Edna Allen Funeral

Welcome and Prayer

Thank you for coming to memorial service for Edna Allen. Later in the service, after _______ shares some of the history of Edna’s life, there will be an opportunity for you to share a story or testimony of how Edna impacted your life. To accommodate those who could not be here in person, we have several people joining us on a zoom conference call. Please keep yourself muted until it is time for sharing.

Let’s begin with prayer.

Father in heaven, Edna was your child and You loved her even more than her family could. We pray for you to watch over her as she awaits your soon return. Please be with us now as we celebrate her life and honor her in death. We know you understand our pain because You promised that you catch up our tears in a bottle so you’ll never forget these moments of loss. Thank you for taking this journey with us.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.

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Homily

We are all here to remember and celebrate the life of someone that was deeply loved. __________ [something unique about Edna]

Our memories of her are our vehicle to celebrate a life well lived. Edna had a full life, and for that we can give thanks to God. All these memories that you have shared—every tender moment etched with the impact of her passion for life—shows that you have been part of this life that we gather here to celebrate. It is natural for us to feel grief and sorrow at times like this. Grief is a normal and healthy attempt to gain equilibrium once again and an adequate degree of adjustment after a loss.

The Christian author, C.S. Lewis, who lost of his wife to disease, has compared the process of healing from grief to the gentle warming of a cold room, or the coming of daylight. By the time one becomes aware of them, says Lewis, they have been going on for a long time. At this moment your life may be chilled with the stark reality of the loss of one who held a special place in your heart and life. The grief of his death may have left you groping in the darkness. But as the dawning light of the sun imperceptibly ushers out the blackness of night and its rays gently bring warming comfort to the chill, so too the slow process of healing has already begun in your life. With a word of sympathy, a gestures of kindness, a touch of love, a compassionate embrace, a silent but supportive presence, a quiet shedding of a tear, a cherished remembered memory, …the warming begins. The first rays pierce the night of grief and loss. Edna lived with the conviction that there was more to life than our temporary experience here on earth. She loved God’s word and spent many precious hours contemplating its messages of hope and love. She held onto the promises of Jesus: “I will come again; I will take you to myself; the dead in Christ shall rise first; every eye will see him; there will be no more sickness or death; I will make all things new.” 1 Corinthians 13 is one of the most famous chapters in the Bible. It’s called the love chapter. After describing the worthlessness of life without love, the Bible says this:

​1 Corinthians 13:12–13 ESV For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Notice this hopeful promise: “then I shall know fully...” Just a few pages later in the same book of 1 Corinthians chapter 15, Paul points to that future “then” when he says this:

​1 Corinthians 15:20 ESV But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

In Psalm 23, one of the most famous passages in the Bible, the Lord promises:

​Psalm 23:4 ESV Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

and

​Psalm 23:6 ESV Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

I shall fully know God, just as He fully knows me now. That’s the promise of 1 Corinthians 13:12.

As we experience the pain of loss, but keep our eye fixed on that future resurrection day when we shall fully know God, we need to consider the God of the resurrection. He is a God of comfort in the midst of our pain. "The Lord is near to the brokenhearted, and saves those who are crushed in spirit."(Ps. 34:18)

He is a God of hope in the midst of our disappointment. "Cast your burden upon the Lord, and He will sustain you."(Ps. 55:22)God knows the pain of loss and he’s speaking compassion and peace and hope into our hearts today. He says, “…Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord… that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!” (Revelation 14:13)

I didn’t know Edna, but I hear her friends tell stories of a woman who loved Jesus and loved others. I’m sure Edna would want us to hear this encouraging message that Jesus gave his disciples when they learned that He would be leaving them. It’s found in John 14:1-3:

​John 14:1–3 ESV “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. 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, that where I am you may be also.

Edna knew the comfort of those words. Do you? I’m sure that Edna would look around this room with expectancy and hope; that he would wish that each one of you could have a room close to his when Jesus returns to take us to the place he’s preparing for us. We have gathered here to celebrate a life well lived and to help each other through the transformation that grief and loss bring to our lives. While we do this, let’s keep the hope that Edna held dear to her heart firmly in front of us. The Bible says “Death is swallowed up in victory” (1 Corinthians 5:54). While there is pain in the loss of a loved one, there is hope too. So, let’s comfort each other with these words from 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17:

​1 Thessalonians 4:13–17 ESV But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.

After 83 of walking with Jesus, Edna could have said along with the apostle Paul, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that day, and not to me only but also to all those who have loved his appearing.” (2 Timothy 4:7-8)

The hope that Edna had can be your hope too. Jesus says,“I am the resurrection and the life.” (John 11:25) and, “I am the living one: I was dead, and behold, I am alive for ever and ever. And I hold the keys of death.” (Revelation 1:17-18)

Edna now rests under God’s care, and sleeps the peaceful rest of death in Christ until his soon return. I am comforted with great peace knowing that the all-gracious and loving God who knew Edna intimately in life now watches over her grave in death. What peace it brings to know that the everlasting Father of love and compassion holds in His hands all the issues of life and that He has promised resurrection and eternal life to those who call upon His name. It is to Him we commit our loved one, our friend, our sister in Christ, Edna Allen. For now we may say, Goodbye. But by God’s grace and in His promise our farewell can be, “until we meet again.”