Funeral for Alvin Murphy

Funeral service for Alvin Lee Murphy

In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Brothers and sisters in Christ: grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

When you first come to a new church, you meet a lot of people. A lot of people telling you their names, and where you’ll run into them. “I’m in the choir” or “I’m on the stewardship committee”. It’s fun and confusing and overwhelming at times…but it’s neat to see how a church family all fits together. And you learn about who has talents for certain things.

Alvin Murphy was one of the first people I met in this congregation. I’m sure the first thing he did was offer me the candy bowl before the service on the first Sunday I visited here. Those little sugary goodies before the service were always a nice little pick-me-up before coming into worship. And he always had just a little grin on his face and a twinkle in his eye when he was offering someone candy. When you stick your hand in the candy basket, everyone’s just a big kid in that moment.

As I got to know Alvin, he made it clear to me that he enjoyed working with his hands. He liked to make things and fix things. When the lock in the front door got stuck, someone would tell me “call Alvin”, and I did, and he would come right by and tear that door handle apart and put it back together so it’d work again. When the New Year kicked off and it was time for Lent, this great big wooden cross would mysteriously appear in the sanctuary with another one in the front yard. I didn’t ask…someone just put them up because it was time for it to be done. That someone was Alvin.

And he was proud of this church. He has let me borrow (for far too long) his book on Catawba Valley history and some background behind this Lutheran church named after the man who donated the land. And the first building was in an unusual shape - either hexagonal or octagonal, depending on who you ask. Alvin concluded that it was 6-sided, and built a scale model of the structure. If you haven’t seen it, we’ll have it on display in the parish hall when you go over to visit the family later. As I read Alvin’s book, I learned that the reason for this unusual shape was so that everyone in the church was equally distant from the altar - both white Lutherans and black Lutherans. The traditional building would force the black worshippers to the balcony. What a wonderful history behind the shape of this building!

Alvin’s last year has been pretty difficult for him and his family. His body began to deterioriate, and he couldn’t do all the things he used to do - and liked to do - for his church family. Those things he did were how he served his Lord and Savior. But as St. Paul told his church in Corinth: “Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen.”

Alvin’s suffering for the last few months, as hard as it was, is over, and Paul is guiding us to look ahead to what God has promised. Over the next week, we will remember the last days before our Lord was crucified - a suffering unlike anything most humans will ever experience. And the most important part of that week will be when we remember Christ’s death on the cross, and all that His crucifixion means for us as Christians. It was that suffering and death that He took upon himself - a death that we actually deserved for our sins - that cleared away everything that got in the way of our relationship to our Heavenly Father. It was that painful death that Jesus willingly subjected himself to that ensured that we would not ever have to feel God’s wrath ourselves.

But the death of Jesus of Nazareth on that Good Friday so long ago was not the end of the story. The Sunday morning that came after that, when his closest friends went to the tomb, they found not only had the giant stone that had been placed in front of the entrance to keep everyone out…well that stone had been rolled away, and the tomb was empty. This is the best part of Jesus’ story: death couldn’t hold him. The empty tomb was proof that God has completely defeated death and the grave. Death is not the end. Death does not have the final word.

Because Jesus defeated death, then we know now what God has in store for us. In a few minutes, we will recite together the words of our statement of faith - our “creed”. In it, we say that we believe in “the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting.” At the beginning of the service, we heard the words “if we are united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.” This is what God has done for us - He gave His Only Son to die for us, and then raised Him from the dead. This was a glimpse of the future He has planned for all of His children. It is an assurance that we will all be raised one day, our bodies resurrected, and all the bad, ill, broken, and weak will all be made well. These glorified bodies will be for us to enjoy that life everlasting — to be reunited with our loved ones, and for all of us to be with God for eternity.

We will miss Alvin. It’s ok to be sad about that. Even Jesus wept when his friend died. But we don’t need to be afraid. We know that we will see Alvin again. We know that God has promised that we will be together again… and God always keeps His promises. “Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” This is the word of Christ Himself. He also told us that He is going to prepare a place for us…in His Father’s house with many rooms. And if any of those rooms have doors with a broken handle, well…I’m certain Alvin will offer to take a look at it and have it working again in a snap.

In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.