3.2.22b 4.19.2023 Funeral of Linda Points

Song=Unchained Melody

Welcome,Scripture, Invocation=Bob Beckman

Welcome

Scripture

1 Corinthians 13:1–13 (ASV)

1 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am become sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 And if I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profiteth me nothing. 4 Love suffereth long, and is kind; love envieth not; love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, 5 doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not its own, is not provoked, taketh not account of evil; 6 rejoiceth not in unrighteousness, but rejoiceth with the truth; 7 beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. 8 Love never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall be done away; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall be done away. 9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part; 10 but when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away. 11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child: now that I am become a man, I have put away childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know fully even as also I was fully known. 13 But now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

PRAYER

Now Lindsey Nape, Linda’s grand daughter will say a few words on behalf of the family

Family Words=Lindsey Nape additional

Song=All I Ask of You

At this point Jerry Nape will have a reading, consisting of words written by Jeff Pritchett.

Reading=Jerry Nape (Written by Jeff Pritchett)

Song=And the Grass Won’t Care no more

Message=Bob Beckman

Start

Linda loved Jesus. She loved her Church. She loved to serve. These were some hard wired, immovable, permanent fixtures to her life.

We have heard moving tributes from her family. We have spent time swapping stories. We have cried and laughed. Each of you will cry some more and laugh some more and I cannot speak knowingly about your memories of Linda Points. What I can do is remind you of her faithfulness to and love for Christ. Hope is in Jesus. Linda knew that and her life is a testimony to that hope.

Earlier I read Paul’s beautiful celebration of love. Now I would like to share some of his most profound words about hope.

2 Corinthians 4:16–18 ESV

So we do not lose heart. 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. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

As hard as it is to hear it at this time, as difficult as it is to believe...

Explore: There is glory beyond our grief.

Explain: Paul reminds us of

The Promise of Glory.

This promise reinforces our hearts.

This promise is rooted in our mortality (wasting away)

This promise renews our inner self.

The Preparation for Glory.

The afflictions of this life are temporary

The glory is eternal.

The Glory is beyond compare.

Finally Paul reminds us of the

Permanence of Glory.

The visible vanishes.

The Christian life is largely oriented to the unseen, Spiritual matters of life. Christian faith is about allowing those unseen realities to be our guideposts.

The invisible is eternal.

As good as they are the tangible, physical realities are in decay and finally die. The invisible is eternal, the eternal ground for all life.

Shut Down:

• Each of us, regardless of our current age are moving toward the same inevitable conclusion. So, each of us must prepare as Linda did for what lies beyond. Beyond your grief is God’s Glory. We celebrate that glory even as we grieve because of the promise, because of the process of preparation, because of its permanence.

• May our morning become dancing,

our weeping become laughter,

our sorrow become sweet,

and

our fearfulness

fearlessness.

• Let us bow in prayer together.

Benediction=Bob Beckman

Recessional=Friends Theme Song