Dear Don, Mindy, Jen, Dan, Ray, Jerry, Pam, Family and Friends. Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our father and from our Savior Jesus. Presiding at a funeral or memorial service is an unfortunately common part of the life of clergy. But I cannot tell you what a great honor and privilege it is for me to stand up here with you this afternoon and be able to share the very things that bring hope and healing and comfort to my soul in this sad time.
You are the deepest, most intimate part of my life and I love you more than words can express, and more than time will allow for me to express. I pray that these words will provide you with hope and comfort. And that in them you will hear even just of glimmer of my love for you, and of God’s love for you too.
Not too many stories begin with the words, “We met on a street corner.” But this one does. Because a street corner was where Don Racine first met Linda Campbell.
On August 8, 1962, a young Don Racine did the bravest thing that he has ever done in his life. You see Linda was celebrating her 16th birthday and went out dancing with some friends, and Don found them as they were walking home. He just happened to be in his dad’s convertible and offered to give Linda and her friends a ride. He went through great lengths, and did this amazingly brave thing, just so that he could see her.
That car ride home turned into four years of going together, which were followed by 44 all too short years of marriage and life together. It was a life and story together that had its ups and downs but ultimately one that had an impact on all of us, and touched our lives so much that we are here together to give thanks for Linda and to find comfort in God’s word.
Linda taught us some very important lessons; like how you can never have too many shoes or purses. She loved to do crafts, things like cross-stitching, scrapbooking and quilting. When the time was just right, and you never knew quite when that would be, Linda would spontaneously burst into song. She was a collector par excellence. If you could see the way that she fit her collections into the different places throughout the house you would say, “Wow. That’s an efficient use of space. “
We could talk about getting pajamas every year for Christmas and the obligatory orange in the stockings. Or how October birthday cakes, no matter what the party theme was, always seemed to have bat sprinkles on them. We could mention her love for shopping and how she passed that love and skill on to her daughters.
These things are just some of the sometimes quirky qualities of Linda that made her Linda. And while sharing them will make us laugh or smile. These things are not why we are here, and neither are they the most important thing that Linda ever taught us. The most important thing that Linda taught us was to love. We are here because in one form or another, our lives have been touched by Linda’s love for each and every person in this room.
She loved Don. She loved her girls. She loved her grandchildren, even years before the first of them was born. The first time Mindy took me home to meet her parents, they took us out for dinner. Linda looks at Mindy and even before the appetizer shows up asks, “So when am I going to have some grandchildren?” The years after that brought her five wonderful grandkids. Those five little kids were the world to her. There was nothing that she was not willing to give them. David, Emily, Ben, Ethan and Isaac were her reason for fighting through the medical treatments, and meds and doctor visits as long and as hard as she did.
Linda loved her family and friends. Not perfectly. Sometimes she drove us up the wall. I still can’t believe that after the cat Chole was gone and my eight years of extreme cat allergy misery had finally come to an end, she went and got another cat. She would know all the right buttons to push and how to push them. But none of that is important. None of that matters. Because what really matters is that she loved. She showed us how to better love our families and to appreciate the people in our lives. It is the greatest gift that she could give to her family and friends. For this gift and blessing we give thanks to God.
The story of Linda Racine is a great story. It is one that will have a lasting impact on us. But it is a story that seems to have ended sooner than it should, or sooner than we would have liked it to. Whenever we find ourselves face to face with death, or walking through this dark valley of the shadow of death, it seems that we feel a whole range of emotions, and perhaps even have a whole bunch of questions. And that is OK. It is OK to feel your feelings. It is OK to ask your questions.
As we find ourselves in this place at this time, going through this experience, we are able to find comfort in God’s word. For it is there that we hear God’s story and how his story impacts our lives. How his story intersects with our story, with Linda’s story. And what we find as we hear these words is hope and comfort.
Just moments ago we read from Paul’s First letter to the Thessalonians. He writes, “We do not want you to be uninformed, bothers [and sisters] about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep…Therefore encourage one another with these words.”
These verses are talking about people who have died. But did you notice the word that it used to describe them? Sleep. When Paul writes about those who have died, he uses the word sleep. Because in this choice of words there is an understanding and expectation of resurrection. After all, what do people do after they are done sleeping? They wake up. They get up. Sleep does not last forever. Sleep comes to an end.
With these words we see that Paul is writing about the resurrection; that great last day when Jesus comes back. When he will restore the creation and there will be no more sin, or suffering or injustice. All the wrongs that we see in our world will be made right. And those who have fallen asleep in Jesus will wake up with bodies that will not get old or sick or suffer or die. This is the hope that we have. This is the hope that we have for Linda.
This means that death is not the end of her story. And that right now is merely the end of a chapter. But death does not win. Death does not get the final say. And when Jesus comes back, there will be the beginning of the next chapter and it will be better than anything we can even begin to imagine.
Linda has this great gift. While she was not one who spoke of her faith all that often. And going through these last few years provided quite the challenge, Linda’s life bore the fruit of her faith. Her love and generosity showed how God’s story was there as part of her story too.
You and I have this great gift because of God’s love for us in Jesus. Like Linda, we have this because of and for the sake of Jesus, who lived the perfect life that we cannot live, who paid the price for our sins on the cross, who rose from the grave forever defeating the powers of sin, and death and evil. None of this is dependent on us or our good works. But it simply ours because of how gracious and loving our God is.
Therefore there is hope, and we can comfort one another with these words, just as we comfort one another with all the fun, funny, quirky and important ways that Linda touched our lives. While we are greatly saddened, and we will certainly feel a void in our lives without Linda. Knowing that there is a day out there where we will be with her once again, where she will be re-united with her grandchildren, daughters, husband, family and friends that she so dearly loves, knowing that this day is certainly in our future, well it is almost enough to make you want to spontaneously burst into song. And if you are in need of a suggestion, Linda would tell you that just about anything by Johnny Mathis would do. Amen.
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