Art Funeral Message
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intro
intro
A Psalm of David.
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness
for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.
OBITUARY
Arthur Cavallo was born on December 28, 1949 in Brooklyn, NY to Angelina (Arato) and Arthur Cavallo.
Art passed away on January 18, 2024 at CHI, St. Alexius Health, Devils Lake Hospital.
Art spent 25 years in the Air Force being stationed all over the world. In Germany he met his wife Brigitte Born and they had 50 years together.
In 1988 he was named top fuels superintendent of the Air Force. After the Air Force he went to Minot State and graduated with Honors in Addiction Studies. He worked at UniMed Hospital and Trinity Hospital in Minot mostly with adults with addictions. In 2001 he graduated from Central Michigan with a Masters Degree. In 2002 he moved the family to Devils Lake and started working at the Lake Region Human Service Center. He had a special affinity working with adolescents .
After Art retired he and his wife traveled extensively all over the world.
Art is survived by his wife Brigitte, his sons Jason (Sara), Andrew (Jen) and Nicholas (Stephanie) Cavallo as well as his daughters Dominique Cavallo and Veronica (Aaron) Pinnick and 6 grandchildren Jake, Nora, Luke, Ben, Martin and Vincent.
transition
reception announcement
INTRODUCTION
It's a scary thing to walk where you can't see. When the power's off and the lights are out and you're feeling your way through the dark-ness, it's uncomfortable not knowing if your next step might be into a doorjamb or onto your child's skateboard. It's just no fun to move around in darkness. It's like taking a sudden turn into a dark cave, where grief and questions form thick darkness but where there are no light switches. In such a time and place, one can see only with eyes of faith.
A father was standing outside his burning home, shouting up to his five-year old son, who was trapped in a second story window. "Jump son! Jump! I'll catch you."
The boy, choking on smoke, replied, "But, Daddy, I can't see you.
"I know," his father called, "but I can see you." When the lad jumped into his daddy's arms, he did so not because he saw but because he trusted. That's faith.
1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
One of the hardest tests of faith in a time like this is to believe that death is not the end, that today, right now, Art is more alive than he ever has been before, and that all who share his faith in Jesus will be rejoined together. It's hard to have faith when you're surrounded by black limousines and funeral flowers and caskets. But we can, and God calls us to do so. He calls us to the confident assurance that what we hope for in the face of death is waiting for us, although we cannot see it up ahead. How can we have such eyes of faith?
A story about Jesus in Mark 5 gives us two answers.
CHOOSE TO FOCUS ON THE HEALER, NOT THE DESPAIR
21 And when Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered about him, and he was beside the sea. 22 Then came one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name, and seeing him, he fell at his feet 23 and implored him earnestly, saying, “My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well and live.” 24 And he went with him. And a great crowd followed him and thronged about him.
35 While he was still speaking, there came from the ruler’s house some who said, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?” 36 But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe.” 37 And he allowed no one to follow him except Peter and James and John the brother of James.
The people around Jairus were consumed entirely by the dark circumstances surrounding the little girl's death. They were in the cave. All they could talk about was the tragedy of her untimely passing. They were focused on only the hurt.
But Jesus wanted Jairus to focus, not on the hurt but on the Healer.
Sometimes faith begins by stuffing your ears with cotton to the despair of those with no faith.
Instead, Jesus told Jairus, "do not fear, only believe." He didn't want Jairus to listen to only the audible and see only the visible. He wanted Jairus to have eyes of faith. He wanted Jairus to believe that there is more to life and death than meets the eye.
On the wall a concentration camp a condemned prisoner wrote.
“I believe in the sun, even though it doesn't shine. I believe in love, even when it isn't shown. I believe in God, even when He doesn't speak.”
There was a man who believed that there is more to life than meets the eye. There was a man who lit a candle of faith. There was a man who focused not on the hurt but on the Healer. That's also what Jesus wants for you today. Ignore the inner voices of despair that pull your eyes exclusively to the here and now. Don't be afraid; only believe. Focus on the Healer, not the despair. When we focus on the Healer, we're ready for the second part of the answer.
LOOK AT DEATH FROM THE HEALER'S PERSPECTIVE, NOT A HUMAN PERSPECTIVE
38 They came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and Jesus saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. 39 And when he had entered, he said to them, “Why are you making a commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but sleeping.” 40 And they laughed at him. But he put them all outside and took the child’s father and mother and those who were with him and went in where the child was.
From Jesus perspective, the girl was not dead, just asleep. Sleep is not a permanent condition, and to God, neither is death. It's just a necessary step in passing from this world to the next. It's not an end but a beginning. That's what the Bible says:
50 I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.
When we see death, we see disaster. When Jesus sees death, He sees deliverance. However, instead of waking the little girl up in heaven, Jesus chose on this particular occasion to wake her up again back in this world. He did so that we might learn to see with eyes of faith:
41 Taking her by the hand he said to her, “Talitha cumi,” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.” 42 And immediately the girl got up and began walking (for she was twelve years of age), and they were immediately overcome with amazement. 43 And he strictly charged them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.
If, from God's perspective, death is deliverance and not disaster, why did He raise this little girl from the dead? Certainly not for her sake, for she was better off in heaven. He raised her for our sake. God knows that you and I must often walk in darkness and that faith doesn't come easily or naturally. In the face of death, God knows that we need the assurance that death is not the last act.
I believe that Jesus raised this little girl, not as a promise that He will do the same in this world for every loved one who dies but as a sign that death has no victory against the Almighty God. That brings us great comfort, for what we now know Jesus can do —that is, for all who have faith in Him, raise the dead—He has promised that He will do at the end of time. That's the Healer's perspective: death is temporary, resurrection is coming, life is forever. If you look at death from God's perspective, you, too, can see with eyes of faith. As the apostle Paul wrote,
18 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.
EVANGELISTIC CONCLUSION
Like Jairus, put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ!
How can we see with eyes of faith? How can we have the certainty that what we hope for is waiting for us, although we cannot see it up ahead? By focusing in this hour on the Healer, not the despair. By looking at death from the Healer’s perspective, nor man’s. Did you notice that both steps involve the Healer, Jesus Christ? In the dark face of death, without Him, nothing is important, and with Him nothing is impossible. This much is obvious to those who see with eyes of faith.
May I ask you a question? Are you seeing with eyes of faith at this moment, or are you groping in the dark cave without even a candle to light? If you are doing the latter, please take to heart these words of Jesus:
13 No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. 16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
I have news for you. Art believed in Jesus Christ, the same Jesus Christ who took a little dead girl by the hand and called her back into time. Because of Art’s belief in Jesus, Jesus has taken him by the hand and into eternal life. We know that He can do it! And we believe His promise that He will.
What about you? Do you see with eyes of faith? Like Jairus, is your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ? Like Art’s, is your trust in Jesus Christ? If not, I invite you to put it there. Don't be afraid. Just believe. “For whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
Pray