Funeral for Rex Trevor Fielke (28 August 2019)

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

Text: John 10:28
Theme: ‘I Give Them Eternal Life’

Dear family, friends and loved ones of Rex; Darren, Rowan, and Crispian, and especially you, Lorraine;

God has the last word. That Word is Life. He is the only one who can speak it. There are other powerful messages spoken to us. The evidence of death lies before us. The bodily remains of Rex Fielke are in that rectangular box. It’s the reason we’re here. Death speaks and it silences all human claims of autonomy. Mortality is the most palpable, indisputable inevitability known to the human race. Taxes must remain in second place. Claims to the contrary are delusional. The shadows of our mortality lengthen, and we are powerless to reverse them. But there is One who casts no shadow for He is the source of light. He is life and in His presence Rex now rests.

Rex did not undervalue the life God granted to him. No one could say that Rex threw in the towel or gave up the fight prematurely. In the last quarter of his life the journey was arduous; a saga of the artistry of keeping the vital systems in balance. More than once Rex stood at the precipice; more than once he looked his mortality straight in the eye, more than once he soldiered on and continued the fight. Bits of his scaffolding were removed, piece by piece. It was symbolic of the struggle to prioritize what’s most valued in life. Sacrifices are made, little by little, some more painful than others. Little by little we are broken down, our energy wanes, our capacities decline… but it’s always for the greater purpose of securing what is most certain and true.

Finally, and mercifully Rex’s frailty was absorbed into God’s strength. God has called him to eternal glory, and only at the risk of betraying our selfishness could any of us begrudge him of that privilege. Of course, Rex didn’t struggle alone. If honorary nursing degrees are awarded Lorraine should be at the top of the list. The vow of marriage becomes very real when the “in sickness and in health” clause necessitates carrying an imbalanced load. Which of the two of them prayed more fervently for relief from the neuralgia, I don’t know. It was Rex’s ‘thorn in the flesh’. The words of the apostle Paul could hardly be more applicable, “Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.”1

“My grace is sufficient for you”- that’s an apt summary of Rex’s faith and Christian life. He lived his faith comfortably, but not casually, reverently, but not somberly. He took truth seriously. Rex was not a universalist. He did not share the popular conviction that all who reach their mortality move on to a lovelier state of existence. He knew it wasn’t biblical. The punishment for sin isn’t a hoax. The Scripture says, “It is by grace you have been saved, through faith- and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- not by works, so that no one can boast.”2 That is how Rex was saved. By grace through faith is the only way anyone can be saved.

Rex was a confessed Lutheran who cherished the gospel. He understood that salvation is through Jesus Christ and no one else. When Rex was commentating for the Riverland Football League, he knew what needed to be said and he said it well. His approach to God’s word and spiritual truth was much the same. The Scripture says “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”3 If there was another way to go from earth to heaven would the only Son of God have needed to assume human flesh, suffer at the hands of sinners, die an excruciating death on the cross, and rise again from the grave?

Dear friends, reflecting on mortality should always cause us to reassess our priorities in life. What do we value, and why? If the well-being of the soul isn’t a top concern, if we’re not exhausting our capacities in the love of others, then what are we doing? We see in our culture that self-indulgence is often limited only by the fear that others will dis-associate from us if kindnesses aren’t reciprocated in some way.

You should not be surprised if the consideration of mortality proves to be more than a little unsettling for you. Fear of dying is visceral, it’s guttural. Attempts can be made to soften the fear by making light of it, by laughing it off. But this isn’t a serious way of addressing it. Still, it’s a common coping strategy to parody the things we fear. It’s an effort to disempower them. We’re a little less terrified facing a tiger that’s lost most of his teeth. But death is not a toothless tiger and the visceral reaction to fear of death can’t be overcome by any human powers at all. All of our strategies are completely hollow regardless of how cosmetically convincing they are. Divine intervention is required to bring genuine peace to the soul.

A careful reading of the Scriptures shows that believers in biblical times didn’t face death with a religious attitude of pious denial, they faced it with faith. That is, they faced it entrusting themselves to the God of creation and redemption. They faced it clinging to the promise that they would not pass into oblivion. The God who fashioned Adam from the dust of the earth and breathed into him the breath of life is surely capable of raising our bones from the sleep of death. He has proven it in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. He said, “This is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day."4

Rex was never far from God’s house at Bookpurnong. The Lord made His claim on him through the waters of baptism there. There the Spirit nurtured him through word and sacrament. And from that same place God will raise His ashes on the great day of the resurrection of all flesh. Rex was the local historian for the Bookpurnong congregation and community. You can imagine how fastidious his competence was. His part in this temporal history is now done, but his part in the heavenly narrative has just commenced.

Lorraine, some of your grief you will be able to share. But some will remain pertinent only to you. To the exclusion of all others, he was your Rex. The Holy Spirit will give you the wisdom to find the balance and the strength to bear the weight. Tears of sorrow are heavier than tears of joy. Tears of sorrow are weighted with finality. Tears of joy are buoyed by hope. You will experience both.

The ‘balancing act’ of Rex’s health became too complicated in the end. Rex was a tightrope walker whose rope had diminished to the width of a thread. But the Saviour had him on a tether and Rex sank safely into His arms. “My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all, no one can snatch them out of My Father’s hand.”5 The name Rex means king. Our beloved brother Rex has received his crown. He has been crowned by the “King of kings and Lord of lords”6 God has the last word. That Word is life. Amen.

+ In nomine Jesu +

Christian Burial of Rex Trevor Fielke
28 August 2019
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt

1 2 Corinthians 12:8-9 2 Ephesians 2:8-9
3 Romans 10:9 4 John 6:40
5 John 10:27-29 6 1 Timothy 6:15