Patricia Nash Funeral

Music

Song by Dona

Message

We gather here today to celebrates the lives of Arno and Emily Nash as well as their daughter Patricia Nash.

It’s not often that a funeral is for three people but after hearing some of their story this seems pretty fitting.

Arno and Emily

They spent most of their lives in Chicago

Arno or “bud” as he liked to be called, passed away in 1998 due to cancer of the Jaw. But in his younger years he works as an electrician. He helped with many of the major projects in Chicago at the time like the Sears tower and the Shubert Theatre.

They both had a pretty good sense of humor. In fact one story is hard to even believe.

Emily and Arno used to go Grover’s Oyster Bar in Chicago and they would tie strings through a raw oyster and swallow them and see who gagged first as they pulled them out, the loser bought dinner.

They were not the tallest people in the world but they had big spirits. Emily was a big Cubs fan and so she’d get her free tickets from work and go to the games with her family. She loved the field and the team so much the family actually sprinkled some of her ashes on a certain area of the stadium so we can authentically say “She’s not all there”

Patricia

Pat was a very quiet child who kept to herself a lot and could always be found with her nose in a book. As she got older, her taste in reading became quite classical, devouring the works of writers such as Collette and George Sand. As she reached her teenage years, her interest expanded to science fiction and fantasy, as an example, The Hobbit series by J.R.R. Tolkien. Later, she was a huge fan of Dr. Who and other shows on Public Television.

Like her mother, Emily, she was a staunch Democrat.

She was quite young when her husband Rich died and it was very hard on her.

She was very close with her friend Sally Gartman and had numerous friends that she would see in and around the Chicago neighborhood where she lived. Her nightly phone conversations with her cousin Lon were something she looked forward to each day. She was a great animal lover and was passionate about her cat, Coco.

First husband Rich was hanging out in the closet in a bowl after he had been cremated. Lonnie knocked it off the ledge and onto the floor and Lonnie then vacuumed up because he thought it was cigarette ashes.

Emily and Arno used to teach Patricia and Lonnie how to dance. Lonnie and Patricia were hoping this would jump start his career of being the next Patrick Swayze.

I’ve taken a dance lesson in the past and we learned about the basics of dancing with a partner. What she taught us was very simple but also had deep spiritual implications.

We were taught that the man has to lead and the woman had to follow. The mans job was to lead but his job was to lead in a way that excentuate the woman and excentuate her movements and her flow to the music.

When we look at the dance of life, we see a dance that can be clunky at times. It a dance that takes time to learn it takes time to work out the kinks.

But one thing I’ve learned over the years is the more in control I try to be, the more out of control life gets. And when we come to days like today, days where we remember loved ones and those who have gone before us, control is nothing more that a fleeting notion we use to cope with our own finite bodies.

We were made to follow. Jesus call to each one of us is to follow him. He says things like pick up your cross and follow me. He tells the rich young ruler who worshipped his money and possessions to sell all he had and follow him. Jesus calls us to follow.

In every case Jesus calls one to follow after him its as if he stretches out his hand for another to grab hold of. And he leads them in the dance of life. He will lead through every bump, every trial, any suffering, and even into death, Jesus leads.

Jesus’ death on the cross paved a way for you and I to have access to his love and his leading. Jesus death paid for my sins and dealt with my depravity. His death and his resurrection.

What is Jesus leading us towards?

John 14:1–4 NLT

1 “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. 2 There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? 3 When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. 4 And you know the way to where I am going.”

HOW DID JESUS PREPARE A PLACE FOR US?He reconciled us to himself

Romans 3:23 ESV23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Romans 5:8 ESV8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Ephesians 2:8 ESV8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,

Jesus died for our sins so that our reality might be rooted in a relationship with God Himself.

Our dance with God begins when we put our faith in Jesus and his works because ours isn’t enough.

This dance is one of complete and total trust in him and what he did.

This dance isn’t the mashed potato or the jitterbug.

It’s a dance of trust and security.

This dance shows us the hope we have

1 Thessalonians 4:13–16 NLT

13 And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who have no hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died. 15 We tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have died will rise from their graves.

Psalm 56:10–13 ESV

10 In God, whose word I praise, in the Lord, whose word I praise, 11 in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me? 12 I must perform my vows to you, O God; I will render thank offerings to you. 13 For you have delivered my soul from death, yes, my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of life.

Special Song

Dona Closes

Closing Prayer

Open for a time of Sharing