Funeral Sermon for Larry Brunk based on Isaiah 55:8-9

Let us pray: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. Amen.

Dear Ruby, Wade, and the rest of the family and friends of Larry:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Larry was born 85 years ago on January 30thin Melvin, Iowa. He was baptized in the name of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit at the American Lutheran Church in Melvin on March 26th in 1939. He was confirmed at the American Lutheran Church in Melvin on March 29th in 1953. He served in the U.S. Army in Fort Benning, Georgia, starting in 1958. After he was discharged, he married his wife of 63 years, Ruby, on February 17th in 1961. He farmed in the Melvin area for many years and raised hogs and cattle. Larry enjoyed taking care of the garden while he was able. He was a longtime member here at St. Peter Lutheran Church.

I remember Larry and Ruby being regular worship service attenders and regular Friday morning Bible class attenders until Larry became ill recently. I also remember Larry’s smile and how he liked to joke with other people. Or as he would say, “I wanted to get a rise out of him or her.” People that sat near Larry and Ruby during church services would tell me occasionally that Larry was a good singer of the hymns. Last year in May he was able to go on the Honor Flight from Fort Dodge to Washington, D.C. and back to see the monuments and memorials there. He enjoyed himself on that special flight. Larry told me more than once during the last three months or so during his time of illness that he was ready to go to heaven whenever the Lord thought the time was right. On Wednesday, September 11, on Patriot Day 23 years after the terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C., the time was right for Larry to be called to his heavenly home.

Now, as we think about what Larry would like us to remember, I found some bookmarks in Larry’s Bible and some notes Larry made. One of the bookmarks had the Golden Rule from Matthew 7:12, “Whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them.” The Golden Rule was important to Larry and I think the Golden Rule is a good way for each one of us to live from now on, too. Instead of looking for others to be kind to you, be kind to others in the same way you would like them to be kind to you. Another bookmark included the words of Psalm 118:24, “This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Rather than being grumpy and complaining about life, thinking that each day is a day to rejoice and be glad, since the Lord gives us each day as a gift, is a better way to live. Our world would be a much better place if more people would rejoice and be glad everyday and enjoy the many blessings God showers us with each and every day. In a note Larry had made, he referred to Isaiah 55:8-9 as “my verse.” That Bible verse tells us, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” At first, I thought those words were the confirmation verse for Larry when he was confirmed as a teenager at the American Lutheran Church in Melvin, but I found a different Bible verse in the church records here that has Proverbs 23:26, “My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways.” As I was thinking about those Bible verses for this message today, the verses are similar. Observing the ways of an earthly father who was a Christian is like thinking about God the Father’s ways and thoughts. We do not understand everything an earthly father tries to teach us. We also do not understand everything God the Father tries to help us learn either. God the Father’s thoughts and ways are far higher than our human thoughts and ways. When illness and troubles come our way, we do not always understand the reason why. Trusting in God means believing that His ways and His thoughts are best even when we do not understand all those higher ways and thoughts of God. The words of James 4:13-15 are good words to think about this morning: [Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”—yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”] That is a fitting Bible passage for this morning. None of us knows how long our time on this earth will be. Our plans will not work the way we hope sometimes. A better way to live is to remember that if the Lord wills something to take place in our lives than that is best for us.

Larry was not perfect. You and I are not perfect. We all make mistakes. We fail to live by the Golden Rule sometimes. We forget that we do not know what the next day will bring. The words of Jesus in the fourteenth chapter of the Gospel of John are good words to conclude with as we remember the life of Larry among us: “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. … I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Thankfully, God’s ways are better than our ways. We cannot save ourselves from our many sins and wrongs. That is why Jesus came into our world to suffer and die and rise again to forgive all of Larry’s sins and wrongs and to forgive all of your sins and wrongs and all of mine. Through the gift of faith in Jesus we have access to God the Father and to His loving thoughts and ways now and always. Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.