Brave and Courageous

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you had to be brave, where you had to show courage? What was it like? How did you handle it? This is the time of year when we like to scare ourselves. It gives us a chance to show off how brave we, and how courageous we can be. So we watch scary movies, we pay outrageous prices for a kids costume, we may even go visit a haunted house.

In high school one of my favorite things to do in the fall was to go to haunted houses. Now why anyone in their right mind would enjoy going to a place where people are dressed up in scary costumes and jump out at you and scream “boo” is beyond me. But I enjoyed it. There were three or four really good ones that were close.

One time I went with a couple of my buddies. You walk in and you go through a couple of spooky scenes and then you get to the scariest part. There aren’t any actors there; in fact it is nothing more than a maze. But it is completely in the dark. You literally can see nothing. You hear everything. You don’t necessarily know that there are no actors in there until the end, but you find yourself wondering around in the dark. Your eyes do you no good.

So here I am walking through this thing with a couple of friends. Being the brave and macho high school guys that we were, we were huddled up so close together that you would not have been able to stick a piece of paper between us. You know, it is kind of the “circle the wagons” strategy for survival. And while this is impressive to the girls and prevents people who aren’t going to hurt you anyway from hurting you, it doesn’t do a whole lot of good when you are wandering around in the pitch black dark. And we learned this the hard way. We also learned at the same time that when you are wondering through the dark, it is always a good idea to have at least one hand out in front of you.

As I was leading the pack and we are walking slowly through the darkness we suddenly stopped. This was an unscheduled stop. But there was nothing I could do, there was a wall there. And I banged my head pretty good. In fact it was hard enough that there was also a recoil action where my head went back, and because my buddy was so close, the back of my head hit his head, and that sent his head back, and he hit the head of the guy behind him. It was almost like a three-stooges movie. Bang. Ouch. Ouch. Ouch.

Courageous? Brave? Well, not exactly. Our readings for the week gives us a pretty amazing example of bravery and courage in the story about a woman named Esther. Generally we don’t hear a whole lot about Esther. In our lectionary, which is the series of scripture readings for each Sunday in the year, we cover a good majority of the biblical text. But in three years time there is not one single reading from the book of Esther.

There is also something rather curious about the book of Esther. Do you know what that is? Nowhere in the entire book will you see any direct mention about God. Interesting huh? And yet, this is a great and profound story, and even thought the word “God” is not found in the book, his fingerprints are everywhere. In fact, the way that we see God working in the book of Esther is rather close to the way that we see God working in our own lives and world today.

Esther was queen to King Xerxes in the Persian Empire. His empire was huge. The eastern border was in modern day India, and the western border was Greece. The southern border was Ethiopia. This place was absolutely enormous, and the king was absolutely powerful.

They had some interesting customs and practices in the Persian kingdom. One of them was that you did not ever go into the king’s presence unless you were summoned by the king. Breaking this rule was punishable by death. This ruled applied to everyone, even to the queen. It made no difference. So even though Esther was queen of Persia, she was not allowed to enter the king’s presence unless she was summoned.

Normally this wouldn’t have presented much of an issue, but in this story it turns out to be something of a problem. You see, there is this guy named Haman. He is kind of full of himself and not a very nice guy. He is a high ranking official in the king’s court and had grown accustomed to people bowing in his presence. One day he was out walking and people were bowing as usual except for one man. His name was Mordecai. He refused to bow.

So here is Haman and he is mortified by Mordecai’s refusal to bow before him. Why was Mordecai doing this, or not doing this as the case may be? We aren’t told why, but it causes some serious problems. Because Haman learns that Mordecai is a Jew and he goes and has the order decreed that all Jews in the kingdom are to be executed. And because he has the power that he does, it works and the decree is made.

Mordecai is not just a Jew, but he is also the cousin of Esther. In fact he raised her from childhood, and stayed in contact with her. He goes to her and tells her that she has to go before the king and make the king aware of what Haman is up to.

Can you imagine what Esther must have been thinking or feeling at this point in time? How would you have responded? Would you have said, “OK. I’ll go do it right now. I’ll be back in a moment.”? Would you have said, “How about if I just send him a text or an e-mail?”? Would you have said, “No. I don’t think so. I really enjoy this whole breathing thing that I’ve got going on now, and I would hate to see it come to an end.”?

Esther was kind of afraid. I don’t blame her. I can’t say that I would have reacted any differently if I was faced with a similar situation. So when Mordecai tells her about what is happening with Haman and how he wants Esther to go before the king, Esther says, “Well, you know it’s the law and the King hasn’t called me into his presence in thirty days.”

It is at this point that we see great faith on the part of Mordecai first and then followed by Esther. Mordecai says, “If you keep silent this time, then relief and deliverance for the Jews will rise up from another place. Who knows whether you have not come to a kingdom for such a time as this?”

Now, even though Mordecai does not say the word “God” here, he is expressing faith and confidence in God working and being faithful to the promises that he makes to his people. God would be the one who would bring about relief and deliverance. This is why Esther is where she is, for such a time as this. God has been at work this whole time.

It is a wonderful confession of hope and confidence in God. This can be a challenging thing to do. Because sometimes the evidence of a situation around us will tell us that the situation is impossible. Yet the eyes of faith are able to see beyond what our physical eyes can see. The eyes of faith tell us that God is active in our world. He does care about his people and what is going on in our lives. He does not give up on us or leave us or abandon us.

The situation facing the Jews in the Persian kingdom, from a human perspective was impossible it was hopeless. Yet because of God there is hope. Even if we can’t see it. Even if we don’t know how it is all going to work out. Because God is worthy of our trust. He is faithful. He keeps his promises.

Esther too, then responds faithfully. She doesn’t march into the king’s presence, not yet. But she fasts and she asks all the Jews of the city to fast together with her. This isn’t just an act of not eating, but it is an urgent and prayerfully seeking after God’s will. When the fast is over, Esther bravely and courageously goes before the king. He spares her life and eventually she and her entire people are saved.

It is nothing short of a miracle. It is nothing that would have been possible without God’s presence and working in the situation. Even though we don’t see him acting in the same way that we did back in the Exodus. He is no less active. Here he is working through his people. They are not the bravest or best skilled of folks, but neither do they need to be, because God’s strength is seen in their weaknesses.

This same God is the one who also works in our lives and in our midst. His love for you is shown in the great lengths that he goes through in bring about salvation, not from execution at the hands of the Persians, but from sin and death and the devil. He did this for you and me through and for the sake of Jesus. In baptism you and I are restored to God and live life with him as his own dearly loved daughters and sons.

The Holy Spirit calls, gathers, enlightens and sanctifies us and all his people. He unites us together as a family in this thing called the church (not the building, remember?), where we daily and richly receive the forgiveness of our sins. He includes us as fellow workers in his mission in our world, where we proclaim the good news of God’s love, grace and mercy in Jesus. Where we show people just how much God loves them. We do this both in the ways that we love and care for one another, and the ways that we love and care for our neighbors.

It is a challenge that can seem overwhelming sometimes. It can seem scary and difficult. But God has us here for such a time as this. He is very active in our world and in our midst. So we face whatever challenges he gives to us in total confidence knowing that he is with us ever step of the way, and in our lives his great strength and faithfulness are made known. What an awesome God we serve. Amen.

The Lord of the Mulligan

The greatest invention ever has got to be the mulligan. Right? Do you know what a mulligan is? It is what you do after you take a really bad shot in golf. I mean when you just blow it. You cry out this word and then the shot doesn’t count and you get to take another shot. Now I can’t prove it, but I think I may hold the world record for use of mulligans.

So a mulligan is a redo, it is a second chance. And who doesn’t appreciate a second chance? Can you think of a time or a situation when you got to have a second chance? I remember the first time I took the driving test to get my license from Missouri. Mindy and I had just moved down to attend seminary and didn’t spend a whole lot of time studying for the thing. I failed the test. It was kind of ridiculous too. I said that a speed limit was slower than what it really was, or that an item sticking out of a truck was shorter than what it really was before you put the flag on it. Anyway when I failed the test they gave me a mulligan, a do over, a second chance. I looked up the ones I missed and ten minutes later went up to take the test. They gave me the exact same test, and I passed it perfectly.

While it does not put much confidence in the drivers from Missouri, it does illustrate how great it is to have a second chance. We see in the story of Nehemiah a second chance of sorts for God’s people. Our God is the God who gives second chances. He is the Lord of the Mulligan.

Over the past weeks we have seen Abraham grow into a great nation. God blessed them so that they would be a blessing to others. After they were led out of slavery in Egypt God made another covenant with them. He would be their God and they would be his people. And God would dwell in their midst. They finally enter the Holy Land and then they finally get a king. But the kings did not work out too well.

David was mostly good, but with Solomon things started going south. By the time we get to Solomon’s son Rehoboam, well the kingdom splits and now there are two. Israel in the North and Judah in the South. The people forget the covenant and they forget God. They go after false gods and live more and more like the nations around them. Until finally in 722 B.C. the Assyrians come in and destroy the Northern Kingdom. It falls.

About 134 years later the Babylonians come in and destroy the Southern Kingdom. The temple is destroyed and the walls of the city are knocked down. The rich and powerful and leaders are taken away and relocated within the empire of Babylon. And the questions come hard and fast.

What just happened? How did we get here? Has God given up on us? Are we still his people? Have we blown it? Is it too late? Why haven’t mulligans been invented yet? Well, maybe not that last one. But you get the idea. We know what it is like to ask questions. We find ourselves faced with just the right situation or with circumstances and the questions come hard and fast for us too. They might even sound very similar to the ones that the people in exile were asking.

If there were a worst case scenario that God’s people could have imagined at this point in time, what they found in the exile was even worse than that. And yet, as bad as that was. It was not a completely hopeless situation. In fact, God had not abandoned them or given up on them. And what we eventually see is that God restores them and brings them back. He gives them another chance. He gives them a mulligan.

Around seventy years after the exile. There is a new world power. The Babylonians have been defeated by the Persians. And King Cyrus decrees that the God’s people can return back to their homeland. So they go. Now, fast-forward about another seventy years. The temple has been rebuilt, but the walls around the city have not. A little more than 140 years after the exile they are still feeling its effects. And while restoration has begun, it is still not complete. This is where we meet Nehemiah.

Nehemiah was an aristocratic Jew. He lived in the capital city of Susa, and is serving in the court of the Persian king Artaxerxes. Nehemiah receives a visit from his brother Hanani who reported that the walls of the city still have not been rebuilt and this news causes Nehemiah great anguish. Why would it matter? Why would this be such a big deal?

In those days a city needed a wall in order for it to be safe and secure and protected. Without walls anyone could just go anywhere and cause all kinds of trouble. The wall protected the city and offered security for the residents. For Jerusalem to be fully restored, this wall needs to be built.

So what does Nehemiah do? He prays. Actually he weeps and mourns and fasts and prays. But he approaches the God of heaven and asks for help in this. Nehemiah is pretty far away. In fact, Susa is even further east than Babylon was. So he is in the modern day country of Iran. Not only that but he is not even a Persian. And while he serves in the court of the king, he is pretty much powerless.

So Nehemiah finds himself in a situation where he is very far removed from the problem, where he is really in no position to do anything about it, and what does he do? He prays. I don’t know about you, but I would be tempted to complain and gripe and moan and feel hopeless. I would be tempted to go on and on about how unfair it was. Not Nehemiah. He weeps and mourns. But then he also fasts and prays.

He prays. It can be easy for us to underestimate the power of prayer. But prayer is indeed very powerful. Not because of the prayer itself, but because of the one that we are praying to. As God’s own dearly loved children we can approach him with confidence, just as dearly loved children approach their dearly loved father. So when we pray, when we ask God to have mercy on a situation or for his will to be done, we are not just speaking empty words. But we are putting those situations that we find ourselves faced with and struggling with in the hands of the one who is certainly able to do something about it.

Nehemiah prays. God answers his prayer. Not because Nehemiah stumbled across some magical formula that when it is followed God is compelled to do whatever we ask of him. But Because the things that Nehemiah are praying for are in line with God’s will. They are part of God’s plan to restore his people. This is their second chance. This is their mulligan.

Nehemiah prays and God begins opening doors left and right. Suddenly Nehemiah finds himself as the governor in Judah and the work on the wall begins. They are met with great resistance, but that does not deter Nehemiah. And fifty-two days later the wall is complete. They stand as a reminder to the people that God has not given up on them, that he is faithful to them, that with him there is always a second chance. With God there is always a mulligan.

The story of Nehemiah is an awesome story. It is bigger than a wall and a governor. Because it is really a story about our God and his faithfulness. This God is our God too. And as he is in our midst and among us, he can accomplish great things, even things that seem to be impossible for us. The fact that the walls were rebuilt is nothing short of a miracle. But that is just how amazing our God is. Nothing is too difficult for him. And if you thought the walls were an impressive build, there is an even better thing that God builds. I am talking about the church.

Our God builds the church. Now I am not talking about a building. Challenge yourself this week and see if you can use the word church only in its proper context. We are the church. Jesus is our cornerstone. Because of him, we are the forgiven and restored people of God. We have been given a second chance, a mulligan. When we mess up, when we sin, then we confess our sins, and God hears that confession and for Jesus’ sake will then forgive us our sins. Another chance.

The Holy Spirit builds us up together into a living temple where God dwells. The building of a wall is no big deal for our God. What is even more amazing is this building that is the church. It is built with imperfect people, but people who are forgiven, people who have been joined with Jesus in his death and resurrection. So we are a people who no longer live for ourselves, but Christ lives in us.

When we come together, when we work together, and do our part then there is nothing that we cannot accomplish. Why? Not because of how good we are, but ultimately because it is our God who is working in us and through us and among us. Dream with me and imagine then the impact that this can have on our congregation, our community, our country and our world.

Does it give you goose bumps? It is absolutely awesome. Our God is working in our world, and he allows us to join with him in accomplishing that work. What an awesome privilege this is for you and me.

So then, we take a cue from Nehemiah and we pray. Would you please pray this week for the ministry of this congregation? We are approaching that time of year where we plan and budget and all that other kind of fun stuff for the upcoming year. So please pray. Pray that God would lead us and guide us. That we would have eyes to see what he wants us to see, and courage to follow where he is leading us, so that the work we do would allow us to be strengthened in our faith and life with our Savior, Jesus, and so that others would come to know that too. Amen.

People After God's Heart

Things are not always what they seem to be. Sometimes there is more to something or to a specific situation than meets the eye. Consider the following situation.

The Pope’s plane arrived at the air port ahead of schedule and he had a little unexpected free time. So he asks the driver of the limo to let him drive. “You see,” he said, “I never get to do this. People are always driving me around. I would like to do something for myself for once.” The limo driver decides that it wasn’t a big deal, and they were ahead of schedule, so he agrees. The driver and the Pope switch seats, and the Pope takes off. He gets onto the interstate and he is flying down the road.

A police officer sees the limo go by and pulls him over. When he sees the Pope in the driver’s seat he goes back to his car and calls into the station. “I don’t think I can give this guy a ticket.” The officer said. “Why not?” asks the chief. The policeman replies, “Well I think God is in the car.” The chief says, “God? Why do you think God is in the car?”

“Well sir,” the officer said, “The Pope is his chauffeur.”

Things are not always what they seem to be. Sometimes there is more to something or to a specific situation than meets the eye. This is certainly the case as we consider the story about King David. While we know him as the greatest king to have ever ruled in Israel or Judah; there was a time where such a thought would have gotten more laughs than the Pope joke.

David, while he was a handsome young man, was not necessarily what you would expect to find in a king. He didn’t necessarily look the part. But how something looks doesn’t really matter all that much. The way something looks isn’t all that important. This is a lesson that we see as we read the story of David.

Now if you go back to the book of Judges, you can see how the scriptures begin to set the stage for the story of David and the line of kings that comes after him. As we read through the cycles that we talked about last week where there was peace, the people rebelled, they became oppressed, they called out to God and he rescues them; as we read through this we see a common refrain or theme. That is that there was no king is Israel and everyone did what was right in their own eyes.

In other words, the reason why you keep seeing this cycle, and these things happening over and over again, is because there is no king in Israel. When we get to the book of 1 Samuel we see the people crying out for a king and God agrees to give them one. But the problem here and with this idea is that they have their own idea about who should be king. You see, they are under the impression that the reason for their problems is political instead of seeing, knowing and realizing that their problems are really spiritual.

The people pick Saul. You probably would have too. This guy looked like a king. He was tall, literally head and shoulders above everyone else. He was a natural leader and fighter. For all intents and purposes Saul was the perfect choice for the king. Of course, there is more to this situation than meets the eye. Saul is not the one that God chose to be king.

The man that God had in mind was not one that you would have picked over Saul. He was even not one that would have been picked over his brothers. I mean this guy is just a kid, he was a shepherd for crying out loud. But God’s ways are not our ways. His thoughts are not our thoughts. People look on the outside and make judgments and decisions based on that. But God sees the heart. The scriptures tell us that David was a man after God’s own heart.

The heart was seen as the center of our emotions, desires, passions and appetites. When the scriptures talk about the heart they are talking about who we are in the deepest and truest sense. The heart is the place where our moral, spiritual and intellectual lives revolve. The heart is also the seat of emotions like, joy, love, courage, anger and sorrow. So as we are talking about heart in this sense, we are talking about who we really are at the center of our being. We are talking about who we are apart from all the airs that we put on.

So this is what we are talking about when we say that David was a man after God’s own heart. But what exactly does this mean? Well we are able to see an example of this as we consider the story of David and Goliath. Perhaps you have heard this story before, right? The Philistines are once again making life difficult for the people. The two armies are encamped across from one another and there is a challenge: your strongest man against our strongest man. The people of the loser will serve the people of the winner. Ok. That is doable. Except that their strongest man is a giant. And when he comes out, the people from Israel hide and tremble in fear. Even King Saul is hiding in his tent. But you can’t really blame them; I mean it is a scary situation.

But what happens when David shows up? He is kind of beside himself. He can’t believe that the people who have the living God on their side are acting this way. He offers to fight and Saul says, “Yes good idea.” Then what does he do? He has David try on his armor. You see, this whole time Saul and the army are seeing the situation from a human perspective. But David sees it as a spiritual battle. He knows that God is with him and so even though there is no physical contest, David knows that this is not a physical battle. This is a spiritual battle and the battle belongs to the Lord. So David steps up and wins the day.

That trust and confidence in God, and then acting accordingly is what it means to be a man or woman after God’s own heart. It is when we understand a little bit about God’s heart and then we act in accordance with that.

So where is God’s heart? Well, God is about the work of reconciliation and restoration. He is about the work of bringing his creation back into relationship with himself. Our God is a God on a mission. That mission is to seek and save the lost. When we align our hearts, our deepest desires and understandings and motivations, with God’s, then we, like David are people after God’s own heart.

We love the same things he loves. We hate the same things he hates. And our lives are lived in such a way that they reflect the understanding that God sees things differently than human beings do. Therefore we aren’t afraid to approach any giant that may come along and decide to challenge us.

When we live our lives as people after God’s own heart than we have our eyes open to see all the ways that God is present in our lives and through Jesus pours out into our lives his love, grace and mercy. When we live our lives as people after God’s own heart than we have our eyes open to see all the opportunities that God gives to us so that we share God’s love, grace and mercy in Jesus with the people around us.

Our God will take common ordinary things and work through them in such amazing ways that it will make the hair on the back of your neck stand straight up. Consider what happens in a worship service for example. On the outside, according to what we see, things seem pretty common and ordinary. You have a lot of the same kinds of things from one week to the next. Some of those things are good. Some of those things are distractions. But do you see what is happening and going on?

God is here in this place. He is with us as we gather in his name. It is not like we offer up our prayers and praises and then they get stuffed in an envelope and mailed to God, please allow six to eight weeks for delivery. But he is here, in our midst. He is here when everything is perfect. He is here when everything is less than perfect. In spite of all the things that would distract us and throw us off, he is here. In a very real sense, when we worship, heaven and earth meet. Our prayers and praises join with those who have fallen asleep in Jesus, who are worshiping in heaven. It is a pretty cool thing.

God will take common ordinary water, bread, wine, and when combined with his word, uses them to richly and abundantly pour out into our lives, forgiveness, life and salvation. God will take common ordinary everyday people. And in our baptism make us one in Christ, where we are the body of Christ. He then sends us out into the world to make his love in Jesus known.

He gives it to us. He gives us all these gifts. He blesses us richly with them for the sake of Jesus. For the sake of the descendant of David who is truly God and truly man, whose life, death and resurrection made all this possible for us. God gives us all these gifts and then sends us out into our world to share this good news with them, so that they too can know this experience.

Do you see it? It is absolutely breathtaking. And our Gracious God will then work through these wonderful gifts in our lives, in order to make us more and more like his son, in his image, in order to make us more and more into a people who are after God’s own heart.

May he give us eyes to see as he sees. May he give us hearts after his own heart. And may we find great joy, peace and blessing in living this out in our lives. Now and always. Amen.

In Loving Memory of Linda R. Racine

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 16^th 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.