Funeral Service (April, 2021)

Gerald Ray Craft

Welcome

Good Evening. Thank you for being here today to share in this service in memory of Gerald Craft. We are here, not only to support the family in this trying time, but also to remember and reflect on the life of Gerald.

At this point, let us do that very thing. I would like to read Gerald’s obituary. I do not only do this, simply because it is tradition, but also because it causes us to look at one man’s life in just a few short paragraphs. Here you will see who he was, a bit of what he was like, and also what he valued and loved.

Obituary

Gerald Ray Craft, 64, of North Vernon, passed away Wednesday, April 14, 2021 at his home. He was born June 14, 1956 in Whitesburg, Kentucky to the late Ernest Craft and Maude Courtney Craft. Gerald was a proud Army veteran and was a long-time employee of Impact Forge in Columbus, Indiana. His family often spoke about him hitchhiking to California 3 times in 1977. He was an avid CB’er with his handle name being, California Kid. He was a family man that will be missed by all who knew and loved him. Gerald is survived by his daughter, Tina (Jeff) Louise MacMaster, of California; son, Steve Jessie, of South Carolina; brother, Rollie (Gail) Craft, of Indianapolis; sister, Janet Craft, of Brownstown; sister-in-laws, Mary Craft and Barbara Jessie; a brother-in-law, Arthur Von Poynter; grandchildren, Anthony Horton, Deven MacMaster, Stephanie Babcock, Elizabeth Knox, and James Michael Jessie; 8 great-grandchildren; Nieces and Nephews, Ernest Dean (Barbara) Jr. Craft, Christopher Craft, Mary Jo (Tim) Murphy, Rhonda (Brad) Arnold, and Jessica (Josh Huffman) Craft and 13 great nieces and nephews, and 7 great-great nieces and nephews, and a host of family and friends. Gerald was preceded in death by his parents, his first love, Josephine Craft, his most recent love, Nancy Craft; daughter, Tammy Noblitt; brothers, Floyd Craft, Ernest Dean Craft, and Jimmy Craft; sisters, Nada Craft and Ruby Craft; and Niece, Melissa Scales.

Let us Pray for our time together.

Dear Heavenly Father, as we take a moment to pause and reflect on the life of Gerald, we also pause for a moment to thank you. We thank you God for gifting us the time that we had with him. We thank you for the gift of a loving father, brother, uncle, grandfather, great-grandfather, and friend.

Lord, now we ask that you would come and let your comfort rest among us. By your grace and mercy may your Spirit offer us encouragement in our time of need. Wrap your arms around us, God. And as you’ve promised, may you comfort those who mourn.

We thank you for your abundance of love and mercy, and also peace in times such as these.

Amen

Message

Before refrigerators, people used icehouses to preserve their food. Icehouses had thick walls, no windows and a tightly fitted door. In winter, when streams and lakes were frozen, large blocks of ice were cut, hauled to the icehouses and covered with sawdust. Often the ice would last well into the summer. One man lost a valuable watch while working in an icehouse. He searched diligently for it, carefully raking through the sawdust, but didn't find it. His fellow workers also looked, but their efforts, too, proved futile. A small boy who heard about the fruitless search slipped into the icehouse during the noon hour and soon emerged with the watch. Amazed, the men asked him how he found it. "I closed the door," the boy replied, "lay down in the sawdust, and kept very still. Soon I heard the watch ticking."

In moments such of these, times of heartbreak and of grief, just like that little boy, we pause and realize that which we hadn’t noticed before. The death of a loved has a way of stopping us in our tracks. It sobers us to things which we frequently missed.

So often we get caught up in the routine of life, our busyness, and our distractions, that we fail to realize how precious time is. That every moment is valued. That death is not something that can be planned.

But we also realize a few things about God.

Mourning stops us in our tracks and forces us to listen and to feel and realize the Nearness of our God.

We serve a God who is not distant from suffering and sadness. He does not shy away from it. But instead, he runs to it, eager to offer comfort and bring peace to those gripped by anguish.

When we pause and realize the nearness of God, we realize that it is in Him we can find surprising joy and satisfaction when we thought there was none.

Psalm 107:8-9 says this, “Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind (why be thankful?) for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.”

In our stillness and our sadness, the Lord is Near and will satisfy our deepest longings, filling us with the good things of His Spirit.

When we are forced to pause we can realize the nearness of God.

In times of difficulty, not only is God’s Nearness more real than ever before, but also The Love of God is More Precious. Our eyes see our God more clearly and our hearts are warmed by His love for us. This is a God whose heart is so full of love for His Creation that we believe His heart is broken when the hearts of His children are broken.

This a God who has shown His love for us in a very particular way:

1 John 4:9-11 says this: This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

God loved us so much that he sent his Son, to die for you and for me, when we least deserved it. He was sent, not to be served, but to serve. Christ comforted those who are hurting. And to healed the broken hearted.

God sent Jesus to bring peace many years ago, and yet Christ is still present, even now, comforting those who are hurting and healing the broken hearted.

In times of sadness and grief, God’s love is more precious.

Also, in times of unexpected sadness, The Comfort of God is More Meaningful.

I was told that Gerald’s favorite prayer was the serenity prayer. It does like this:

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.

There’s some comfort in knowing that there are things that we cannot change that is best held in the hands of God and there’s comfort in knowing that God can give us the wisdom in knowing the difference between the things we can change and the things we cannot.

In Isaiah 41:10 God says this: So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

When we feel fear and when we are dismayed, God’s promise to Isaiah is still given to us today. We can experience the comforting and sustaining power of God. In moments when it doesn’t seem to make sense, we can feel a peace. In the deepest aching of our hearts, God can give us rest. When it feels as if we cannot go on, God can give us the power to do so.

God promises us strength and help. He promises us that when it feels like we are falling, he will hold us up with His right hand.

Whenever we are stopped in our tracks by times of tragedy, and the busyness of life begins to fade, and our sorrow takes the front seat, if we call upon God, we will feel the comforting touch of His arms wrapping around us and His whisper of encouragement and peace.

In times of pause, the comfort of God is more meaningful.

Finally, whenever we experience sadness, the Hope of God is More Certain.

2 Co 4:16–18 says this: Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

You see, whenever we are hit with unexpected hardship and death, suddenly our perspective shifts. No longer are we focused on the stresses and worries of the day-to-day. No longer are our eyes fixed upon things which are seen. But instead, we fix our eyes on what is not seen. Not on the temporary but instead on the eternal.

We have a unique opportunity today to come to terms with the fact that life is but a mist. When compared to the eternal, life is just a moment. Gerald has shown us that our earthly lives too will have an end. But there is hope for us today.

Our prayer should be that as we leave this place, our eyes not shift from the seen and the temporary too quickly, but instead may we walk away enlightened and filled with the hope that is presented to us in Jesus Christ.

That though earthly life may end, our eternity with God can be assured.

The same God, who in moments of tragedy, we feel His nearness closer than our next breath, and the same God whose love for you is even now most easily seen, and the same God whose comfort is available to you and is ready to wrap around you, is the same God who presents to you the hope and the promise that death does not have to be the end, but instead, out his love for us, and his grace, we can reach out and accept the gift (it is a gift, freely given), the gift of eternal life.

What Gerald offers us today, is the opportunity of a fresh perspective. Free from the noise of life, and the busyness of our schedules. Gerald offers us the unique opportunity to lay down on the floor of the icehouse and listen for the ticking watch that is the beating heart of God, that is full of love for you today, and we can reach out to Him and find unspeakable joy, and peace, and hope.

Amen.

Committal

Today, there will be no graveside service, so instead we now speak the words of Gerald’s committal, here and now.

Here we commit the body to its kindred dust. The spirit we leave with God, for we know the Judge of all the earth will do right. This is the end of all the living. May the living lay it to heart. As we know it is appointed for all men once to die, and after that, the judgement, let us here consecrate ourselves to live in such a way as to be ready for that appointed day. And may we place our trust in Him who said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die”.

Forasmuch as it has pleased Almighty God to take unto himself the soul of our departed brother, we bear his body to this place prepared for it, that ashes may return to ashes, and dust to dust; and the imperishable spirit, refined as by fire, may be forever with the Lord.

Let us pray: Dear God, we thank you that you sent your Son, Jesus Christ to die in our place, so that for us, death no longer has to be the final word. And so now God we pause and we listen for your voice. We wait now God for your comfort to fall around us. We are eager to feel your presence near to us. Our hearts are open to experience your love. And your eyes are open to the hope we have in you.

God, may you be with us as we leave this place. Let us not waste the gift that Gerald has given us. The gift of a pause. The gift of new eyes. And the gift of a fresh perspective.

God, go with us now Lord as we leave this place.

In your name, Amen.

Sending

“May the Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious unto you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.”

And now a song.