Introduction

This is a funeral homily I preached on Thursday, Aug. 6, 2009, at a graveside service in Beatrice, Neb.

Readings

Psalm 121
Philippians 3:20-21
2 Corinthians 5:1-9
Psalm 23

Message

Alice’s family likes to tell stories,
stories about Alice,
stories that show their love for her
and her love for them
and for the joy that life brings.

They season the stories with laughter and tears,
sometimes shaking both from mouths and eyes
like salt and pepper shakers.

Alice faced life as a single parent
after the death of John, her beloved husband,
with the love and humor
that flavored her whole life.

She also shared that abundant love with others,
serving as a foster grandparent for fifteen years
for clients of the Beatrice State Developmental Center
and Martin Luther Homes.

As she and her family shared her final moments in this life,
they heard Psalm 23 and prayed the Lord’s Prayer together.
And with her final breath,
she whispered in reply to her family, “I love you too.”

Now Alice’s earthly tent no longer is pitched in our midst.
And while we feel this as loss, she knows it as a homecoming,
a reunion with her husband, John,
and the fulfillment of the great hope we all hold
to rejoice in eternal life with our Lord Jesus Christ,
in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit,
and in ceaseless praise and worship of the Father.

For Alice, the wait is over,
and the hope she held in the unseen promise
of eternal life with God
has turned to the joy she now knows in his presence.
For her, confusion has turned to clarity,
the snarls and snags of life
to the smooth and serene peace of heaven.

Maybe that’s what the Spirit may have been whispering
into the family’s ears of faith,
when Jody struggled with her crocheting
at Alice’s bedside and said,
“If I can just get this knot out, it will all be OK.”

Alice has no knots in her yarn,
no more stitches to rip out and redo,
and it is all OK;
all is well with her soul.
And it will be for ours too,
thanks to the grace of God.

Amen.