Thursday, September 25, 2014

Christian Burial of Marjorie Eustice 25 September 2014

+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.

Text: John 14:2
Theme: A Place For You

Dear family, friends and loved ones of Marj; and especially you Kaye, Susan, Bruce and Betty,

The place of Mar Eustice is now filled. Christ planned it in eternity. He secured it through His redeeming death. He guaranteed it from the moment of her baptism. And He has now received her into eternal rest. Therefore, “Do not let your hearts be troubled.”1 Marj has been crowned with eternal life. Thanks be to God for His indescribable love! Were we privy to the blessings she now enjoys our tears of sorrow would be turned instantly into tears of joy.

But, alas, we are still humans laboring under the weight of our own mortality. So as we reflect on this occasion in which sorrow is mixed with joy, sadness mingled with hope, a sense of loss blended with relief we do well to recognize the complexity of confronting such a serious thing as death. We do ourselves no favours by ignoring it or brushing lightly past it. Death is not child’s play. It is deep, dark, and sinister. Death is not natural. It has a malicious cause. The Holy Scriptures say, “The wages of sin is death.”2 All must face it.

Short of willful denial it’s impossible not to have some belief about death. There are only two possibilities. Either people just cease to exist or they live on. If they live on; on what basis and under what circumstances? So where do we look for hope? Are we content with none at all; to resign ourselves to a purely material, purposeless understanding to the universe and human life? A universe without a creator? A world without aim, design, or intent? A human race without ancestry or meaning, or future? Can the soul be reduced to only the emotional or psychological aspect of an individual? Many Christians have surrendered to just such a world view.

The greatest sin is always unbelief; to utterly abandon all hope in God. Often this happens not in any formal way. Gradually, almost imperceptibly the sheep stray beyond the voice of the Shepherd and eventually they are lost. Little by little people look to other things for security and seek to find meaning and purpose only in the fleeting things of life. But time does not favour transitory pursuits. Only God can ordain certainty and if He does not do so there is no certainty at all. What can be more certain than that God must be true to Himself? The Scripture says, “If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things?”3

The great failure of our time is not that we expect too much of God, but too little of Him. Christ isn’t a convenient little solution for our fear of what lies beyond the grave. He’s not a prop, or a fine-looking façade behind which there is just empty space. He is the immortal God who has conquered death itself. Easter is the bedrock of Christian truth. The grave was empty, not His promises. Let’s not be too quick to assume that the ancients were ignorant or that they naively followed religious notions that had no credible foundation. Could the apostle state the pivotal issue more clearly? “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.”4

“But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead!”5 Therefore, “Say to those who have an anxious heart, ‘Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.”6 Jesus says, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies.”6

Marj Eustice did not have a stagnant or shallow faith- if such a faith can really even exist. Her trust was deeply anchored in the promise that God is merciful. Her trust in His mercy was tested mightily. She suffered the death of their 12 year old son Robert. Few things test the resolve and resilience of a parent more than the death of a child. She spent many long and difficult years tending to Murray in his convalescence. She had many reasons to feel worn out or give up. She could have cried “Unfair! It’s all too much!” Yet by the grace of God she persevered and was a loving and exemplary wife and mother.

In her latter days she may have forgotten many of her former acquaintances and experiences. Why God allows this to happen is beyond the boundaries of proper speculation. But she was not forgotten by her Lord. Now the promise of her baptism has come to fulfillment. She has been released from the power and decay of sin. She has received the inheritance. In perfect peace she awaits the resurrection of all flesh. We celebrate her homecoming today.

Like each of us Marj had her faults and imperfections. Like each of us she lived in a fallen world. But she was redeemed. She was made worthy to enter into the presence of God by the Lamb whose blood covered her sins. She was saved by grace, and through faith freed from the sentence of condemnation. She was God’s cherished child and faithful servant. She regularly received strength from His body and blood at this altar and was lifted by the promises of the Spirit.

Dear friends, it’s not with childish fantasy that the apostle Paul writes, “I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”7 Marj is no longer exposed to the power of decay and she’ll never be separated from the presence Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Suffering has ended. Death has been conquered. Satan has been denied. Peace is now hers. Her time here is done. In heaven it’s just begun. Amen.



+ In nomine Jesu +

Christian Burial of Marjory Estelle Eustice
25 September 2014
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt

1 John 14:2
2 1 Corinthians 15:19
3 Romans 8:31-32
4 1 Corinthians 15:17-19
5 I Corinthians 15:20
6 John 11:25
7 Romans 8:38-39

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