Cora Beukelman
Notes
Transcript
See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.
Scripture: 1 John 3:1-3
Cora Beukelman Funeral Message
Brothers and sisters in Christ, Cora loved children. From the time I visited her when I came to Corsica in September and when gathering with the staff of Good Samaritan at her bedside on Monday morning, many have remarked on their memory of how Cora cradled a doll in her arms. Her love for children was not only captured in that object. She had pictures of her family, her children, above her bed. When new parents brought a baby into the home while visiting, she was quick to take the little one into her arms. What a beautiful memory to hold onto, a woman for whom many decades had passed since her childhood, as well as since the nurturing of some of you, her own children and grandchildren, and late in life she still desired to show love for those just coming into the world—no matter whose children they were.
Most of us can understand the bond that forms between a mother and a child that she has brought into the world. But it takes a special character to foster a loving bond for children that are not one’s own by birth, to adopt a child and treat him or her like you would treat a son or daughter born into your family. I think Cora exemplified love like that in how she treated young children; regardless of relation to her, they were all precious and treasured.
That is the kind of love that gives us glimpses every now and then in our world of what the love of our heavenly Father is like. When John wrote this letter, he referred to his audience again and again as children, dear children, and little children, and now in these few short verses it all comes to a point—who are they children of? Well, they are children of God. Notice what we find in the first verse, “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” God gives us his love, he lavishes us with it, that we might turn and believe in him. The love that he offers is not a romantic or a temporary kind of love; rather it is a love that claims those whom he gives it to.
In other areas of God’s word, we find that those in whom the Spirit dwells are adopted as his children. We do not find the word adoption in this text, but we do well to sense that John had that in mind. But John does not leave God’s love at the adoption, at making that bond that, but had we started in chapter 2 verse 29, we find there, “If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him.” John is saying, If you have experienced his love, and live as one of his—then the bond he has with you, the way he loves you is as if you were naturally born of him. I wholeheartedly believe that Cora held this comfort and this assurance of being a daughter of God dear.
The love that God expresses and shares with you and I, sinners by our nature here, takes us as if we had been born to him. That’s an incredible thing, whether we go far, far off of God’s path for how he desires for us to live or if we have stayed close our whole life long—he, a perfect God, extends his love to us to forgive us when he calls each of his son and his daughter. We have no rightful claim to that love, we do not deserve to be called children of God and we certainly cannot earn that family title, but yet God gives it to us through the work that Jesus Christ accomplished long ago on the cross and coming back to life, winning victory over the grave. This God and his love has been revealed to all who already believe, and is available to any who are hearing it that do not yet believe. His love is unchanging.
God gave Cora 103 years of life on this earth—in which he blessed her with opportunities to experience life on the farm and in rural communities as well as life in the busy city streets, traveling from shore to shore, experiencing the love of a husband for many years and raising a family. A woman who enjoyed baseball, a daughter who loved her Savior and desired for his name to be brought all across this continent, how great has God’s love been in our sister’s life.
But we also know that the Father’s love holds great promises for what is ahead. For Cora, whose body had grown old and weak—that is not her final end. As John teaches us, there is something that we will be that has not yet been made known or revealed to us, but when he appears, when Christ returns, we shall be like him. What a wonderful hope that we who are still living here on earth can have for ourselves, but also for Cora. The body that she will live with her Savior for all of eternity is not the body that she spent so many days in on this earth. Because Jesus rose from the grave, so too can we take hold of the hope that we will be raised to life when he comes again.
Cora lived abiding in God each and every day. Days of trial as well as days of celebration, of loneliness as well as community. Leaning on him, trusting in him as a child to her father, all the way to the end of her days on this earth.
What a joy it is for believers that God receives us as his own children! The way he looks at Cora, and you and me, is the way that he looks at his Son, Jesus. What is the love of the Father, John tells us that the greatest picture of love is in how “Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.” We can know that love includes us and is in us when we live our lives with love not only in words but also in our actions and in truth.” As we consider again today the gospel of our God—the good news that I pray each one here has accepted, we can be sure that through his good news, God calls each of us to be his sons and daughters. It does not matter where we come from, what we have done, or who we are born to—just as Cora would lovingly sweep a baby out of the arms of their parents, so too does God sweep us out of the control of sin. He has taken his daughter to himself and one day, when he comes again, we will join with her and the whole family of God, meeting all his children. Let us treasure this truth in our hearts, and find comfort that the life we have in the family of God has no end. Amen.