02 1st Wednesday of Christmas Margot Funeral 1 Thess. 4. 13-18

Isaiah 25:6-96 On this mountain the Lord of Armies will prepare for all people a feast with the best foods, a banquet with aged wines, with the best foods and the finest wines. 7 On this mountain he will remove the veil of grief covering all people and the mask covering all nations. 8 He will swallow up death forever. The Almighty Lord will wipe away tears from every face, and he will remove the disgrace of his people from the whole earth. The Lord has spoken. 9 On that day {his people} will say, “This is our God; we have waited for him, and now he will save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for him. Let us rejoice and be glad because he will save us.”

1 Thess 4:13-18 (GW)13 Brothers and sisters, we don't want you to be ignorant about those who have died. We don't want you to grieve like other people who have no hope. 14 We believe that Jesus died and came back to life. We also believe that, through Jesus, God will bring back those who have died. They will come back with Jesus. 15 We are telling you what the Lord taught. We who are still alive when the Lord comes will not go {into his kingdom} ahead of those who have already died. 16 The Lord will come from heaven with a command, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet {call} of God. First, the dead who believed in Christ will come back to life. 17 Then, together with them, we who are still alive will be taken in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. In this way we will always be with the Lord. 18 So then, comfort each other with these words!

John 3:14-21 (GW)14 “As Moses lifted up the snake {on a pole} in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up. 15 Then everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.” 16 God loved the world this way: He gave his only Son so that everyone who believes in him will not die but will have eternal life. 17 God sent his Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but to save the world. 18 Those who believe in him won't be condemned. But those who don't believe are already condemned because they don't believe in God's only Son. 19 This is why people are condemned: The light came into the world. Yet, people loved the dark rather than the light because their actions were evil. 20 People who do what is wrong hate the light and don't come to the light. They don't want their actions to be exposed. 21 But people who do what is true come to the light so that the things they do for God may be clearly seen.

My friends, I greet pray that God’s grace and peace would be with you, and would comfort you in your time of mourning.  Believe it or not, today is a day of celebration.  Today is a sad day.  Today is a sad celebration.  Margot was the most wonderful person in the world.  She was sweet and understanding.  She was loving and sympathetic, and most importantly she was forgiving.  We are sad that Margot has fallen asleep.  But, because she belongs to Jesus, you and I know that one day she will wake up, therefore we celebrate.   (PAUSE)

Now this isn’t the kind of celebration where there is dancing and singing and good times for all.  But this is a celebration of thanks to God for Margot and the blessing that she was to so many.  To all the ways that she touched your lives, and helped you to grow.  To celebrate the faith that she shared with you, the advice that she would give, and her honesty and bluntness in the face of arguments.  Today is a celebration because we know that Margot is with Jesus.  That one day She will wake up.  And on that day you and I, who belong to Jesus.  On that day, you and I will be with Margot and with Jesus. And beginning with that day you and I will live forever on the new earth, with Jesus, and with Margot.  This future reality is what we are celebrating.  This future reality gives us hope.  It won’t make the pain go away.  But it will help to ease it.  If there is one thing that I want you to remember from this message it is that you have hope.  When you hear that word pay attention.  It will come up frequently.  But it is important.  You have hope.  That hope is the hope of everlasting life.  It is the hope that is given to you at your baptism.  That hope will help you get through the hard times.  That hope will help you get through this time.  That hope is why today is a sad celebration and not just sad.  (PAUSE)

This message of hope is the same one that is found in Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians.  He writes, “Brothers and sisters, we don't want you to be ignorant about those who have died. We don't want you to grieve like other people who have no hope.”  It is easy to read this and think that grieving is a bad thing.  But that is not true.  Grieving is normal.  It is ok.  What is bad is grieving like those who have no hope.  Because when we grieve in that way, we deny the hope that you and I have.  This is what Paul is saying.  In the midst of your grief, know that you will see  Margot again.  And as comforting as that is it gets even better.  Because on that day you will also see Jesus.  And it still gets better.  Because beginning with that day, you will be with Jesus forever.  This is the hope that you and I have.  This is the hope of eternal life. (PAUSE)

How do we know that we have hope?  You and I have hope because of baptism.  In baptism we have forgiveness of sins, we are rescued from death and the devil, and eternal salvation is given to all who believe this, as the words and promises of God declare.

Now let’s think about this for a moment.  Baptism works forgiveness of sins, and rescues from death and the devil.  The forgiveness of sins enables us to be in the presence of God.  To be his children.  This forgiveness was won by Jesus through his death and resurrection.  Because of his sacrifice, death can not win.  That seems like an inappropriate statement to make at a funeral.  And it would be if we were not at a Christian’s funeral.  Margot was baptized.  All these promises are the same for her.  This is the hope that we have.  We can be sure of this.  Margot is with Jesus.  Margot will rise and Margot will live forever with Jesus.  So this is only temporary.  This will not last.  This will end when Jesus returns.  When Jesus returns, he brings with him everlasting life.  That life will not be temporary.  That life will last.  That life will never end.  This is our hope.  This is the hope of everlasting life.  This is why today we are able to celebrate, to have a sad celebration. (PAUSE)

Paul continues in his letter, “We believe that Jesus died and came back to life. We also believe that, through Jesus, God will bring back those who have died. They will come back with Jesus.”  This is what we have been talking about today.  This is the hope of everlasting life.  This is the scriptural proof that you and I will see Margot again.  How do we know for sure?  Because Margot is baptized.  Because you are baptized.  And because I am baptized.  At those baptisms God came to us, and made us his children.  Therefore we have hope.  Therefore we have the hope of everlasting life.  Paul continues, “We are telling you what the Lord taught. We who are still alive when the Lord comes will not go {into his kingdom} ahead of those who have already died. 16 The Lord will come from heaven with a command, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet {call} of God. First, the dead who believed in Christ will come back to life. 17 Then, together with them, we who are still alive will be taken in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. In this way we will always be with the Lord.”  Did you hear it in there?  Did you hear the hope?  The dead in Christ will rise first, and then those that are left will join them.  And all of them will always be with the Lord.  That is the hope of everlasting life.  That is the hope that you and I share.  (PAUSE)

This is great, but what do we do until then?  We are still hurting over the loss of Margot.  We would rather be with her now.  So what do we do?  Paul answers this question with the last verse from our reading, “So then, comfort each other with these words!”  We encourage one another.  We grieve together.  We pray together.  We spend time together.  We encourage one another.  Because we have the hope of everlasting life.  It was given to us by God at our baptism.  Therefore we know that we will see Margot again.  We know that we will live forever with her, and with our God.  This is the comfort.  This is what we are to encourage one another with.  (PAUSE)

We will always remember Margot.  She has touched our lives in more ways than can be counted.  She will be missed for sure.  But there is an eternity that we will share with Margot when Jesus comes back.  This is most certainly true.  And so I pray that our God would be with you in this sad time.  And that the hope of everlasting life would bring you comfort.  Today is indeed a sad day.  But it is a sad celebration.  Amen.