Funeral Sermon for Elizabeth (Beth) Owen

A brief Sermon for Elizabeth (Beth) Owen, based on Ps 23 & Jn 14:1-3, by Pastor Garth Wehrfritz-Hanson, at Burgar Funeral Chapel, May 9, 2015.

As you know, there are many different kinds of death—for some, it comes too soon, for others, it may come in a tragic, unexpected way, for yet others, it may come after a long and full life and be a blessing when it comes. I would say that for Elizabeth—Beth—Mildred Own, death came in the latter way as a blessing after a long and full life.

   After over nine decades of a full and meaningful life, our LORD, who is like a loving and caring shepherd, called Beth to those heavenly green pastures and still waters of eternal peace. The twenty-third Psalm gives us a beautiful, comforting, and hope-filled message of who our God is and how he is at work in our lives. God, like a loving, caring shepherd is pictured as our provider, protector, and preserver of life.

   From what little I know about Beth’s life, I believe that the LORD was Beth’s shepherd in that he provided her with the basic necessities of life and more. God blessed Beth with a spouse, children, meaningful and rewarding work as a schoolteacher, and later as a librarian at the University of Alberta, and when the time came, grandchildren. As Beth’s protector, God most likely guided her through some difficult and challenging times. In the words of the Psalm: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil; for you are with me.” Notice that we do not stay in death’s valley rather, God our shepherd walks with us through it to the other side—life beyond this one, eternal life. God also preserved Beth’s life for over nine decades, and I’m sure showered many blessings upon her and her loved ones during her life-journey. Now, by God’s grace, Beth’s life will be preserved as she dwells in the LORD’s house forever.

   Beth, on her good days at Bethany Meadows Aspen Cottage was known by our staff as chatty and a gracious person. She was a super-mom with awesome children, her son Keith came to visit her pretty much every day. In her younger years, as was mentioned she was a schoolteacher, and then later a librarian. In her room at Aspen Cottage, she had a hand-ringing bell as a reminder of her teaching days. I’m sure as a teacher she was a positive influence on children. Her children and grandchildren have also attested to her positive, loving and caring influence on them.

   Along with teaching and work as a librarian, family, children and grandchildren were the priorities, loves and passions of Beth’s life. When I think of family, I also think of a home. A home is a place of love. What makes for a loving, caring home? Well, a loving, caring home is a place where family members are accepted unconditionally. It is a place where family members feel safe and can share of themselves at a very deep level without being rejected. A place where family members can be themselves, their true selves. A home is also a place of joy and celebration, marking the special landmarks and accomplishments of life.

   In our passage from John’s Gospel, Jesus gives all those who trust in and follow him a wonderful promise of our eternal home. He promises that he goes ahead of us to prepare a place for us in the heavenly home. This home is the perfect home. The best of what we experience in our earthly home shall be even greater in our heavenly home. A heavenly home where all are perfectly loved, cared for and welcome if we place our life in the hands of Jesus our loving Saviour and Messiah. As the old adage has it: “There’s no place like home.” There certainly is no place like our heavenly home! For that thanks be to God! Amen.    

Funeral Sermon for Myra Anderson

Funeral Sermon by Pastor Garth Wehrfritz-Hanson, for Myra Ethel Anderson, based on Ruth 1:16-19a; Rev 21:2-7; Matt 11:28-30 & Jn 11:25-27

We are gathered here today to remember the life of Myra Ethel Anderson; to find comfort and support in one another’s presence and in God’s presence and God’s word for the loss of Myra; and to give thanks to God for Myra as we commend her into God’s eternal care.

   One of the things as a pastor that I like to encourage folks to do is plan their funeral arrangements—so that when the time comes, the family is not second-guessing what their loved one wanted or did not want in a service. Myra certainly took that to heart, as she met with me back in January of 2005 to plan with me what she wanted in her service. So hopefully we are doing our best to comply with Myra’s wishes here today.

   We all have memories of Myra, and knew her in one way or another. I came to know her as her pastor at Grace Lutheran Church. She enjoyed attending the worship services at Grace, and served on council for a time. Myra and John also enjoyed coming out to the monthly Grace suppers. When I think of Myra, I think of the four Bible passages that were read earlier.

   I think of the story of Ruth and Naomi. In particular, I think of their trip from Moab to Bethlehem. In those days, travel could be dangerous for at least a couple of reasons. You could be in trouble if you did not have adequate food and drink with you for the journey—it took careful planning to bring enough food and drink along or to know where you could find it along your journey. Travelling could also be dangerous because of the criminal element. Sometimes robbers were just waiting for vulnerable travellers to rob, beat up or even kill. So travel could be dangerous in those days—especially for women. Yet we learn that both Ruth and Naomi were willing to make the journey from Moab to Bethlehem. So it is most commendable that they were women of courage, and had a sense of adventure to undertake such a trip.

   When I think of Myra, I also think of a woman who was courageous and had an active sense of adventure or curiosity. So to show her courage and active sense of adventure or curiosity, she liked to travel. Myra enjoyed travelling, often with her sons, to such countries as: South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and even China, other Asian countries, Europe, the U.S. and Central America. When I think of Myra, I recall conversations with her about a wide variety of topics where her curious mind travelled to enjoy a wide variety of interests, including: genealogy, history, aboriginal culture, and upholding human rights and freedoms in a democratic society thanks to organisations like Amnesty International, of which she supported, as do I.

   Myra’s many travels awakened an interest in genealogy and history. She thought that she might be a tenth generation Canadian, since her ancestors arrived in Quebec in the late 1700s. She also may have been a descendent of someone who arrived on the second ship after the Mayflower.

   Now, by the grace and mercy of our LORD, God has taken Myra on her final trip, her final destination to the country called Heaven—and what wonderful adventures await her there! I’m sure that her active sense of curiosity will be fully satisfied in that land of eternity.

   Which leads me to the next passage from Revelation. I gather, from what family told me, that the last several months were rather difficult for Myra and for you as a family too—as she suffered from her illness and her once active life was slowing down and coming to an end. So it is good news that now she is with God who will wipe every tear from her eyes. For her, death is over, mourning and crying and pain are over. One day, if we too place our faith and life into God’s hands, we shall join Myra in that place where our tears will be wiped from our eyes; where illness, death, mourning and crying and pain shall be over for us too. That is our hope as Christians who believe that the powers of life and love shall defeat the powers of death and evil.

   In the meantime, for all of us who remain in this life, Jesus gives a wonderful invitation in the gospel passage from Matthew: “Come to me, all of you who are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you.” Some of you may know this, the yoke, if it fits well on animals, evenly distributes the weight of the burden so they can pull it much easier. So the image of Christ’s yoke lightening the heavy burdens of life is a comforting one. Yoke can also symbolize the learning and teaching of God’s word. Some teachers can be taskmasters and lack empathy or compassion for their students so they weigh them down with heavy burdens. Jesus is different, he is humble and gentle at heart, so instead of giving his followers a heavy burden of sternness, judgement and legalism, he offers them grace, mercy and love. Our souls can find rest and peace, and a joyful love of learning God’s word, trusting in such an understanding and caring teacher as Jesus. So it is for Myra, she is now resting and peaceful, the illness that was so heavy for her has been removed thanks to Jesus. I expect that she also joyfully loves what she is learning now in her new state of being.  

   Now we come to our passage from John’s Gospel and claim the promise that Jesus offers for Myra, for you and for me: “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying.” What a wonderful promise this is! A promise worth believing and staking our lives on it. God, through the Person of Jesus our Messiah has acted in an ultimate and definitive way by raising Jesus from the dead. One day, Jesus promises those who believe in him that they too shall share in a resurrection like his; life with a capital L; life eternal.

   May we all be granted the gift of faith to believe in Jesus’ promise as we live in the hope today and in the future of resurrection life. Amen.   

Rev. Gardner C. Taylor died on Easter Sunday

One of the distinguished preachers in the English language, The Rev. Dr. Gardner C. Taylor, died on April 5, 2015-Easter Sunday. He was an important mentor for Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., as well as for many white preachers. Read the whole thing and watch a PBS video here. 

My New Ebook

Today I am "self-publishing my new ebook, Salt for Sermons. Check it out at the page link above.

Homiletics professor and preacher Fred Craddock dies

One of the outstanding homiletics professors and preachers of the twentieth and early twenty-first century, Fred Craddock, has recently died at 86 years of age. 

   He was a creative teacher and preacher, who emphasized what became known as “inductive preaching.” This form of preaching involved the listeners to make their own conclusions concerning the ending of the sermon, which Craddock often left open-ended. Craddock was a master at story-telling—I highly recommend his book of anecdotes called Craddock Stories. Since he often told stories and parables, he was also regarded as an inspirational model of "narrative preaching." 

   I never had the privilege of meeting him in person or studying under him. However, I have viewed a couple of videos of him available online—you can Google his name to find them. What I like about him is his folksy, down-to-earth style, and his southern U.S. drawl. He truly was a servant of God who blessed and inspired many a preacher and parishioner. LORD rest eternal grant your servant Fred Craddock. 

   Perhaps the following video will inspire you in your preaching (if you’re a preacher), as well as encourage you in your faith journey. 

The joy of music

Last night we attended fundraising event at Augustana Campus, the University of Alberta, and

Ava Numminen

the keynote speaker, a music professor, referred to a study done on adult non-singers by Ava Numminen and her colleagues at the University of Helsinki.

   Among other things, here are a few things Numminen and her colleagues learned from their research of theology students.

   Non-singers are not necessarily born non-singers, they stopped singing because of some kind of negative experience in their past, often in their childhood.

   The negative experiences had emotional and belief system consequences for these non-singers.

   The research leans toward debunking the stereotypical premise that one can either sing or one cannot sing—implicit is the premise that most people can sing.

   The research successfully demonstrated that non-singers, given an encouraging environment, and music teachers who inspired them could sing, and even improve their singing.

   Once the non-singers discovered that they could sing, they were willing to sing more, as well as sing in public—e.g. in choirs, and soloists, and liturgical church music.

   The act of singing helps singers to discover the joy of music.

   I find it a sad cultural trend in our society that fewer people sing as often as previous generations did. Other research has discovered that music enhances our health physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.

   Read the article by Ava Numminen and her colleagues here. 

[Image from: http://www.terapiahuonemielentila.fi/ava.php ]

Prayer of the Day/Collect for 2nd Sunday in Lent Yr B

God of life, as we journey through the Lenten season, make us ever aware of our calling to follow where

Image by GW-H 

Jesus leads us by a life of self-denial and cross-bearing. Help us to walk with you Jesus as you reveal yourself to us through the sufferings of the poor, sick, forgotten, lost, last and least in our midst and around the globe. For it is in losing life for your sake and the sake of the gospel that we gain real, lasting and abundant life; through Jesus the cross-bearing Messiah. Amen.