Earlene Simmons celebration of life

Bro Eric is unable to make it today but wrote some reflections on Miss Earlene for me to read:

I want to begin by expressing my apologies for my absence. Due to circumstances beyond my control, our family is out of state this weekend.  Pray for our family as we see God’s direction for our next ministry.

Tuesday morning, I had the opportunity to carve time out of my chaplaincy schedule to check on Ms. Earlene. I am so thankful I did.  I am also grateful that the family understands my absence.  Thank you, Janet and Judy both for our conversation on Tuesday

And y’all’s understanding spirit.  Please know that your mom was true friend.

I had the honor and privilege of being Earlene’s pastor for ten amazing years. It was such a tremendous blessing to be a part of her life. I am forever grateful that God saw fit for our lives and stories to be permanently intertwined.  My pastoral ministry has truly been enriched - simply because of my friendship with Earlene Simmons.

I really do not know where to begin when it comes to my thoughts and reflections on Earlene. From day one, her smiling face and intoxicating presence served as a daily encouragement to me.  To be sure, she truly had a heartbeat for the furtherance of the gospel, a love for her local church family at Seventh Street, and most importantly, a pure love for the Lord.

We had both seasons of joy and laughter together. There were the church fellowships, Choir musicals, And fall festivals that will always be permanently etched upon my heart. Yet there were also the difficult seasons such as when Marc passed away in 2015, and when Jethro passed away in 2023.  We laughed together, and we also cried together.  Often times she would stop by the church office and provide words of encouragement to the church staff. I know that all of our staff members were deeply blessed by our friendship with her.

On a lighter note, one of the things that I will always appreciate about Earlene was the fact that she was a seamstress.  She would personally tailor the sleeves of my dress shirts, so they would not be so bunchy in the sleeves, light of short stature. Haha! I know for years to come when I am wearing a shirt tailored by Earlene, That I will be reminded of my sweet friendship with her.

She was a true warrior for the Lord and a fellow partner In ministry. And the truth is, Seventh Street Baptist Church will never be the same. But with that said, I know Earlene’s heart. It would be her desire for Seventh Street to practice Luke 9:62. In that passage, Jesus said, “ No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” And so, with these words in mind, she would tell the Seventh Street church family to glue their hands to the gospel plow, and not look back!  Keep your eyes on Jesus!  He is the prize! And with all you do and say, give God glory!

We all know that the days are long, but the years are short. And so I am overwhelmed that God saw fit for me to be Earlene‘s friend. What a day it will be, when we are all reunited in heaven!

In Christ alone, Pastor Eric

It is a honor for me personally to be apart of this service today celebrating the life of a dear friend Earlene Simmons. One of the bright spots of my day every sunday was getting a hug from Miss Earlene. She had a sunshine about her that was so uplifting. Earlene had the joy of the Lord when though life had not been easy for her. Earlene had expirenced significant loss of her own as Bro Eric wrote about Earlene losing her son Marc in 2015. Earlene and I cried and bonded over both us us losing our sons. We cried over losing her brother Jethro. Earlene and Jethro as everyone in here know were very close. they would sometimes go back and forth with each other like siblings do but loved each other dearly. They both relied on and took care of each other. Losing Jethro had been very hard on Earlene but she still had hope. She was grieving with hope. Today I want to breifly talk about grief and greiving with Hope. We will first take a look at John 11 and how Jesus responded to his good friend Lazarus death.

John 11:1 – A certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 

John 11:2 – It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair,

whose brother Lazarus was ill. 

John 11:3 – So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” 

John 11:4 – But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the

glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

John 11:32 – Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying

to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 

Martha had just repeaded almost verbatim earlier in the passage this same understood question,

Jesus where were you? Jesus did not correct Martha or Mary. He did not say how dare you

question me.

1. Its okay to ask God questions

Its okay to pour your heart out to God and I encourage all of you to do so.

John 11:33 – When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping,

he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. 

John 11:34 – And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.”

John 11:35 – Jesus wept. 

Just like its okay to ask questions

2. Its okay to grieve

Jesus did not correct them for grieving. Actually he did the opposite He joined them. Its okay to cry. Tears are is a God given way to let are grief out. As people grief is going to come out of us. Whether we let it out in a healthy way or bottle it up and it come out in a unhealthy way. We see from Jesus grief is a proper responce to losing a loved one.

3. Don’t grieve alone

People are not meant to grieve alone. You need your family. You need friends. But although

both family and friends help they prove not to be enough. For we are all imperfect people.

But I serve a perfect God and scripture says hes a friend that sticks closer than a brother. He

wept and was there for Mary and Martha and he will be there for you if you call on him.

We grieve differently as believers than the world does. We grieve differently knowing that Miss Earlene knew the Lord. Listen to Pauls words in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 NASB95

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.

We see a hopeful grief in this passage but before we talk about a hopeful grief we need to talk about there is a hopeless grief.

There is a hopeless grief

a. Nonbelievers have no hope to see there loved ones again in heaven

b. There is no hope for a lost loved one who has died because you know the reality that anyone who dies without Christ as their Savoir will expirience eternal punishment.

c. There is also a hopeless grieve for nonbelievers who do not have God to comfort them

There is also a hopeful grief which is what we as believers have today

a. There is a hopeful grief for believers because we know we will see our loved ones who are God’s children again

I rejoice in that we as believers know we will see Miss Earlene again

We can hopefully grieve knowing Miss Earlene is reunited with her friends and loved ones who were already in heaven to meet her. I cannot imagine what her reunion was like with her brother Jethro but i know it was joyas. I know the most joyas part of heaven is being in the presence of and worshiping our Savior Jesus. In this we grieve in Hope.

b. we grieve with hope knowing we as believers will be reunited with Earlene one day and get to worship the Lord with her. Oh what a day that will be.

c. There is hopeful grief because for believers we have a comforter to walk through grief with us. God is the great comforter. As Matthew 5:4 says “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” God knows our grief. He saw His son hang on a tree for us. But the hope is in what the passage we just read in 1 Thesalonians 4 tells us. He did not stay dead but arose on the third day deafeating death. In this we have hope because of the ressurection.

Are you able to grieve with Hope today? Do you have a relationship with Jesus? Have you had a point in your life where you repented of your sin and believed in Jesus death and ressurection? If you have not done so i encourage you to do so today. Romans 10:9 “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” If you would like to know more about how to be saved please come talk to Bro Delbert or myself. For it is only through Jesus we have hope. We have hope even in the midst of losing Mrs Earlene all because of the hope we have in Jesus let us pray.