Tillie Hansum
Notes
Transcript
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.
Scripture: Hebrews 12:1-3
Tillie Hansum Funeral Message
Brothers and sisters in Christ, both in her life and now in her death, Tillie is a member in our cloud of witnesses. That’s a big claim when you consider what it means—I don’t want us to just take it lightly and as a nice thing that a pastor or anyone else says. You look back in Hebrews 11 and you see who else is in the cloud—you find the likes of Abel, Noah, Abraham, Moses, King David, Rahab, the prophets. We tend to think of those people as kind of a big deal, and rightly so. The cloud of witnesses who the writer of Hebrews is referring to are men and women who lived by faith, and did not receive their inheritance in their lifetime. These were people who God made major promises too, and while believing, trusting in him, they died. They passed on from this life still waiting for the pay-off, still waiting for the fulfillment, the reward, the inheritance.
All of them lived in the time before Jesus came into this world, before he won our salvation on the cross and all that his life, death, and resurrection entails. The future where their faith was looking too was not very clear. Today things are quite a bit clearer—we have the New Testament, we have the gospels, we have the account of Jesus being on this earth. And yet, on this side of eternity, in our mortal bodies, in our lives which will all one day come to an end, we must continue to live by faith. We must continue to live, to some degree, waiting, hoping, trusting, expecting, because there are still unfulfilled promises.
Scripture informs us though that we are meant to live encouraged by these witnesses who have gone before us. What a witness Tillie’s life was. We just heard in the obituary her compassion for helping young mothers. I’ve heard of her joy in teaching Sunday School. It’s hard to have a conversation with people in which Tillie and Joe’s love of music isn’t mentioned, and their touring around, performing for others. It seemed to me that she brought color to the world, bright colors which she sewed with and in other hobbies she took up. Probably the first time I met her and Joe was when they were in their old apartment at Leisure Living, and all her crafting supplies were out on the table. She made visiting easy for myself as a young pastor. And the love and care she had for Joe was so evident.
I hope I’m right in saying this, Tillie loved life. She also had an attitude, though—and I mean that in a good way; she was so sharp with wit. That was still evident on Saturday morning I think it was. Her daughters were in the room, and as I was leaving I mentioned that people who loved her were there. Her response was something like, “Well, I hope so.” She could give you a hard time, but you knew she cared for you. Tillie also cared about Jesus, she was ready to go whenever he called her home. She knew the goal of the race, the finish line of her life, held something so much better than what she’d leave behind. She’d want all of us to know that and to know that for ourselves—as much joy as can be experienced in such a full life, there’s more to come—that’s her witness.
As much as this service is about Tillie today, we need to remember that she’s part of the cloud. I say that because she’s not the most important one for us to focus on. The great cloud of witnesses gets mentioned in just the first part of the first verse, but then it continues, “Let us,” you and I, “throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith…Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”
People can be role models in our lives, they can be cheerleaders, they can be disciplers and discipliners, they can be teachers, parents, grandparents—spoilers. But there’s only one Jesus, there’s only one God-man who at the end of the day, at the end of our lives, who we must be absolutely dependent upon. There is only one Savior
I hope that each of us have people in our lives who do cheer us on, who encourage us, who can graciously criticize and praise us when we need it. But no matter how good we feel about ourselves and our accomplishments, it doesn’t take away that we are still broken sinners. The reason why death is part of our reality, our world—it is expected at some point, is because sin is here. Because the devil lied, and we believed him long ago and still most days. Because we like to be selfish, we like to make ourselves out to be God. We need help; Tillie needed help.
This is where all of us begin, some of us it can appear in worse shape than others. If you can, picture in your mind a running race. Hebrews 12 gives us these images of needing to get rid of everything that trips us up. So, make sure your shoe laces aren’t loose and able to get in the way, remove some stones in our path, watch out for the crack in the road, take note of other obstacles. All of that stuff is sin; anything in our lives that causes problems, that takes away joy, the brings confusion is likely rooted in sin. Scripture calls us to get rid of it, but for what purpose? Well, that we would run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
In hearing this message today, I believe that every one of us has a race and a course in our lives. It’s more like a cross-country course than an oval track. There are twists and turns, it’s more of a marathon, but we have somewhere to get to. Sin and the devil are going to try and stop that. They are going to try and stop you. Don’t think that life is easy, don’t think that you get to 91 and 95 years old and can say with such clarity, “I’m ready to go be with Jesus,” without any struggles. In this race, there is pain and loss and mourning and regret. So where do you look?
Our first thought might be back towards the cloud of witnesses, and yet that’s not what we’re told. The answer is Jesus, fix our eyes on Jesus. “Consider him so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” The Greek word that’s been translated “consider” in verse three means “to think or reason with thoroughness and completeness—to think out carefully.” The Bible isn’t saying “Just let the name Jesus pop into your mind every so often and put a smile on your face.” No, consider the gravity, consider the magnitude, consider the agony that he went through. These obstacles, sin and brokenness, that interfere with our lives—they don’t have to have the final say, because Jesus is our hope.
Because Jesus promises all who believe in him that he will bring us to the finish line, bring us home. He promises those who he loves and who love him, “I have paid for all your sins, I have redeemed you. I have taken the punishment. Whatever troubles you go through, whatever pain you experience, is minor compared to what you would have had. I’ve gone through that for you.”
Brothers and sisters, as we look at our lives and continue to live. May Tillie be in that cloud of witnesses. May she encourage you. May the memories you have of her actions, her commitment, her love and care, challenge you. But remember where her eyes were fixed. Remember your race isn’t to get to Tillie, it’s to run to Jesus. In him, we will find our greatest joy.
I hope that one day we’ll meet our loved ones who have gone to heaven. I hope we’ll know them. I hope that without pain and sickness and fatigue and broken bones and memory loss and sin, that we’ll have so much more joy, so much more to celebrate. In knowing Christ, in trusting in him, you can have that hope and experience that joy which only he can give. Do not grow weary. Do not lose heart. Amen.