Introduction

This is a funeral homily I preached at Fox Funeral Home, Beatrice, Neb., on Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2009.

Readings

Ezekiel 17:22-24
Psalm 121
Hebrews 12:1-2
John 3:13-17

Message

It doesn’t matter whether you see them
perched upon a bare twig on a grey day
when snow covers the ground in winter,
or you rest your eyes upon the figurines
and pictures that have adorned
Evelyn’s home and room.

No matter where you see them,
cardinals are striking and vibrant birds,
flashes of red that signal life and vitality
even and especially in the short, dull days
when frost and cold grip the land.

In this way, cardinals are like our confession of faith.
We have come together today,
despite the news of Evelyn’s death
to thank God for her life,
to profess together our trust in him,
and to proclaim to one another
that Jesus Christ is victorious over death.

His cross, the tree of life, now empty,
is a striking and vibrant reminder to us,
even in the midst of our mourning,
that God’s love conquers all powers
that would keep us from him
and that he will gather us into his flock.
Ezekiel spoke of God’s saving grace
growing in the midst of his people
like a cedar on the top of a mountain.
He prophesied, saying to Israel and to us:
“Under it every kind of bird will live;
in the shade of its branches will nest
winged creatures of every kind.” (Ezekiel 17:23b, NRSV)

This is a picture of heaven,
of the life that God’s people will share.
In it, we are all birds of a feather,
flocking together in the branches
of God’s tree of life and love and grace.

And on this day, we can give thanks,
despite the loss that we feel,
that God has welcomed Evelyn
with open arms and inviting branches.
And we can look ahead, with confidence,
to the day when we shall find our places
in the shade of God’s cedar tree.

The scrubby cedars that grow wild like weeds
here in Nebraska can only hint
at the great and gracious cedar of God.
We can trust, though, that the branches
of his tree of life will spread wide to welcome all,
as John tells us in his Gospel:
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him may not perish
but may have eternal life.” (John 3:16, NRSV)

This is our destiny—yours and mine and Evelyn’s.
We are birds—chickadees and robins and cardinals—
that gather and fly and land and perch together,
a great cloud of witnesses
like a flock coming home to roost in the cedar tree
that grows for us on the mountain of God our heavenly Father.
Amen.