Mary (Miller) Murray Memorial

Welcome

Good afternoon. My name is Clint, I’m a pastor here in town and a friend of Patty and Gerry’s and….. On behalf of Mary ’s family, I would like to thank you for coming today to remember and celebrate the life that Mary  lived. She was an amazing woman, a mother and grandmother, a dedicated nurse, and to many of you, a dear friend.   We are here to thank our heavenly Father for sharing Mary  with us for 64 years and to remember Her life and the legacy that she will leave behind.

We are here to share our grief, and to comfort and encourage one another as family and as friends.  And we are here to receive strength, support, and hope from God, who loved and cared for Mary each and every day of Her life.  The apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in our time of need…” Would you join me in prayer as we ask God to bless our time together and provide that comfort that the apostle wrote about 

Prayer (Clint)

Would you bring to us right now that peace that goes beyond all human comprehension… Thank you so very much for sharing Mary with us. We thank you for the way that she loved, for her service to other people. Lord we thank you for her Faith in you that so permeated her life. And Lord we thank you for the Hope she had, the hope of spending eternity with you and the hope that she could leave a positive impact on the world. Father, would you comfort us in our loss today. Would you help us to remember the good times and hold on to that same hope that Marry had, the hope that this life isn’t all there is.  Would you be with us now as we celebrate the amazing life Mary  lived. Amen.

Song

At this time we are going to listen to a song the family has picked out. After that, Mary’s Brother-in-law Gerry will come on up and share a few words with us.

Eulogy

Gerry Sweetnam

Sharing of Memories

I’d like to invite up Mike and Patty, who will be sharing some memories of Mary with us.

Mike Miller

Patty Miller

Poem

Now Mary’s Husband Patrick will share a poem with us.

Patrick

Special Music and Tribute Pictures

Thank you Patrick And now lets watch a slideshow that will take us through Mary’s life.

Message

Once again, my name is Clint, and on behalf of Mary’s family thank you for being here today as we remember a life well lived. A life  that had a tremendous impact on many people.

Since Mary passed away, life’s been hard, it’s been different. When we lose someone who is close to us, part of us changes forever. It’s a new, different world that you are living in. And while today is difficult, it’s good for us to be together, to honor Mary’s memory, tor remember Her and Her legacy, to share stories, and to learn from Her and the life Her lived. 

I never met Marry. I never got to hear her tell stories about surgery or working in hospice. I never got to hear her talk about working with AIDES patients, or what it was like repelling down a cliff to get to an injured person when she worked for Madeline Island. We never got to go sailing together.

But I did get a chance to sit down a few weeks ago with Patrick, and Patty and Gerry. I asked them to tell me about Mary and help me get to know her. We talked for a long time, and they shared the good stuff with me, and the difficult stuff about Mary with me. Mary was truly incredible in so many ways, and like all of us, she wasn’t perfect. And both of those sides of her, the amazing stuff, and the hard stuff, impact people.

I’ve been a full time pastor for ten year and a police chaplain for five, I’ve seen first hand, and I’m sure most of you have as well, how death, and loss can impact people differently. It brings up everything from the past, both the good and the bad. And we get to choose, we get to choose which way we pivot. Do we pivot away from each other, or towards each other, towards healing, towards forgiveness and reconciliation, and build a better future together.

As I talked with Patrick and Patty and Gerry, it become pretty clear the Mary moved towards Forgiveness and reconciliation. And as they talked, not only about her last few days, but her life in general, the thing that I kept coming back to was that Mary kept growing in her ability to live out the Theological Virtues of Faith, Hope and Love. And today, as we gather together, I think that we can learn from Mary how to embrace these. Let’s start with Love

Love

Mary’s whole life was bent towards loving people well. 41 years as a nurse in a variety of different roles. Big or small, she was always there to lend a hand to those in need. That was Mary’s way of communicating, “I see you, and I love you.” Think of all the people over all the years that got to feel the Love of God through Mary. In there most scared, most vulnerable moment, in a hospital, or waiting to leave this life in Hospice, or getting prepped for surgery, and then they got to see Mary.

From Mary we learn how to love people well even in the most chaotic moments of life.

And Mary’s ability to Love, I think, was closely tied into her Faith.

Faith

Mary loved the Lord. And it was from that place of Faith that she drew strength. Not only did God deposit amazing gifts in Mary, like her ability to love people and show them compassion, but Mary also learned how to, each and every day, trust God more and more in her life. To put her weight down on her faith, in the good and the bad.

Hebrew 1:11 says “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see”

Mary was grounded in her faith, it gave her confidence, and it let her Hope for things that weren’t seen.

Hope

And Mary had tremendous Hope. She had the Hope that her actions would make a difference in peoples lives. She Hoped that she could make you smile and turn your day around. And, she Hoped for a better future. She knew what was in store for her. I future with no more sickness, or surgery’s, a future with no pain. She hoped for a future spent in God’s eternal presence.

Mary  loved deeply, and was loved deeply by so many people. When we lose someone that we love so deeply, it’s easy to wonder, if God loved Mary so much, why do people die. It’s important to remember that God never wanted pain and death to exist in the first place.

Gods Original Plan: Genesis

You see, death was never part of God’s original plan. In the first book of the Bible, Genesis, we see a Good God, who creates a beautiful world, and then he creates his masterpiece, humans, to enjoy creation with him forever. But humans decided that they didn’t need God, and they turned their back on him. And in that moment, the world broke. Relationship between God and humans, and humans and other humans became broken. 

But God fixed it. He came into the world as Jesus and lived the life that no one else could, a life fully surrendered to the will of God. And that life, led to him dying on the cross. His death was meant for you and me. We deserved it by turning away from God, he never did. He died for us. And when he did that, he made things right between us and God. And all we have to do is accept the work that he did. 

We are headed towards a future where ever wrong has been made right, and for those who choose to have a relationship with God, we are offered that same opportunity as the first humans, to spend eternity, and that includes the present moment with God.

And that right there, that’s hope. That’s a hope that will carry us through pain and Loss. 

Mary had this hope. This is what Her was looking forward too.

Revelations 21: 3-5

As we begin to close here I want to share one of my favorite passages in scripture, I find this verse so full of hope and comfort. In the book of Revelation, we get a glimpse of what it will be like when Jesus comes back, we see a hopefully eternal future.

In Chapter 21:3-5 it says

I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” 

This is our future hope. We see God’s first order of business is righting every wrong, drying every tear. No more mourning, no more loss, no more pain.  

It’s this hope that we need to cling to as we wrestle with Mary ’s loss. That someday, everything will be made new. For believers in Jesus Christ, Our Hope is that God will take the broken things in this world and make something new. And when we know that we are loved, when we know that we are forgiven, and when we know what we are striving towards, a future without loss, an eternity spent in God’s presence and those that have gone before us, we know that we have no need to fear death. Death was defeated on the cross. Love wins.

Invitation

Maybe you’ve lost sight of this hope.

Today we have a chance to focus on this hope, to invite Jesus in the middle of the hurt, and the pain. We can be filled with Hope where we feel hopeless. We can let God meet us in our pain, in our loss, and in our Hopelessness. We do this by turning to him and asking for his help. By admitting that we need his love in our lives. And it's that unconditional love of our Heavenly Father that helps us live a life worth living, a life where we know that we are deeply loved by our God, and then we can share that love with others. 

Let’s Close our Time together today in prayer.

Heavenly Father, we want to know you like Mary knew you. And Lord we admit that in our own ways each and every one of us has turned our back on you like Adam and Eve did. Today Lord, as we celebrate the life of your Faithful Servant Mary, and as we look towards the future, would you help us to re-orient our entire lives around you.

Lord Jesus, would you teach us how to submit and surrender to you in the big ways and the small ways. Would you teach us feel the Love you have for each one of us, and would that Produce Faith in us. And from that place of Faith and Trust in you, would you help us to keep our eyes on Hope, Hope for a better tomorrow, Hope for a future spent in your presence.

And father we Pray for Mary.

Closing Prayer

In your hands, Oh Lord, we humbly entrust our brothers and sisters. In this life you embraced them with your tender love; deliver them now from every evil and bid them eternal rest. The old order has passed away, welcome them into paradise, where there will be no sorrow, no weeping, no pain, but fullness of peace and joy with your Son and the Holy Spirit forever and ever.

Father, we lift Mary up to you now. Eternal rest grant her now O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon her. May her should and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

Closing

Once again on behalf of Mary ’s family, thank you so much for coming and honoring Mary ’s life and Her legacy. Immediately after we exit there will be a reception. Please stay as long as you can, eat some good food, and share stories of Mary  together. Thank you all so much for coming.