Funeral Hilgendorf

Loretta Hilgendorf

John 14: 1-6

“Waiting to Go Home”

Family, friends….Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  Hear again the Word of the Lord.   John 14"Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.  "In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you.  I go to prepare a place for you.  "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.  "And where I go you know, and the way you know." Thomas said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?" Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through Me.” This is the Gospel of the Lord.

Introduction: At a time like this, these words of our loving Lord Jesus can give us hope and even joy in the midst of our grief.  Here we have the promise of our blessed Lord that He has prepared a place for His believing and loving disciples where they can rest from their labor, from sin and sorrow and to be at home with their Savior forever and ever.  This is the precious promise that the Lord made to His disciples.  This is the promise that our Lord made to Loretta Hilgendorf and to us.  The Lord has prepared an eternal home for us.

            Home.  Home is a very special place.  It is a place that we can call our own.  It is a place of safety and refuge.  It is a place of love shared by people that we call family, mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers.  Many of us can truly say, “There is no place like home.”

            Six months ago, Loretta was taken from her home.  As her health began to fail she was taken to the hospital where she stayed for some time.  She returned home for a short time only to be taken back to the hospital and finally to the nursing home in Mayville.  For many of us, as we visited Loretta to share quiet conversation, devotions and faithful encouragement, it became apparent that together we were waiting with Loretta as she waited to go home.  This was her hope and desire, simply to go back home.

            Beyond the physical desire to go home there lies within us Christians the desire to go to our eternal home.  We understand how precious that home is because we know what it is like to be separated from it and what it cost to rebuild it.

            Just like our first parents, Adam and Eve, who were kicked out of their first home of Eden because they sinned against God, we too wander through this life only to make temporary homes for ourselves.  In the end, these too are taken away from us.  Without the Lord we would be without hope.  The Lord has not left us hopeless or homeless.

            When Jesus said, "I go to prepare a place for you," it was the evening and the beginning of His passion, which would lead to His death on the cross.   The cross is what He meant when He said I go to prepare a place for you.  By His death, He was preparing to make an eternal home for all people who believe in Him.  At the cross He would build eternal mansions through His own destruction and death.  This was the price and cost of our eternal home.

            It is true that we must all confess that on account of our many sins we are not worthy of what our Lord has done for us and given us.  Yet we are Christ’s redeemed children, washed clean by faith in His atoning blood.  We know that He is our faithful Savior and He will keep His promise for the sake of His free grace and mercy in which He delights to save poor guilty sinners.  Such is His love for Loretta and such is His great love for us.  He is waiting for us to come home to Him.

            Jesus told His disciples how to get to the home prepared for them.  He said, “And where I go you know, and the way you know." The disciple Thomas asked Jesus, “How can we know the way?” Jesus answers, “I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life.   No one comes to the Father but by Me.” We can reach our heavenly home only by the Way Jesus has shown us.  That is through Him.   That means, by believing in Him as our Lord and Savior.  Jesus is the one that made it possible for us to go back home to our Heavenly Father.  Our sister, Loretta, knew the way.   She knew Jesus as her Savior.   Loretta professed her faith by regular and faithful attendance to the house of God, where she worshiped her Lord.   Loretta’s faith was strengthened by regular attendance at the Lord's Table.   Loretta believed that her Lord would take her to her heavenly home.   It is true that Loretta wanted to go back to her home in Mayville.  But more importantly she knew that the Lord was with her wherever she went.  He was with her when she was in the hospital and He was with her at Mayville nursing and Rehab.   While she appreciated what the Lord did for her through out her earthly life, she also knew that her real home was in heaven.   Loretta was waiting to go home, as we all are.  Now she has now gone to be with her Lord to the place that He has prepared for her.   At last she has found comfort, safety and refuge of her heavenly home.  There she shares the endless love of God in the presence of her family and husband Hugo that have preceded her in faith.  Loretta fought the good fight of faith and has taken hold of eternal life.  She now knows true joy in the presence of her Savior Jesus Christ, who loved her and gave Himself for her. 

            May we then also believe in Jesus Christ who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.   He has prepared a place for all of us who trust in Him and His suffering and death.   May we find our hope and comfort in our Lord while we too wait to go home and as we remember what He said, “I go and prepare a place for you.”  Amen.