Ephesians 1:15-23
15 For this reason,
because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love
toward all the saints, 16 I do not cease to give thanks for you,
remembering you in my prayers, 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of
revelation in the knowledge of him, 18 having the eyes of your hearts
enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has
called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the
saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward
us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20 that
he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him
at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and
authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named,
not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 And he put all
things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the
church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in
all.
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Each of us is here
today because we had a connection with Lynn. In some way, shape or
form she touched our lives, and so we gather today to remember her,
to celebrate her, and to honor her. I knew her as her pastor, for
she had been a member of New Hope Presbyterian for almost forty
years, and I had the honor of being her pastor for 6 of those years.
When I first arrived at New Hope, she was recovering from her initial
treatment of breast cancer, and she graciously welcomed me into her
home, a place filled with love and beauty.
This passage from
Ephesians brings Lynn’s life to mind because of the way that it
ends. It’s a prayer Paul has written for the church in Ephesus,
and in it he is praying for unmitigated blessing for the church. To
bless someone is to wish for the very best for them. Paul concludes
this section by reminding the church that it is the fullness of
Christ that fills each and every one of us.
And I cannot help but
think of the way that Lynn filled our lives.
She filled her home
with treasures, like the rocks that she had been collecting ever
since she was a little girl, rocks that found their way home from all
around the world, rocks that served as reminders of the places she
had been and rocks that reminded her of the beauty of the world
outside. One only needed to take a step into that backyard to see
the way Lynn appreciated beauty. Flowers bloomed throughout the
summer and animals curiously came to see the beauty that filled the
place.
But Lynn wasn’t just
about filling a house and a yard with beauty. She also filled spaces
with joy, she filled relationships with laughter and love, and she
filled the needs of those around her.
Lynn was the one whose
classroom was affectionately referred to as Las Vegas, because it
filled the hallways with noise and the clutter of happy students and
teachers who were always getting in trouble.
Lynn was the one who
invested in relationships, in people, who took the time to listen and
to share her genuine heart with the people around her. She was
always thinking of the needs of others, be it the nurse who cared for
her in the ICU or the students whom she took shopping for clothes,
groceries or Christmas presents. She filled the space between
herself and others by pouring herself out, giving her genuine concern
and love to those around her, be it the children at the church Trunk
or Treat or the ones at the preschool she started at New Hope so many
years ago. She loved puns, describing brushes as ‘hair’looms and
always believed she could make a short story a long one. She filled
the space, and we loved her for it.
As her days came to a
close, she filled her time with prayer, witnessing of her faith to
the nurses around her, ever concerned for Roger, for her children and
grandchildren, always the teacher and always the caregiver. Roger’s
cute little red-headed girl was one always looking to fill others.
In return, Christ
filled her. He filled her with love and grace and beauty and wonder,
and she poured it out into the world, and Christ gave her more.
That’s how God works—he’s always more generous than we can be,
ever more gracious and free than we imagine. He enlightens the eyes
of our hearts and pours out the riches of his glorious inheritance on
those who believe. All of this, he does because he loves us.
It was God who gave
Lynn the strength and courage and dignity with which she lived, with
which she died. I do not believe that cancer was a battle that she
lost. It was a beast that claimed her life, but cancer
underestimates the strength and power of God, for God filled Lynn
with grace and strength, with which she faced cancer every day, and
when she came to the end it was Lynn who triumphed over cancer, over
death, because in Christ, Lynn shares in his victory over death. In
Christ, there is no final death, for life and light and love and
grace have the final word. Lynn spent her whole life practicing for
the life eternal, and I expect that she, as we all will be, is caught
up in unapproachable light and beauty, the throne room of God.
Lynn, in the completion
of her baptism, trod upon death on her way into eternal life. She
passed through the veil and now sees clearly the light and life of
God. There is no death, no pain, no cancer, no mourning and no
tears. We will hold onto those tears, because she needs them not.
She has reached the fullness of God’s joy, and shall dwell there
forever.
This is the promise of
God to all who believe, to all who accept Christ the Lord as King &
Savior. When we give him our life, when we hand him our broken
selves, he fixes us. He restores us and redeems us, promising us
abundant life, eternal life. He takes our eyes away from fear and
fixes them on hope. He turns us from our sinful past and encourages
us to look toward our expectant future, a future where there is no
place for death. In Christ, there is no death, because his death was
a final victory over death. In dying, he gives us life, and Lynn
accepted that promise, the same promise that is offered to each and
every one of us.
Lynn walks with Christ,
in joyous eternity, singing the praises of God forever. May we,
those left behind to mourn, celebrate the beauty that God placed
within Lynn, for she was made in the image of God. May we give
thanks for the dignity and joy with which she lived, and may we also
remember to be grateful that there are no more tears and no more
tumors for her, for she has been bound up, made well, and restored to
true life in Christ forever.
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