God clearly states, " Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men and women 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 words, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left at 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 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. Our God is faithful.
