Joshua Mertz

Welcome

Gathering

Dying, Christ destroyed our death.

Rising, Christ restored our life.

Christ will come again in glory.

As in baptism Joshua put on Christ,

so in Christ may Joshua be clothed with glory.

Here and now, dear friends, we are God's children.

What we shall be has not yet been revealed;

but we know that when he appears, we shall be like him,

for we shall see him as he is.

Those who have this hope purify themselves

as Christ is pure.

Greeting

Friends, we have gathered here to celebrate the life of Joshua Mertz.

We come together in grief, acknowledging our human loss.

May God grant us grace, that in pain we may find comfort,

in sorrow hope, in death resurrection.

Amazing Grace

Prayer

Eternal God,

we praise you for the great company of all those

who have finished their course in faith

and now rest from their labor.

We praise you for those dear to us

whom we name in our hearts before you.

Especially we praise you for Joshua,

whom you have graciously received into your presence.

To all of these, grant your peace.

Let perpetual light shine upon them;

and help us so to believe where we have not seen,

that your presence may lead us through our years,

and bring us at last with them

into the joy of your home

not made with hands but eternal in the heavens;

through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

Psalm 23 KJV 1900

A Psalm of David. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: And I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

1 Corinthians 13:4–7 NRSV

Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

John 14:1–4 NRSV

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going.”

John 14:25–27 NRSV

“I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.

Homily

Years ago when I began the journey of ministry, part of the reason that I pursued it was because I wanted to have answers. I wanted to know why things don’t always go as we plan. I wanted to know why there is pain and suffering and why days like today are days that we have to come face to face with. I wanted answers, not really to satisfy my own dissatisfaction with the way that God was running the show down here, but so that maybe I might have something intelligible and comforting to say when the unthinkable things that happen in this world happened to the people that I love. But I’ll be completely honest with you. Over the years I’ve developed more questions than answers. It turns out that the study and practice of ministry is not about getting and giving the right answers. Most of the time it’s about asking the right questions and loving the people that God puts in your path as well as you can possibly love them. And I’ve come to terms with that.

Today’s reading from 1 Corinthians gives us a vision of what loving the people that God puts in your path as well as you can really looks like in action. You see this is just a small section of a letter that a man named Paul wrote to an early church community in the Roman city of Corinth. And they were really a hot mess. They were a community that was always embroiled in some kind of conflict or another. They didn’t really know what they were doing. They didn’t have much of anything to go off of on how to live together and to love one another. They didn’t have like a written down account of Jesus’s life, they were kind of just grasping at straws and hoping for the best. There was no real tradition for them to look to for guidance, no traditions or concepts in place. Just a bunch of people trying to follow Jesus — and failing pretty miserably at it.

And so the Apostle Paul writes them a letter to try to address the mess that they have found themselves in and he gets to the end of this thing and he’s like “listen, It’s all about love. If you can’t get that part right then you are simply wasting your time. You can do all the things, but if the motivation for doing those things isn’t love then it’s not gonna work out for you and you’ll always end up right here where you find yourselves. Conflicted and broken and hurting one another.

And so he says, here’s the marks of love. It’s patient, and kind, and forgiving, It’s not about getting what you want of becoming the best. Love is about showing up and doing and being what is good and right for the people in your life and for the world that you live in.

He doesn’t say love is easy or cheap. But what I think he’s saying is that love is worth it. And what I know he is saying is that Love will surprise you.

You know I first met Ron right here. I had moved to the area with my wife and soon to be one year old son — whom to be completely honest with you had really given me a run for my money as I tried to be a working stay at home dad for that first year of his life. It’s funny how patient you think you are until irrational little people start to dictate how you’re going to live your life.

But anyway. I met Ron and he looked like a biker guy with that long beard and I was like man this guy is kind of hard looking. It’s also funny how we can be so irresponsibly wrong about people when we meet them right? Because it took me about 3 interactions with Ron to realize that he was one of the most kind, patient, and loving humans on planet earth.

We’ve always gotten along well. We like the same stuff. About a year ago we started playing golf every week. And it’s been in these times that I’ve found out the absolute gift that Joshua was and continues to be to this world. Now it’s not my place to tell you all of the story. I can just tell you the part of the story that has changed my life.

I only met Joshua a few times. But I through Ron’s stories and texts I always felt connected to him. Although Joshua was 10, he shared an uncanny number of similarities to my now 3 year old. We would laugh about the funny things they did. Smile over the downright obsession with Mickey Mouse. And then when Joshua’s obsession with golf took over we would laugh and also praise Rosa for being such a good sport about it.

But in between the fun times, we’d share about the tough times of parenting. And it was in these times that Ron taught me what it means to be a father who resembles and lives out the kind of Love that Paul writes about in 1 Corinthians. He showed me what it means to love with patience, kindness, and truth. What it looks like to bear all things and remain steadfast in your love for someone in such a fiercely unconditional way. And that’s all something that I believe Ron learned from Joshua. Rosa, as far as I’m concerned you’ve been a saint your whole life, but I know Joshua taught you how deep the well of love can truly be too.

You see when we talk about the kind of love that is shared within the family unit, the kind of love that Paul wanted Jesus’s early followers to model and live out, we are talking about the kind of love that Jesus lived. We are talking about the kind of love that Jesus had and has for this world and all of the people in it. This is the kind of love that caused Jesus to see and love the people that the rest of the world had such a hard time seeing and loving. Mostly, people were astonished that Jesus would spend his time talking with and showing love to children.

I think that Jesus knew a secret that we are still to this day trying to fully understand — That children hold within them the ability to love in ways that we adults have long forgotten, until we encounter that love. Ron and Rosa and everyone of you who knew and loved Joshua have encountered a love that is so real and so pure that it’s undeniable. All I needed to do was to hug and talk to Ron for a few minutes to know that he was a person who was fundamentally changed by something or by someone.

God works in our lives in ways that we don’t often see coming. I don’t know what you thought might come of your decision to say yes to Joshua, but I can tell you that I know you aren’t the same people you were 10 years ago. A new kind of love showed up.

I’m going to be completely honest with you. This is the hardest one of these that I’ve ever done. And maybe you, like me, run in a circle where we do a lot of these. This one’s the hardest because it’s one where I really really want to have the answers. Because I’m a father, and because my friends are hurting, and because well just look at this room. We’re all here because a little boy changed our lives and taught us something about love that we didn’t know before. But we know it now.

But I don’t have answers. I won’t tell you everything happens for a reason because I dont like that. It’s not good enough for me. It feels cheap. It dismisses the real dissatisfaction and pain that we are feeling and experiencing. I’ve got questions.

And the most pressing one of those questions is this: How are we, how are you, going to allow Joshua to continue to change this world? How is the love that Joshua brought into your world going to continue to flow in and through you? I know for me, I’m going to love the people closest to me, my kids and my wife and my family and little fiercer. Every time I see Mickey Mouse or watch golf I’m going remember those images of Joshua, in his underwear, fixated on the TV, living his best life and loving his mom and his dad with all that he had. I’m going to let that little boy remind me of the greatest gift of Love that God ever gave me — the ability to live and love as a new kind of person.

This is a gift that we have all been given. It’s an opportunity for us to commit to carrying on something that is well beyond our comprehension. Paul ends his description of love by saying “Love never ends.” We’ll never stop loving Joshua, and if we together can continue to bring the light and love that Joshua brought into this world to all of the places we inhabit, we’ll make sure that Joshua’s love never ends.

Witnesses

Ron, Rosa, Any Others

Commendation

O God, all that you have given us is yours.

As first you gave Joshua to us,

now we give Joshua back to you.

Into your hands, O merciful Savior,

we commend your servant Joshua,

In the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen

Dismissal

The peace of God which passes all understanding

keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God,

and of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

And the blessing of God Almighty,

the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,

be among you and remain with you always.