181027 Funeral Sermon for Arlene Thiele

181027 Funeral Sermon for Arlene Thiele

Not all deaths are the same.  The difference between someone who is old dying and someone young dying is so vast that they are almost two different things.  When young people die there is immense sadness.  It is easy for all of us to imagine the things that a young person might have done if only they lived longer.  When someone who is old dies, we know that those kinds of experiences are generally behind them.  They’ve had their children and their grandchildren.  They’ve had their careers and vacations and memories.   Unlike how it is with young people, nobody seems to be getting robbed of the potential life that they might have lived.

And when we consider the situation of someone like Arlene, it is even more this way.  She certainly lived to be old.  At ninety-six she was the oldest member of our congregation.  In addition to having a long life, full of experiences, we also know that these last few years were not the way that most of us would choose to live out our days.  Dementia took away Arlene’s memories and many of her abilities.  She lost her independence and became more child-like.  In a way, she became like a different person.  We can be thankful that dementia did not take away her pleasant demeanor and positive outlook on life like it can with some.  I don’t think she was really unhappy these last years, but certainly thing were changed, and the daily tasks only became more and more difficult for her to do.  Life was only becoming harder, and so it is good that things should no longer be difficult for her.

Death, therefore, can be evaluated very differently depending on the circumstances.  It can be a horrible tragedy, or something that is only to be expected, or even it can be somewhat of a relief.

But what is almost always ignored, when death is looked at in this way, is God.  All the focus is on this life and the relative quality or quantity of it, but what about the One who giveth and who taketh away?  Behind every life there is a story with God, the Creator, on the one hand, and the person, the creature, on the other.  They are the main characters.  A good way to understand the Bible, and the history that is recorded in it, is that contained in this book are stories about the way that God dealt with different people.  Just as God dealt with the people of the Bible, so also he deals with each and every one of us up until today.

And the stories can be quite different.  Some live in rebellion against God and will not listen to his Word.  They thwart God’s efforts to save them through faith in his only beloved Son whom he sent to redeem the world.  Others repent of their sins and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins.  Yet others believe for a while, but then fall away.  And yet some of these are called back to faith.  The Good Shepherd goes out looking for the sheep who was lost, and when he finds it he puts it on his shoulders and carries it back to the flock rejoicing.  The twists and turns and failures and restorations and joys and crosses are all a part of this story.  The length of a person’s life, also, then, is part of this story.  But it isn’t the main thing.

A person might have a short life on this earth, but then he or she is “away from the body and at home with the Lord.”  Or a person might live a long life on this earth, but if he or she lives in rebellion against God and his Son, then their long life on earth will look incredibly short from the perspective of eternity.  Jesus says, “What good does it do for a person to gain the whole world, but to lose his or her own soul?”  This life and the quality of it is not the only or even the main concern.  The will of God towards you in Jesus Christ is everything.

Jesus speaks of this will of God towards us in the reading from John that we heard earlier.  Jesus says that the will of the Father is that he should lose none of those who are given to him, and that he should raise them up on the last day.  Whoever looks to the Son, Jesus, and believes in him will have eternal life and will be raised up on the last day.

Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.  The sin of all people was laid upon him.  He suffered and died in our place and the wrath of God against all unrighteousness was poured out upon him instead of upon us.  That is why those who look to the crucified and resurrected Lord Jesus and who believe in him will have eternal life and be resurrected on the last day when all the world will be judged, and they will enter into heaven with their bodies and souls because Jesus is their righteousness.

Ever since the fall into sin God has been bringing this word of hope and life to save sinners, and that is true to this very day and in your hearing of it.  This word reached Arlene in her life, and it continued to work all through it, and there is a great story behind that which is known to God and to a lesser degree also to Arlene.  She learned the greatness of what it meant to look upon the Son and believe in him—that it meant eternal life and that she would be resurrected to live together with her Lord.  That is why she chose the epistle reading that you heard this morning from 2 Corinthians where St. Paul says that it is good to be away from the body and together with the Lord.  What this means is that it is good to bring this earthly life to a close and be together with Jesus.  And so Arlene testifies to you what she believed and what she would have you also believe, so that you may also be together with the Lord Jesus Christ.  This was the main thing in Arlene’s life, just as it is in every Christian’s life, and that is quite a different perspective from those whose only hope is in the stuff of this world.

Through Arlene and her experience with her gracious God, we can also learn something important that can help each one of us.  Dementia is not something that any of us would choose for ourselves if it was up to us.  And so we are afraid of it.  And there are other things, too, that we wouldn’t want for ourselves and so we might fear those things also.  We don’t want our quality of life to be diminished.  But God, in his wisdom, chose this path for Arlene, and we know that God works all things for the good of those who love him.  The Scriptures say “all things,” not “some things.”  I cannot tell you why he chose this path or whatever path he might choose in your life.  But I can say with utmost confidence that so long as you remain in Christ you have nothing to fear.  The path God chose for Arlene made her weak, but he is strong, and Jesus says that his power is made perfect in weakness. 

The story of your life is not how much money you have or the memories you have made or even who your friends and family are.  The story of your life is God your Creator who, because he loves you, sent his Son to be born of the Virgin Mary, who was crucified, died and was buried.  On the third day he rose from the dead and ascended into heaven to prepare a place for you there.  So that you would not be left as orphans he sent the Holy Spirit and the Word of the Gospel so that you may look to the crucified Lord Jesus, believe in him, and have eternal life.  He has caused you to hear this word so that you may receive the promises contained in it and be blessed by it.  He has put Christians into your life to speak this word to you, so that you may know the real story, and to keep you in the faith of that real story.

It is because this is the real story of our lives that St. Paul can say those familiar words, often referred to at funerals: “I am certain that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  We could add to this list dementia or cancer or any number of things that appear tragic and impossible to overcome, but they, in fact, are not.  They are just part of the story of your salvation, and things will get better, as they have for Arlene, so long as you hold to the truth of God’s will, that you should look to the Son, believe in him, have eternal life, and be raised up on the last day.

And so we can be cheered today with the story of God’s salvation that he has worked out in and for Arlene.  One chapter has been brought to a close.  Her life in this world has ended.  But the story is not over.  It is on-going.  And there is more excitement and anticipation in the next chapter of her life than anything of this life that we might think is great, for Jesus is coming to raise all the dead and give eternal life to all who believe in him.  We lay Arlene’s body into the grave today, but tomorrow or the next day, it shall live.  She embraced this, God’s story of her life, and is blessed forever.  May you do likewise.