Mourn Well
Notes
Transcript
Betty Jean Walker, or Aunt Betty as I knew her, 90, of Heidelberg passed away on May 23, 2021.
She was born Oct. 31, 1930, to Sam McDonald and Tiny Candace Ratcliffe McDonald.
She was a graduate of William Carey University, where she received her BS in Nursing and was employed with South Central Regional Medical Center until her retirement.
Aunt Betty was a caring woman, who loved her job, loved those she worked with.
Hosted Thanksgiving services for years.
Remember all the sister sitting in the kitchen playing cards and laughing and yelling at us kids to get out of the house because we were interrupting their card games!
Thanksgiving at Aunt Betty’s was always one of my favorite memories and I still mourn that.
She was preceded in death by her parents; her sisters Doris Wheeler and Naomi Drummond; and brothers Thomas McDonald, Jimmy McDonald and Sammy McDonald.
Surviving her are her daughter Sandy Cooley (Buster) of Hattiesburg; son Joey Walker and daughter-in-law Donna Walker, both of Heidelberg; grandchildren Matthew Cooley (Amber) of Sumrall, Christopher Cooley (Kathleen) of Brandon and Joseph Walker of Heidelberg; great-grandchildren Kynleigh Cooley and Adleigh Cooley of Sumrall, and Zachary Cooley of Brandon; sisters Kitty Joslin of Destin, Fla., Jeanette Ellingburg of Brandon and Kay Lee of Laurel; and and sister-in-law Peggy Walker of Heidelberg.
Mourning is Natural
Mourning is Natural
Our Mourning Should Not Be Ignorant
Our Mourning Should Not Be Ignorant
1500 Illustrations for Biblical Preaching Death, Unbeliever’s Response To
The story is told of an author, William Saroyan, who had achieved great success in his field. His works had been acclaimed in the literary world, his name was a familiar entry on best-seller lists, and he had even been awarded a Pulitzer Prize. But now he lay dying in New York City of cancer, which had spread to several of his vital organs.
One evening, as Saroyan reflected on his condition and what the future held for him, he placed a phone call to Associated Press. After identifying himself to the reporter who answered his call, he posed a question that revealed the honest, searching sensitivity that had characterized his career. It was a final statement to be used after his death (which occurred later in May of 1981).
He said, “Everybody has got to die. But I have always believed an exception would be made in my case. Now what?” And then he hung up the phone. (Cited in Reader’s Digest, Dec. 1981, p. 136.)309
For many, death is like that. It’s a now what?
But God does not want us to be ignorant about what will happen to us.
I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
“O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Today is a day of mourning, but we do not mourn because we wonder “what will happen” we mourn knowingly.
Our Mourning Should Hopeless
Our Mourning Should Hopeless
One of the great truths of scripture is the fact that for those in Christ death is not a goodbye but a see you soon.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
And in this passage
For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.
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.
There is a promise from God that death is not the end. Death is merely a doorway into a better place.
Our Mourning Does Not Have to Be Fearful
Our Mourning Does Not Have to Be Fearful
John Piper, once said this in a sermon to Bethlehem Baptist Church:
I know why every one of you is here this morning. That is, I know why God in his providence brought you here. He brought you here so that you would know you don’t have to die. That’s why you’re here. He brought you here so that you would know who says, “I Am” — Yahweh God almighty not John Piper. That’s why you’re here. Those two reasons that you may know that you don’t have to die and that you may know that the authority behind that statement is not mine but God’s through Jesus. Then there are a few implications of that for your life — massive total ones. Nothing stays the same. If you don’t think you’re going to die ever, everything changes.
Today, I know why you’re here. On one hand, you’re here to mourn the death of your grandmother, your aunt, your sister, your friend. But on the other hand, Yahweh God, in his providential love brought you here to hear that death is not the end. You don’t have to die. You can live with him forevermore.
I don’t know what Aunt Betty is seeing right now. I don’t know what she’s doing, I have the authority of scripture to give me an idea, but I really don’t know. But I do know that if she could be here for a moment she wouldn’t talk about the weather, or about politics.
If she was here she’d look each of us in the eye and say, repent and believe on Christ Jesus so that you can one day see what I see.