Funeral: Mamie Simmons
Notes
Transcript
Obituary
Obituary
Mamie Lou Johnson Simmons, 99, went to be with her Lord and Savior on Thursday, February 11, 2021 in Mary Esther, Florida.
She was born to Wescott B. Johnson and Annie Elder Johnson on December 23, 1921 in the community of Flatrock, Alabama (Conecuh County). Mamie attended school at Flatrock School, and finished her high school education at Evergreen High School. She went on to graduate from the Massey-Draughn Business College in Montgomery, Alabama.
Mamie was a long-time resident of Mobile, Alabama, where she retired as a Fuel Allocation Specialist with Triangle Refineries, Inc. She was a long, faithful member of Emmanuel Baptist Church on Ziegler Boulevard in Mobile.
Mamie loved music, and was a wonderful cook. She was the Greatest Generation personified, and will be greatly missed.
Mamie joined her husband of over 30 years, Paul R. Simmons; her parents, Wescott B. Johnson and Annie Elder Johnson; and five brothers: Herman H. Johnson, Roland R. Johnson, Grady B. Johnson, Wescott Bruce Johnson, and William H. Johnson. Left to cherish her memory is her brother, Marvin W. Johnson (Jean), as well as several nieces, nephews, great-nieces, great-nephews, and other cherished family and friends who all adored her.
Scripture Reading
Scripture Reading
15 Precious in the sight of the Lord Is the death of His godly ones.
Prayer
Prayer
Father, today you have mixed our sorrow with joy. We mourn the loss of our precious aunt, sister, and friend, but we rejoice as we think of Mamie delighting in Jesus in your presence. Thank You, Father, for the gift of faith that You gave her. Thank You for the salvation You gave her in Christ.
Father, comfort us today as we come before You through Jesus our Great High Priest to find grace and peace to help in our time of need.
In the Name of Jesus we pray, Amen.
Expression of Comfort
Expression of Comfort
Well, friends and family, Christian brothers and sisters of Ms. Mamie Simmons, I want to welcome you here today and extend to you every Christian sympathy in the loss of a woman so precious to many of us.
The Bible tells us that we are not be uninformed about those who have died believing in Christ. If we are uninformed, then we may grieve as others do who have no hope. But as those who follow Jesus, we have hope even in the face of death because Jesus died and rose again.
1 Thessalonians 4:14-18 says...
14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. 15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.
I pray these words are a comfort to you this morning.
Because Jesus died and rose again, Mamie Simmons is alive through faith in Him.
Because Jesus died and rose again, she will come with Him when He comes.
Because Jesus died and rose again, we shall all be caught up together in the clouds—in the clouds with Jesus, Mamie, and every believer that has died in the Lord—and so we shall always be with the Lord.
Even though we have this comfort from God’s Word, we still come to Jesus this morning for grace and mercy.
Perhaps we come rejoicing.
Perhaps we come grieving.
Perhaps we come rejoicing AND grieving.
Just as we are this morning, we come to Jesus for the help we need.
Hymn
Hymn
Just as I Am, Hymn #435
Memories of Mamie
Memories of Mamie
Usually when I ask a family for a few of their favorite memories for a funeral service, I don’t get 10 pages! But I think that number of pages testifies to just how memorable Mamie Simmons was. Those memories are framed on the table in the vestibule. Hopefully you’ve had the opportunity to read through some of them to see how fondly she is remembered. Reading through them, there are a few words that I think describe well how Mamie is remembered...
FAITHFUL - Mamie was faithful to her husband. Faithful to her brothers. Faithful to her nieces and nephews and to her grand nieces and nephews. She was faithful in work and faithful in the church.
Mamie is remembered well because she lived a life of faithfulness.
DELIGHTFUL - Many of you family members mentioned how she would greet you joyously with, “Well, hey there honey.” She greeted those of us in church with her the same way. Many of you mentioned her giggle. You always felt that Mamie delighted in you because she did genuinely delight in you.
Surely that was because she was so delightful herself.
LOVING - One of Mamie’s family members wrote that the word that described her best was love. It was as if Mamie couldn’t help but love those she met.
And to meet Mamie was to love her in return.
CERTAIN - Mamie began walking with Jesus at a young age and continued to walk with Him throughout her life. But as she got older… and older… and older… she wanted to be certain that she understood the Gospel—the Good News of God’s grace in Jesus Christ. She and I talked after Bible Study one Wednesday night to make certain that she was certain. I know she also talked with some you in her family so that she could be certain that she was certain.
When Mamie exhaled for the last time this side of eternity, she was certain that she would inhale on the other side because Jesus lived for her, died for her, and rose for her.
Because He lives, Mamie was certain.
Hymn
Hymn
Because He Lives, Hymn #449
Funeral Sermon
Funeral Sermon
After a certain funeral of another beloved member of our church, Mamie told me that she wanted the same message preached at her funeral. That message came from Psalm 23, one her favorite passages of Scripture. It says…
A Psalm of David. 1 The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. 3 He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake. 4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows. 6 Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Really listen to that first line of Psalm 23, “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.”
Now, there is an incredible truth here that we read right past because we’ve heard this psalm so much—“The LORD is my shepherd...”
You’ll remember that David was a shepherd before he was King of Israel. Shepherd’s work was considered dirty work. If a family needed a shepherd, it was the youngest son, like David, who was required to do that dirty job.
Shepherds had to sleep with the sheep 24 hours a day, caring for them day and night, summer and winter, in good weather and bad.
Shepherds had to constantly work to nourish and guide the sheep.
They had to protect the sheep from their own stupidity and from wolves who were hungry to devour them.
Who would want to do such low, unending, tiresome work?
Listen to Psalm 23:1 again, “The LORD is my shepherd...”
Our shepherd is none other than YHWH himself!
Who is YHWH? Well, remember when God spoke to Moses from the burning bush and told him to go to Egypt and lead his people out.
Moses asked God for His personal name so that God’s people would know that Moses was sent by God. God told Moses, “Tell them that YHWH sent you—that I AM WHO I AM sent you,” (Exod. 3:14).
That’s God’s personal name!
It’s a name that reflects God’s timelessness; His unchanging and unchangeable holy nature; His divine independence; His infinite wisdom and power.
One writer said that this name is inexhaustible just as the one who bears it is inexhaustible.
And yet this inexhaustible one—this eternal, holy, all-powerful LORD—is our shepherd!
He does the dirty work of caring for his sheep 24 hours a day—day and night, summer and winter, in good weather and bad!
He works to nourish and guide us!
He protects us from ourselves and from the wolves who are hungry to devour us!
He was Mamie’s shepherd because Mamie had faith in Jesus!
When Jesus came, He came as YHWH in the flesh; the I AM dwelt among us! And this is what He said in John 10...
11 “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.
14 “I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, 15 even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. 16 “I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd. 17 “For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. 18 “No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.”
YHWH came in the flesh in Jesus of Nazareth who lived the sinless life God demands from us and died the death that we deserved because of our sin.
All of us like sheep had gone astray; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him. (Isa. 53:6)
Jesus—the Good Shepherd—died for us. He took our sin upon Himself and then paid the price for them on the cross. And proof that Jesus was accepted as the once for all sacrifice for sin was His resurrection from the dead.
Now, all those who have faith in Him shall never be in want.
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want… (Psa. 23:1)
What could we possibly want when we have Jesus as our Good Shepherd?
If we want REST, Jesus our Shepherd provides it for us.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters.
If we want RESTORATION, Jesus our Shepherd provides it for us.
3 He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake.
If we need a GUIDANCE, Jesus our Shepherd guides us.
3 He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake.
If we need COMFORT, Jesus our Shepherd comforts us.
4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
If we need BLESSING, Jesus our Shepherd provides it.
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows.
And if we need A HOME IN HEAVEN (and of course we do), Jesus our Shepherd provides it.
6 Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Jesus has died for us. He has risen for us. He’s as ascended to the Father’s right hand where He now intercedes for us and prepares a place for us. He said...
1 “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. 3 “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.
Mamie’s place must’ve been ready. She lives there now through faith in Jesus.
Will you have a place in Heaven? Are you following Jesus the Good Shepherd?
Do not leave it to chance. Be certain. And like Mamie be certain that you are certain.
Be certain that you are following Jesus the Good Shepherd.
Prayer
Prayer
Father, again, we thank You for sending Your Son Jesus to give us life, to give us hope, to give us salvation, to give us comfort and peace and rest through His death and resurrection.
Thank You for Mamie, Father. Thank You for the impact she has made on so many of us. Thank You for her walk with Jesus. Thank You that we shall see her again and when we do, she’ll be the first to point to her Good Shepherd.
It’s in the His Name—the I AM, THE GOOD SHEPHERD, JESUS—that we pray, Amen.
Hymn
Hymn
How Great Thou Art, Hymn #6
Benediction
Benediction
24 Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, 25 to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.
Dismissal
Dismissal
Please stay and comfort one another as long as you like. This concludes our service.