Prelude Music:

Psalm 23

Solo Selection: "Beautiful Isle of Somewhere"

Prayer: Our Heavenly Father, we are so grateful that we can come before You this day with such great confidence in your grace and mercy offered through Jesus Christ. You know we are here to remember the earthly life of one we love, yet we also want to contemplate that her life has now become a part of eternity with You. We ask that You might help us in whatever way You deem right to be vividly aware of your presence and the great privilege that it is to be your children. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

______________________________ was born August 21, 1905, in Kimball, South Dakota to _____________ and ____________. She was the third of nine children.

_____ moved to Alsea, Oregon when she was eleven, then to Falls City Oregon in 1945 and to our own town of Sweet Home in 1970. She also lived in several other small towns.

______ met _______  in Lobster Valley, Oregon, near Alsea while he and his father were in the area trading horses. The couple was married on April 5, 1925 in Falls City, Oregon. They had eleven children of their own, of which three died at birth. There were also three step children. They were married 65 years.

______ is survived by brother _______ , Oregon, daughters ______________________; Sons ________________________________; Fifty-two grandchildren; one hundred thirty one great grandchildren, one hundred twenty two great, great grandchildren, and three great, great, great grandchildren. (I must confess that I have never in all my time had the privilege of mentioning any great, great, great grandchildren at a memorial service.)

________ is preceded in death by her husband ________; daughters _________________________; sons _________________________.

___________ was a member of the congregation that meets in this building, the Hwy 20 Church of Christ. She and her daughter, ___________, were baptized into Christ on February 28^th, 1980.  ___________faithfully attended services right up until her graduation to glory. Her last service attended was December 10^th, 2006. She passed peacefully into the arms of Jesus nine days later, on December 19^th. She was one hundred and one years old. God certainly blessed here with long life.

Solo Selection: "Take My Hand Precious Lord"

I’ll share a few of the family’s remembrances with you that were shared with me, then open it up to any of you who might wish to add something that you remember about __________.

Both _____ and _______communicated how much they loved and appreciated their mother. They told me that she was a good mom who, though she could be stubborn sometimes, had a soft heart for each of her children. They spoke of times when their dad would send them out to hoe the weeds in the garden and how, after a time of listening to their whining and grousing, mom would come out and tell them they could go play and she would finish the garden. _____ said, "She was an excellent mother."__________ said of his mom: "She was one of the best."

In talking to the family I learned something about ___________’s good sense of humor. Apparently when _____ and _____ were dating they would sometimes drive _______’s van, which had a bench seat in the front. They often took her along with them when they went out. (And once in awhile she would stay home so they would have a "real date.") Anyway, one time as they were getting ready to get into the car, ________ remarked jokingly, "I guess I bought the right car. All of us can sit in the front."

I guess, too, that ________in her younger years had a reputation for driving, well… how should I put this… let’s just say she didn’t tarry. If she got ahead of you, I was told, you’d better be ready to stick right with her or you would be left behind. One time many years ago she was pulled over by a policeman in a road block who asked her if she had a driver’s license. In those days a driver’s license cost fifty cents to buy and there was no test. She told the officer that she didn’t have a driver’s license. He asked her why and she said she just never got around to getting one. He wrote her a ticket that ended up costing her five dollars. _________ was upset when she told him, but not because the couple had to pay the five dollars. He was upset because she had been able to get by driving all those years for only five dollars and he had paid out more than that at fifty cents a year! That was, by the way, the end of her "life of crime."

________ loved to crochet and read when her eyes were good. She loved to attend church and in the latter years she would ask _______ and _______ two or three times during the week whether it was Sunday or not. She prayed aloud every night – loud enough, I’m told, so that all those in the house knew she was praying. "Walkers and canes," she said, were for "old people," and she resisted using them as long as she could.

Now we want to give any of you who would like to take the opportunity to speak up for __________. You may stand where you are or come up here and share a remembrance of her.

(Sharing)

We’ll close the sharing there. Thanks to those of you who spoke. I know there may have been others of you who would have spoken for her had you been able. _________ will be missed by many but we need not despair. She was a Christian and her trust in Christ during her life here has now begun to pay its dividends. We need not feel sad.

The family asked me to read the following poem.

I still hear the songs
I still see the lights
I still feel your love
On cold wintry nights
I still share your hopes
And all of your cares
I’ll even remind you
To please say your prayers

I just want to tell you
You still make me proud
You stand head and shoulders
Above all the crowd
Keep trying each moment
To stay in His grace
I came here before you
To help set your place

You don’t have to be
Perfect all of the time
He forgives you the slip
If you continue the climb
To my family and friends
Please be thankful today
I’m still close beside you
In a new special way
I love you all dearly
Now don’t shed a tear
Cause I’m spending my
Christmas with Jesus this year

(John William Mooney, Jr.)

Let me take you briefly to the wise words of King Solomon in Ecclesiastes 12:1-7:

In highly figurative language here, Solomon is speaking of the onset of old age. Living in a time when there was no modern medicine to help take at least some of the edge off of aging, he speaks of the "evil days" of old age when life becomes difficult and painful so that there is, as he says, "no delight in them." He continues…

That is probably a poetic picture of failing eyesight when those things that formerly brought light in through the eyes now appear darker and darker.

We in Oregon know that there are those times during winter when one storm after another brings on a bit of melancholy and maybe even a touch of depression as "the clouds return after the rain." In old age that is the way it is. One difficult day follows another.

…in the day that the watchmen of the house tremble, and mighty men stoop,

There is trembling of the hands and legs as age comes upon us. Often older people are stooped over because of weakening bones and muscles.

That is probably a reference to the loss of teeth and failing eyesight.

Perhaps that is a picture of a person who is shut in, with less and less in common with a world that has gone on without him or her or perhaps even one who is, due to physical decline, is unable to leave the house. Since the doors are seldom opened, the outside sounds are muffled and low.

That is probably a picture of insomnia. As we grow older we begin to miss sleep. The slightest sound – even a bird chirping – wakes us and then we can’t go back to sleep.

As we age we develop phobias of high places because we might fall and break something. Hips are broken. Arms, legs, and faces are bruised. We avoid busy roads because we can’t get out of the way quickly enough.

That is probably a picture of impotence. That which once occupied a large part of our lives is now diminished or eliminated altogether.

And then the end of this life comes.

That’s a picture of a funeral. Solomon then mentions some of the major bodily systems that fail and bring death upon us.

The silver cord broken, the golden bowl crushed, the pitcher by the well and the wheel at the cistern broken – perhaps these are poetic pictures of the failing of the circulatory system – The vascular system, the brain, or the heart fails and death comes upon us.

What’s the point of this sobering and rather disheartening portion of the Bible? It’s to help us make sure we don’t forget what is really important – what Solomon cautions us to remember. "Remember your Creator in the days of your youth," he says.

Those who make peace with their Maker and walk with God in their youth find that facing the rigors of old age is easier – if not physically easier, easier in the sense that they can see a brighter day beyond the gathering suffering and darkness.

____________ experienced most of what is pictured here. When she came to church it took two people to get her from the car to the special chair she had in the back. She couldn’t see well. She couldn’t hear. Sometimes she would doze off (Who wouldn’t at one hundred and one years old!) Yet from the time she committed her life to the Lord right to the end, she did not forget her God. "Is it Sunday yet?" she would ask through the week. She didn’t want to miss church! (I have found myself wishing lately that some of what she had might rub off on some of the younger people I know who seem to find every excuse not to be present in the church when it meets.)

We can do little to stop the oncoming effects of old age on all of us, but we can prepare for what is beyond it, because for the Christian, what happens here is only for a season and when that season is over, there will be the removal of pain and suffering. Then one day, there will be a reconstituting of the decayed body and a resurrection to eternal life.

This is what ____________ lived for. As the ravaging of age took it toll, she remembered here Creator. Because of that she could say with the Apostle Paul in 2 Timothy 4:7-8:

What she had that gave her hope is what all of us can have if we accept it – and I leave you with these words: "Remember your Creator in the days of your youth…."

Solo Selection: "Beyond the Sunset"

Prayer: Our Heavenly Father, we thank You for sharing with us the life of our dear Sister ___________. From feel the loss but in our faith we know that from your perspective there is no loss. Your Son died to assure that. Please help us to realize the real issues of life as we go from this place. May we put our trust in you through your Son, Jesus Christ. In His Name we pray. Amen.

Announcement: We will be leaving here momentarily to follow the funeral coach to the Gilliland Cemetery. We will re-gather there for a brief committal service, then, for those of you who would like to join us, we will return to the building here for some food and refreshments. You are all welcome to join us.

*****

As we draw our time together today to a close and pay our final respects to ________ and the life she lived, may I offer some words of comfort from the Scriptures? You have made it obvious by your presence that ____________ was loved and that she will be greatly missed. Many of you will understandably continue to grieve for a time.

As I have already pointed out, _________ was a Christian. Consequently, the Scripture speaks of a day, yet in the future, when this grave that is sealed today will be reopened and this body that is committed to this spot will be resurrected.

Listen to the words of the bible:

Today we commit ___________’s body to this resting place until such time as God chooses to blow the trumpet and raise it once again to life everlasting. Amen!

Shall we pray?

As we depart this place, dear God, help us to never forget our Creator. Help us to always remember that this is the way of all flesh and not one of us will escape it. Yet we can have hope in You because of what Jesus has done for us for life that continues beyond this grave. Bless us now, we pray. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Dave Redick is Minister of the Hwy 20 Church of Christ in Sweet Home, Oregon and Editor of The Preacher's Study. He may be reached at pstudysupport@comcast.net.

Copyright © 1996-2008 by The Preacher's Study. Permission is granted to subscribers to use this document in total or in sermon preparation in the context of the local congregation only. Publishing it in a book, on the Internet, or anyplace beyond the local congregation is prohibited.

All Scripture quotations and references are from the New American Standard Version unless otherwise stated.

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