Funeral Sermon for Dorothy Mae Blackerby
Text: Luke 2:22-32
29 “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace,
according to your word;
30 for my eyes have seen your salvation
31 that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and for glory to your people Israel.”
Dear friends, family and loved ones of our beloved Dorothy. As we together morn and grieve her passing and our loss, let us comfort and sustain one another with the blessed hope, that in Christ death is a parting for a time but there awaits a joyful reunion for all who believe.
I’m Pastor Russ Tkac and I’ve had the pleasure of being Dorothy’s pastor over these last few years. While it had been difficult for Dorothy to deal with her Illness she was comforted by her loving family, their help and her trust in Jesus. In this she had true peace.
Peace can take on the many different looks, both young and old, from the baby Jesus wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger … to the man Christ Jesus hanging on a cross crying out, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34) But there is both joy and peace in Christ’s life and in his purifying death that it allows all who depart, trusting in Christ Jesus as both savior and Lord to receive that peace!
Our beloved Dorothy knew and received that Peace!
St. Luke writes in his gospel about Mary and Joseph bringing Jesus to the temple of the Lord to make a sacrifice as the Law required. And while there a man named Simeon, who as we are told was righteous and devout and waiting for the consolation of Israel, or the comfort and peace of God, and that the Holy Spirit was upon him.
27 … and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law, 28 he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said,
29 “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace,
according to your word;
30 for my eyes have seen your salvation
31 that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
31 that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and for glory to your people Israel.”
The joy of seeing this child, this Jesus brought to fulfillment for Simeon what the Lord by the Holy Spirit had promised, that he would not die until he had seen the Christ.
Dorothy knew that Christ’s death would allow her to depart in peace!
I had a joyful time visiting with Dorothy and Glenn at their home and in the hospital and bringing communion to them as it was difficult getting them to church on a regular basis. She would always tell me how much she enjoyed being in worship with us but thankful as well when she could attend and really enjoyed receiving the Lord’s Supper at her home with Glenn which helped to strengthened both of their faith.
I visited Dorothy in the afternoon of September 12th and we had a great visit. She was in bed but was able to talk fully of her salvation in Christ and receive the sacrament with Glenn as she loved to do … holding his hand. She so looked forward to going home and with Dorothy you knew that meant the Lord’s home and a heaven prepared for her.
We can all see the effects of time on our faces as we look into the mirror each morning. As much as we might all hope to have the blessings of a long life like Dorothy’s, the reality of death is real and sooner or later we will all answer the door when death knocks. But too, like Dorothy, we can have comfort and peace because:
Death’s sting has been swallowed up in victory by Jesus Christ and we can all have comfort in His blessed work and this blessed Good News. As we together grieve the loss of our beloved Dorothy and think about this frail existence we all inhabit here in this world, we can still have peace.
I rest beneath the Almighty's shade,
My griefs expire, my troubles cease;
Thou, Lord, on whom my soul is stayed,
Will keep me still in perfect peace.
Charles Wesley.
Comfort and peace, is what Dorothy knew. That Christ had come to rescue her and you can know that as well. Comfort and peace, knows the joy of Christ Jesus in your life by God grace and mercy.
Comfort and peace, is being called to follow Christ by God’s Holy Spirit who indwells all believers and is called the comforter even by Jesus himself.
For Jesus Himself says that:
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Dear friends, you too have access to the father as Dorothy did through Christ Jesus our Lord who came to live, suffer, die and rise again for you and who will give to all true peace found only in His saving arms that were outstretched upon the cross as He gave up His life for you.
Because of Christ’s purifying death he allows you too, like Dorothy to depart in peace!
So when the trials of life burden you and the storms of life rage and when even death is near, rest in the peace of Christ no matter the storms of life, but rests in the loving hands of Jesus the savior who reminds us in John’s gospel the wonderful comfort that Dorothy knew:
7 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. 30 I and the Father are one.” (John 10:27-30)
In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen
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