Grandma Good Funeral

· INTRODUCTION: We come together today to remember a very special woman in all our lives. Marjorie Good, or as I knew her, Grandma, was a dear woman to so many of us. Whatever context you knew her in; I think we can agree that she truly was a remarkable woman.

o Marjorie specifically requested that we take a few minutes to consider one of her favorite passages; Isaiah 43:2-5.

o Let me read this for us. “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. 3 For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in exchange for you. 4 Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you, I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life. 5 Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you.”

· I love that passage. Part of why I love it is because of the major theme that we see. We see that God loves us! He knows us, cares for us and loves us!

o We see God’s love as the passage talks about God being with us, protecting us from fire and hard times, ransoming us and saving us, holding us precious and then finally, in GATHERING us.

§ I think this passage really reflects some of the things that make Marjorie so dear to us. To know Marjorie was to know someone who loved deeply, through the easy times and the hard. As we talked as a family, one of the consistent things that kept coming up were stories about how deeply Marjorie loved her family and her savior.

o Ultimately today, we are not here to mourn, but to celebrate! We are here to celebrate the fact that Marjorie has returned home! The Lord has brought her through the waters, through the fire, through pain, has ransomed her and now has brought her home.

§ I want to remind us all at this time of verse 5. “Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you.”

· From East and West, North and South, we have come here today to remember Marjorie’s life and her example to us.

· As we remember her, there are two areas that I want to focus our attention, as we consider these verses from Isaiah 43. We have been gathered here, family and friends all together and I want us to remember Marjorie’s love for us and also, her love for Jesus.

· Marjorie loved family. In recent years, this has become very clear. But, Marjorie’s life was not always easy. When she was a child, her family moved to Detroit, leaving her extended family and friends behind; although God was still near to her.

o After moving to Detroit, her father and her would take walks together. One day, when she was about 7, as they walked, Marjorie asked her father Lawrence about how the Leaning Tower of Pisa stood. See, Marge was curious and a question asker throughout her entire life. She truly was a life-long learner.

§ Her father did not know the answer, so the two of them ended their walk that day at the library and spent the day researching the Leaning tower of Pisa together, learning how it stood. That same spirit was seen as she lived her life every day.

o Her love for family and learning did not end at a young age.

§ It is clear from a short list of some of the things that she accomplished in life that she continued to learn.

§ During her lifetime, amongst many other things, Marjorie:

· Secretary of high school class at Detroit Western High School

· Office Manager at Reynolds and Reynolds

· “Working for the Jacobson’s department store chain in sales and as a bridal consultant, Marjorie became so proficient at assisting women cancer survivors that she became known in newspaper articles and store advertisements as “the Figure Woman” according to the Detroit News.

· For many years was the top bridal consultant at Jacobsen’s in Dearborn and Livonia, Michigan.

· Served as vice – president of the for the North Rosedale Park Women’s Club.

· Volunteer at Christ Hospital

· Sunday school teacher for older women at two different local churches

· Most importantly in her eyes, supported her husband and sons in a way that made our accomplishments truly her accomplishments.

§

o From having the absolute sweetest stories about falling in love with my Grandfather (INSERT A STORY ABOUT GRANDPA), to always being there for us as her grandkids, Marjorie was a loving woman.

§ This last Thanksgiving one night we were sitting around eating dinner, some of her famous Chili, and as often happened, we found ourselves as a family separating. The guys present went into the living room to find a Basketball game that was on and I remember looking back over to the kitchen.

· I saw Grandma with all the ladies sitting there telling stories, giving wisdom and advice, listening, laughing, and loving each one of those women and every moment that she had with them.

· As I think back on that moment, I can’t help but think about Isaiah 43:4, “Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you,”

o Truly, whether it was something that people saw , or something as simple as listening to her granddaughters, helping them with schoolwork, learning to text, or telling them the stories behind her quilts, Grandma found her family precious and she loved us dearly.

o In part because of her love, her family accomplished many things including:

· Her oldest son Tom is the managing partner of a law firm.

·  Her youngest son Matt is Senior Vice President of a national bank

·  Her granddaughter Deborah is a PHD Astro physicist.

·  Her granddaughter Lucy is a 15 year old published and award winning writer.

·  Her granddaughter Betty is a 13 year old mathematician, violinist, writer, and regular lead in her

· school musicals.

·  And, her grandson Daniel is Senior Pastor of a church.

o

o Grandma’s love was not limited to those in her family though.

· In Isaiah 43:2, we see a promise that the Lord will be with us regardless of what we face. Not only did Marjorie believe this, she lived it out. Her knowledge that God was with her was clear in how she treated people around her.

o There was never anyone too far gone for her to help. Whether she was working at Jacobson’s helping cancer-survivors, or if she was on vacation, she genuinely loved people.

o Around 1981 (?), when my Uncle Matt was about 11, the family went on vacation to Washington D.C. As Grandpa was in a meeting, Grandma and Uncle Matt did some sight seeing. They saw a boy who was about 13 in his Boy Scout uniform.

§ As the boy walked, some older boys ran up to him and surrounded him making fun of him for wearing his uniform.

§ Seeing this happen, Marge walked over to them and informed them forcefully that they were not good enough to be talking to this boy, let alone making fun of him! Then, she yelled at them to get lost!

· Immediately, properly afraid of her, these boys ran away and left the Boy Scout alone.

o That’s just who my Grandma was. She had a big heart and she loved everyone that she met. Not only did Grandma know that God was with her, she LIVED IT OUT!

· As much as Grandma loved her family and loved anyone she met, there was someone she loved more; her Savior!

o Grandma knew Jesus deeply and she walked closely with Him. As things took a turn for the worse, my Dad called me. He said, “Do you know what Grandma just told me?”

§ I didn’t and so I asked what she said. What she said has stayed with me since that phone call. Grandma said to my Dad, “Tom, when I get to heaven, I don’t have a list of questions, I just want to say thank you to Jesus.”

· WHAT A POWERFUL STATEMENT!

· Despite all of the challenges, all of the pain in this last year, all Grandma wanted to do was say Thank you to Jesus! That’s a powerful example to each and every one of us.

o Grandma’s walk with Jesus has always been a powerful example, at least to me.

§ For as long as I can remember, Grandma taught Adult Sunday School. Some of my favorite memories with Grandma came around her table, eating Scrambled eggs together while she drank her coffee and she’d read her Sunday school lesson to me.

· No matter what the lesson was about, Grandma would make sure I understood the story and then we’d pray together. To this day, when I read about Absalom in 2 Samuel, I think about Grandma talking about his “LONG FLOWING HAIR AND HIS GOOD LOOKS!”

· That was all a part of who Marjorie was. She loved people and she loved Jesus and she wanted people to love Jesus!

o Earlier, we read a list of accomplishments by her family that she helped with. But there’s one thing that I left off so that we could talk about it now.

§ Both of Marjorie’s sons, both of her daughter’s in law, all four of her grandchildren, and her grand-daughter in law, all walk with the Lord and know Jesus personally, loving HIM as OUR SAVIOR!

§ Of all the accomplishments in the Good family, I don’t think any were as special to her as that.

§ Let’s talk about Jesus, because Jesus is the reason that we come here today with Hope and Joy rather than only sorrow.

· Gospel

o God- The same God talked about in Isaiah 43! He loves us and Cares for us! Hear me, even as we mourn Marjorie being gone, GOD IS WITH US!

o Man- We are made in the image of God, but we have chosen to go our own way and are sinners. Ex. I mentioned Absalom earlier. Absalom rebelled against his own father and killed his brother! We do things that are not right in God’s eyes.

o Jesus- Grandma’s savior and OUR SAVIOR! Jesus was born on earth, lived a perfect life, died for each and every one of us and is now in Heaven where He is preparing a place for us!

§ Grandma’s place is prepared and she is home now! She’s with Jesus rejoicing!

o Salvation- Repent and believe!

o What comes next? Hope! We have hope because we know that we will see Marjorie again.

§ Romans 8:38-39 says, “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

· We will see Marjorie again and nothing will ever separate us from our savior if we put our faith in Jesus!

o As we wrap up our time today, I want to leave us with two things. First, I want to remind us of the hope that we have because of Jesus that we just read about in Romans 8:38-39 and then secondly if you don’t know Jesus, come talk to myself or Ric after this service. I know Marjorie would be thrilled that you want a relationship with HER LOVIING SAVIOR who is also the WONDERFUL COUNSELOR AND GIVES COMFORT IN THESE HARD TIMES!

§ (Pray, sing final song)