Joseph Gray Funeral
Notes
Transcript
1 I will bless the Lord at all times: His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
2 My soul shall make her boast in the Lord: The humble shall hear thereof, and be glad.
3 O magnify the Lord with me, And let us exalt his name together.
4 I sought the Lord, and he heard me, And delivered me from all my fears.
5 They looked unto him, and were lightened: And their faces were not ashamed.
6 This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, And saved him out of all his troubles.
7 The angel of the Lord encampeth Round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.
8 O taste and see that the Lord is good: Blessed is the man that trusteth in him.
Opening Remarks
Opening Remarks
Good morning family and friends, ...We are gathered here together in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to honor and pay respect to the life of Joseph Gray. It is my privilege to be here to participate in this funeral service with each of you to pay tribute to this special man that touched the lives of so many in this building today. We loved having Joseph here at Living Hope, where he was faithful in attendance and he will be greatly missed by our church family. Would you please stand and join me in prayer.
Heavenly Father, we thank You this day for Your precious, eternal, and unchanging Word.
We thank You that You are, to us, the Rock of Ages and the great I AM.
In the midst of our natural sorrow, we thank You for Your supernatural comfort and grace.
In the face of death, we thank You for the assurance provided within your word that you have come that we might have life.
As we honor the life of Joseph Gray, I pray that the memorized cherished by friends and family, would warm their hearts.
I pray today for his faithful and loyal wife of ____ years. I ask that you would be for her today that comforter. For the family that has gathered here today that you would be their portion and there strength.
We ask your blessings in the proceedings of this service today, and its in Jesus name that we pray, Amen.
Eulogy
Eulogy
Psalm
1 I will bless the Lord at all times: His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
2 My soul shall make her boast in the Lord: The humble shall hear thereof, and be glad.
3 O magnify the Lord with me, And let us exalt his name together.
4 I sought the Lord, and he heard me, And delivered me from all my fears.
5 They looked unto him, and were lightened: And their faces were not ashamed.
6 This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, And saved him out of all his troubles.
7 The angel of the Lord encampeth Round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.
8 O taste and see that the Lord is good: Blessed is the man that trusteth in him.
I selected this passage for many various reasons. First of all because I believe that it is a source of comfort. It is a passage that reminds us that God is a constant source of strength no matter the circumstance that we might find ourself in.
However, more importantly it is a passage that reminds me of the man that we have come to honor today…Joseph “pipes” “Sandy” Gray.
I’ll try to explain what it is about this 34th Psalm that brings my thoughts to Joseph. Last week, after Josephs sudden passing, I had a few moments to speak to his wife, to try to find out a few significant facts that might help me to properly eulogize his life. And I found relatively quickly that the real Joseph gray was not really the man that you might believe him to be from a distance.
It was the same day of his passing that I noticed that on Facebook and other forms of social media, family began to post of the passing of their Uncle Sandy…I instantly felt deep remorse that all of these years when Mr. Gray had been attending his church I had referred to him as Joseph (out of respect I never called him Joseph…always Mr. Gray) but all of these years, I had his name wrong and his name was really Sandy...
But then I found out that it wasn’t Sandy..it was Joseph…but the family knows him as Sandy, even though no one quite recalls how he got the nickname Sandy...
In speaking with Sister Gray, I began to try to share what I thought I knew about Mr. Gray…as i leaned into the car where Sis. Gray, Tear, Cortez and Laveta were gathered (I think I got that right) and I stated what I thought I knew…Well, Joseph was a very quiet man...
Tear looked at me with this kind of look that let me know that I obviously didn’t know the same man that she did.
so…I decided to go with the next fact that I thought I knew…well…Mr. Gray was a very serious man. Again, I could tell by the look that Tear gave me, that we weren’t talking about the same man.
And then as the family began to share with me that Joseph Gray may have been quiet and serious when shaking hands in the foyer of the church, but at home he was a “jokester” that loved to talk and enjoyed cracking on people. I promise you that I never would have guessed that. In all the years that he came to our church I don’t know that I ever heard him say more than a sentence or two…He was always very kind and always greeted me…but a man that loved to talk and bust on people? yet here is the family describing to me a man that fun-loving and a jokester.
Here I am thinking that I know this quiet, serious, somber Joseph Gray…and all the time he is Sandy, who is cracking jokes and making people laugh.
In that short conversation i learned things about Joseph that I never would have guessed…he loved to fish, and he loved travel…he had worked a career as a plumber, that he was famous for his stuffed ham…and Oh by the way…he was also known as “Pipe”. and the one thing that really took me by surprise…this man that seemed like such a good man…such an upstanding man…He was a cowboys fan!!!
Here is what I came to know about Joseph Gray…that the closer you got to him, the more time you spent around him…Joseph became “Pipe”…and the closer you got to him Joseph Gray became uncle Sandy…and the quiet somber man became the jokester that loved to talk and make others laugh. I wish that I had been able to know Pipe…I wish had been close enough to hear Uncle Sandy busting on Cortez…who by the way, Aunt Mary said Cortez was his favorite…
And this is exactly what the Psalmist was saying about the Lord in the 34th Psalms. David was saying you will never really know the Lord and who he is and what he can do, until you get closer to Him.
The 34th Psalm was David considering a time that he was in the presence of his enemies. Not just any enemy, but David was in the presence of the King of Gath…that name Gath might ring a bell…Gath was where the giant Goliath was from. Not too long ago David had killed the giant and now he is here in Goliaths home town and the people are starting to whisper. David knows that he is far outnumbered by his enemies and his destruction is at hand...
But the Lord delivered him...
D
And now David is recollecting and reminiscing of the goodness of the Lord...
See some of you all think the Lord is just about boring church on a Sunday and a list of rules that ruin your life and doesn’t let you have any fun....but can I tell you today you don’t know him like I know him!
But when you get to know him…when you’ve been through some things…when you’ve been surrounded by enemies and you had no way out!
I lost count of how many times I should have been destroyed and my enemies outnumbered me…but the Lord brought me out!
I will bless the Lord at all times, His praises shall continually be in my mouth
My soul will make her boast in the Lord, the humble shall hear thereof and be glad.
Oh magnify the Lord with me, let us exalt his name together
Why? Why am I so excited about the Lord...
See to some of your perspective of the Lord is like my perspective of Joseph Gray…this quiet, reserved, somber man that may smile once in a while. When all along he was so much more than that...
Thats your perspective because you don’t know him like I do.
some of you start talking about the Lord as some distant God, that its hard to serve, that takes everything fun out of your life…WEll, today, i’m gonna look at you like Tear looked at me...
We must not be talking about the same God. you must be talking about a different Jesus than the one that I know!
David says in vs. 4…you see, I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fear.
Distant God thats just a list of rules and doesn’t help those in need?
4 I sought the Lord, and he heard me, And delivered me from all my fears.
Vs. 6 This poor man cried out, and the Lord heard him and savid him out of all his troubles.
6 This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, And saved him out of all his troubles.
a distant God that takes all the fun out of life??? we must not be talking about the same Jesus!
7 The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him, And delivers them.
Here it is…
8 Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!
And as we honor the Life of Joseph “Pipe” “Sandy” Gray…many of you will leave here today with memories of a man that you were close to…we honor his memory, we will pray for and we will care for his family.
But I must invite you today to draw closer to Jesus!
Prayer.
Committal:
the writer of the book of Ecclesiastes declared
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter:
a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn and a time to dance.
a time to keep silence and a time to speak.
And the Psalmist declared “Let your steadfast love, O LORD, be upon us, even as we hope in You.”
Let your steadfast love, O LORD, be upon us, even as we hope in You.
It is now time to commit Joseph Gray’s physical body to the earthly elements,
I realise that this time of parting is the most difficult, but before we do so however, let us be thankful and grateful for his life, remembering the intangibles – the impact of (Joseph’s) life on yours; you may bring to mind HIS smile, sense of humor, his great personality and the way he lived his life.
Remember the significant moments and the fun times you had with him, the times you struggled with him and the times you as friends tried to support him.
You will remember (Joseph’s) life by the memories he leaves behind.
But most of all, remember him with love as long as you live.
Those of us who feel deeply, will grieve deeply. No philosophy or religion ever taught to us can prevent this wholly natural reaction from the human heart.
We come into this world with nothing and we leave with nothing. But the memories we leave behind with our family and friends are a mark of our life’s success.
Nothing can detract from the joy and friendship you shared with Joseph
Nothing can possibly affect the happiness and depth of experience that he himself knew.
prayer for the family
Committal
In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we commend to God’s merciful care our husband, brother, uncle, (Joseph Gray); and we commit his body to the ground; earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.
I now turn the service to the funeral director