Effie Zielinski Homily

Homily

Good afternoon, everyone. I stand before you all today with a heavy heart. Ms. Effie Zielinski was a rock for both my wife and I. For this service, we decided to block off a special row to my left, your right. This row was were Mr. Pete and Ms. Effie sat EVERY Sabbath. Another fact, Ms. Effie didn’t want me to call her “Ms. Effie.” Every Sabbath, she made it loud and clear.

“Come say hi to your mama.”

“I’m your mama. You know that?”

And a question she asked me frequently: “Son, when’s the next time you’re going to preach? I love hearing you preach.”

Never did I imagine that I would be here sharing the homily at her funeral. From the bottom of my heart, I want to thank the Zielinski family for allowing me and our church family to be a part of this service.

Ms. Effie was a children’s Sabbath School teacher here at this church. For many, an early childhood Sabbath School teacher is the first person to tell them about Jesus. I can distinctly remember my very first Sabbath School teacher—Sister Nancy Anderson. Many of you here might have been a student in Ms. Effie’s Sabbath School class. Many of you might have heard of Jesus for the first time during one of her lessons. Throughout the years, Ms. Effie drew her strength and inspiration from the True Teacher, Jesus Christ. And this afternoon, to provide us with comfort, we are going to learn of 4 lessons of comfort from our Great Teacher.

Jesus was renowned to be a master teacher, sharing messages of hope, love, and comfort, especially to those who were hurting. When someone was experiencing moments of grief and despair, the Savior of the World always knew what to say.

Lesson #1: Jesus is our safe place in time of great pain. The first lesson of Jesus can be found in Matthew 11:28-30. You may know the verse:

Matthew 11:28–30 ESV

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Here, Jesus is calling you and I into His heavenly arms. When the toils of life become heavier than we could bare, Christ calls us to Himself. And this text promises us that we will find rest in His arms. Rest, nowadays, seems like to be like a hard commodity to come by. We are constantly bombarded by job opportunities. Tempted by the lure of money. And even drawn by the reality of being a chronic workaholic. We live our brief lives on this earth, thinking we have to make “something” of ourselves. But sooner of later, life pulls the rug from under us, and we find ourselves in hospital beds, fighting for our last breath.

My friends, Jesus is softly and urgently calling you to rest in Him. You can rest assured in His strength. You can trust Him when you surrender your plans to Him. You can find comfort in Him when you are experiencing deep pain in the loss of a loved one. Our beloved Effie is resting in Jesus now. Sleeping, awaiting for her sweet Jesus to wake her from her slumber and welcome her into the gates of paradise.

I don’t know about you, but I want to be there. I want to rest with Jesus in the beauty of eternity. But Jesus doesn’t withhold this heavenly rest until the end of time. He is offering it to all of us RIGHT NOW. May we hear His calling AND accept His invitation to Himself.

Lesson #2: Jesus is near to the broken hearted. The Bible says in Psalm 34:18-20:

Psalm 34:18–20 ESV

The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken.

There is a video on the internet that shows an elementary school’s music program. Kids are dressed in their best attire, nervously preparing themselves for the music numbers they had been practicing for months. The video is being recorded by a parent of one of the students. The parent spots their young daughter (5-6) in choir, and zooms the camera right into her face. But the daughter visibly looks reserved, nervous, and fearful. She looks desperately through the crowd to see if her loved ones are present. And there’s a moment in the video when the daughter locks eyes with her parent. And the video shows us, the daughter’s face shifts from being brokenhearted and fearful to being excited and joyful. She begins to smile and wave to her parents. And tears of joy start flowing from her eyes. Why? Because the daughter knows that her parents are NEAR in a time of great need.

This is how I imagine our Jesus being close to us in this time. There are many of us here this afternoon, feeling crusted in spirit. It’s especially frustrating when tough times pile one after another, after another, after another. The piles of pain in our lives, at times, grows to sizes that are beyond our ability to bear. And yet, in moments like these, our Jesus reminds us, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all.”

My friend, our Jesus is not only near to us RIGHT NOW, but also willing and able to lift the weight of our pain off of our shoulders. He knows us by name. He knows every little thing we worry about. He knows the various thoughts that we replay over and over in our heads. But none of these things scare Him! He does not hide in the face of our pain. Even more so, Jesus didn’t even hide in the face of DEATH ITSELF! Our third lesson from the Great Teacher:

Lesson #3: Jesus defeated death.

1 Corinthians 15:50–57 ESV

I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

My friends, death has been swallowed up in victory. Death has no more sting upon us. In the life of Ms. Effie, Death did NOT win! Why? Because she loved a Savior that defeated death on the cross. Jesus, our Great Teacher, so urgently reminds us that death is not the end of the story. When we trust in Him…when we surrender all of our hearts to Him…He promises us eternal life NOW and FOREVER. Amen?

And so now, we wait. We wait for the Blessed Hope to come. We wait for the day Jesus will come again. And that leads us to our final lesson from our Great Teacher:

Lesson #4: Jesus is coming again.

Revelation 21:1–4 ESV

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

My friends, Jesus is coming soon! Amen? The Bible tells us that Jesus is coming quickly! That means that He ins’t waiting. He isn’t sitting around. He isn’t fidgeting with His thumbs. Jesus is on His way to restore the world completely. He is coming to forever and always put an end to death, sickness, diseases, division, and evil.

To the wicked, the coming of Christ is scary. To the righteous, the coming of Christ is a victory cry. There may be some of you today who are so desperate to fall into the arms of Jesus. Friend, don’t wait. Jesus calls you to Himself right now. He is willing, able, and longing to hold you in His arms. You are weak. You are exhausted. You are questioning—wondering why in the world would something like this happen. If you feel this way, you are not alone. AND you are just the right person to fall into the arms of Jesus.

Ms. Effie knew Jesus. You could feel it in her presence. The way she carried herself gave testament to her strong faith in Jesus. You can just sense that Ms. Effie was always with Jesus. I am so looking forward to the day I will see Ms. Effie again. To reunite with my Mama. To see Mr. Pete and Ms. Effie embrace again on resurrection morning.

Till then, may we fall into the arms of Jesus.

May we always remember Effie Zielinski throughout our lives. May we remember her as...

A warm hugger.

A loving teacher.

A compassionate mother.

A faithful follower of Jesus.

Amen.