Meditation for Magda Hogewoning's Memorial Service
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Of David. 1 I give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart; before the gods I sing your praise; 2 I bow down toward your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness; for you have exalted your name and your word above everything. 3 On the day I called, you answered me, you increased my strength of soul. 4 All the kings of the earth shall praise you, O Lord, for they have heard the words of your mouth. 5 They shall sing of the ways of the Lord, for great is the glory of the Lord. 6 For though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly; but the haughty he perceives from far away. 7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve me against the wrath of my enemies; you stretch out your hand, and your right hand delivers me. 8 The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands.
11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. 13 The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. 14 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. 17 The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”
3 I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
1 Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” 5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6 He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life.
Magda’s family asked if I would base my message this afternoon on Psalm 138, particularly v. 8. In my visits with Magda she mentioned to me how this verse had a special place in her heart. It served as the wedding text of her parents, and it was also a text that was read when she publically professed her faith in Jesus Christ; an event that took place almost 51 years ago here in this sanctuary.
Magda was a life-long member of the New Westminster Christian Reformed Church. She was born 6 months before the meeting that marked the official beginning of our church in Oct. 1952. She joined our newly formed congregation as the infant daughter of Simon and Catharina.
When I first began my ministry at this congregation in Sept. 2009, Magda was serving as one of our Elders. She was a great blessing to have around the table because she was so familiar with the history of our church and with most all of our members; past and present. For this new pastor, when I would ask about a particular family or individual, Magda’s experience and recollections were invaluable.
When I began my ministry here, Magda was in her late 50’s. And it soon became apparent to me that she was someone who had a special appreciation and fondness for the many senior members of our congregation. She knew them all since she was a young girl. As an Elder she wanted to make sure their voice was never lost in our discussions or in our decisions. On matters of worship, singing, reading creeds and forms, pastoral visits, Magda reminded us to make sure that our worship repertoire was never such that our senior’s felt left out or left behind. I appreciated that quality in Magda.
In fact, in one of the visits I had with Magda, this just a few days before she died, we talked about one of those seniors in particular. Who it was isn’t important, in fact they were called home by the Lord almost 15 years ago. But Magda shared some concern that she had about how one of our Elders dealt with a matter that concerned this particular senior. She needed to share it with me so that she could have peace about the matter. She knew her time was short and she wanted to make sure that I was aware so that if necessary I could reach out to the family of that now deceased senior make sure there were no unresolved issues. That’s Magda. Carrying that little detail for more than 15 years and wanting to make sure it was addressed. Thankfully I could assure her that already some years ago I was able to reach out to that family member which Magda was very grateful to hear.
Now you might be wondering why I share that story with you. It’s because as I’ve come to know Magda, I came to know a woman who genuinely cared about matters and especially people who might describe as being behind the scenes, on the periphery, or easily overlooked. Magda was drawn to people who could be easily overlooked.
In my last visit with her when she was still conscience, this on the Monday night before she died, we had a lovely visit together. We all knew it likely very soon that God would call her home, and yet by God’s grace, though she was physically very weak, she still had a very clear mind and could express what she was thinking. There were two people people she mentioned to me, both women who you could say are on the periphery of our congregation. She knew that news of her condition would be a real shock to them and she wondered if she should still have them come visit in person so that she could say goodbye to them. She didn’t want them to feel hurt because they didn’t have a chance to say goodbye. I told her that I didn’t think it was necessary that they come, they would certainly understand. She said to me....how about I leave the decision until tomorrow. I’ll see if I have enough strength tomorrow and then you can reach out to me and I’ll let you know. Well, the very next day, Magda’s condition took a sharp turn and she was no longer able to communicate.
And it struck me....two days before she died Magda was concerned about these two lovely women who were her friends and she wanted to make she that they wouldn’t feel hurt because they couldn’t say goodbye. That was Magda.
On that same visit, I had the privilege of delivering a card to Magda from a member in our
congregation. I offered to read it to her since she couldn’t read it on her own. It was a beautiful expression of how Magda’s life impacted her’s and of how the Lord used Magda to bring encouragement and faith into this woman’s life. Magda’s response was very self-deflecting: “Oh that’s nice.... I guess you never realize how the little things that you do in life can bless another person.” Yes, that was Magda.
Today we gather to thank the Lord for the gift that she was to us. And we grieve her sudden death. We all feel we lost her too soon, she could still have been a blessing to many others. And we bring our loss and sadness to the Lord.
I don’t know about you, but I’m so grateful that we can do that. We can bring our loss and sadness to the Lord. I’m reminded of what Peter says to Jesus at one point when he also felt a sense of heaviness and sadness, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”
Friends, I hope that all of us here today can say the same words that the apostle Peter does, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”
Magda believed and knew deeply in her spirit that Jesus Christ is the Holy One of God who alone has the words of eternal life. And I know she would want all of us to know and believe in Him as well. She would want all of us here in this service to encounter the living Lord Jesus and find comfort, hope, and life in HIM.
When we talked about this service together, Magda said to me, just a simple service please....don’t make it too much about me....tell them about Jesus!
So in my remaining time I’m going to tell you about Jesus. And I want to do that in the words of Psalm 138:8… the verse that had a deep significance for Magda....
8 The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands.
Three lines:
The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me
Your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever
Do not forsake the work of your hands.
The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me. One of the great truths that we encounter in the Bible is that our lives are intended by God to have purpose. In the very beginning God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, so that they may multiply and fill the earth, and rule over the earth, caring for it and drawing out from it’s bounty what is good and necessary for communities that flourish.” (Gen 1) We read elsewhere that God “created us in our mother’s womb” and that he has a plan and purpose for our life. The Bible says, “You Lord, search my going out and my lying down, you are familiar with all my ways.” “All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” (Psalm 139) Jesus says to us, “I have come so that you might have life and have it in abundance.” (John 10:10) Listen to what the prophet Isaiah writes, “Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.” Finally, in Romans 8 we read, “we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
Our dear sister lived with a strong trust in the Lord and a strong conviction that his purpose was being carried out even though her death had come much sooner than she had hoped for or expected. “My life is in the Lord’s hands” she said to me more than once in my last visits with her.
In that simple confession of trust, I hear exactly what Paul writes to the church in Philippi, which we read earlier,
6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
God is committed to carrying out his purpose for our lives. The good work he began he will certainly carry on to completion until that day when Christ returns or calls us home.
Friends, do you live believing that your life has a purpose? And if so, where does that purpose come from? Do we get to make it up for ourselves? And if so, how do know it right or good or noble of satisfying or fulfilling? Almost every psychologist and therapist today will say that our youth and young adults today are experiencing a mental health crisis. Now I’m well aware that the reasons for that are varied and complex..... there are no quick fixes or simple explanations. But imagine growing up in a cultural context were one’s sense of purpose for living is based largely on an individuals own longings or desires, longings and desires that too often ebb and flow with the ups and downs of one’s feelings and emotions.
Years ago John Stott wrote a book called, “Why I Am a Christian”. And at one point he talks about a man named Victor Frankl.
This is what Viktor Frankl found when, as a young man, he spent three years in the Auschwitz concentration camp. He noticed that the inmates most likely to survive their ordeal were those ‘who knew that there was a task waiting for them to fulfil’. He quotes Nietzsche’s assertion that ‘he who has a why to live for can bear almost any how’.
We are reminded that the Lord has a purpose for your life and mine. One particular document that is dear to many in our tradition says that our purpose is “to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” And we can only do that when we believe deeply that “we are not our own but belong body and soul in life and in death to our faithful Saviour Jesus Christ”.
Friends, place you hand in the Hand of our Lord Jesus Christ.... he meets us in our grief and sadness and says, “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you REST.”
The Lord will fulfill His purpose for you.
Your steadfast love O Lord, endures forever.
You know, one of the great truths of the Christian faith is that we come to know the purpose that God has for your life and mine, when we encounter the steadfast love of the Lord that is revealed to us in Jesus Christ. In v. 8 that word translated “love” or “steadfast love” or “lovingkindness” or “loyal love” is a word that captures an essential characteristic of the God revealed in the Bible. Unlike the gods of the nations that surrounded Israel, gods who were vengeful, angry, fearsome, and unpredictable, God revealed himself to his people as loving and merciful.
First to Moses:
Exodus 34:6 (NIV)
6 And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.
And through the psalmists:
5 For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.
17 But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children—
In fact that that is precisely how John describes Jesus as he begins his Gospel.
John 1:14 (NIV)
14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace (that’s an english translation of the greek word for lovingkindness )and truth.
In Jesus Christ, God entered human history as God incarnate, and we saw the Glory of God, full of grace…full of steadfast love.
And how do we know this love? How did Jesus show us this love?
Well that passage I read from John’s gospel ch. 10 captures it well for us. Jesus says I am the good Shepherd. I know my sheep and my sheep know me. And what does this good shepherd do for us? He lays down his life for his sheep.
Again, let me quote from that book by John Stott:
Why I Am a Christian 2. The Quest for Significance
His whole mission demonstrated the value he placed on people. He treated everybody with respect—women and men, children and adults, the sinner and the righteous. For he was the good shepherd, he said, who missed only one lost sheep and risked danger and death to find it. So he went to the cross, deliberately and voluntarily, to lay down his life for his sheep. Nothing can convince us of our personal significance like the cross of Christ. As Archbishop William Temple put it, ‘my worth is what I am worth to God, and that is a marvellous great deal, for Christ died for me’.
That dear friends is the supreme demonstration of God’s steadfast love for us.... and because Jesus defeated death, all of those who trust him, who submit to him, who recieve him as Saviour and Lord, will experience this steadfast loyal love of the Lord, forever....eternally in His presence, precisely where our dear sister Magda is right now.
Finally, the psalmist prays....Lord, do not abandon the work of your hands. Through Jesus Christ God’s work is to put to rights a world that has been broken and corrupted by human sin and rebellion. His work is to call men and women into restored relationship with Him so that they can join Him is his restoring and redeeming work.... God’s work is to gather a great multitude of people from every nation, and language, and culture, to find life and hope and purpose and peace in Him alone.
And the Bible ensures us that he will never abandon that work. In fact we are given a magnificent picture at the very end of the Biblical story of God’s completed and glorious work. We read it earlier in Rev. 21: 1-6
Revelation 21:1–6 (NIV)
1 Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” ... And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” 5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” ... He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life.
Today, we are invited to drink from the spring of the water of life and the Bible says that the Source of that Spring is none other than Jesus Christ. Give your life to him.
A great teacher of philosophy and the Bible, Dr. Dallas Willard writes about an experience he once had while teaching at a ministers conference....
".... one minister asked me what was the human issue, irrespective of church life or religion, that Jesus came to address. This is the question facing the Christian church today. My answer was this: Jesus came to respond to the universal human need to know how to live well. He came to show us how through reliance on him we can best live in a the universe as it really is. This is why he said, "I came to that they may have life, and have it abundantly" (John 10:10). His supremacy lies in the greatness of the life he gives to us. Putting Jesus Christ into a worldwide competition with all known alternatives is the only way we can give our faith a chance to prove his power over the whole of life." (Dallas Willard, Hearing God, 212.
Throughout her life, our dear sister Magda came to know how to live well in reliance on Jesus. “His supremacy lies in the greatness of the life he gives to us.”
He offers that life to all of us here today. Take hold of that life, reach out to him, invite Him to be your Good Shepherd, and receive comfort, peace, purpose and joy, what the Bible calls life in abundance that endures forever.
In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, AMEN.