June Vasey Funeral (17 February 2020)

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

Text: Psalm 91:2
Theme: Refuge and Fortress

Dear friends, loved ones, and family of June, and especially you, Michael and Wendy, her children,

June Vasey was a child of God. She put her trust in His promises. The words of Psalm 91 rang true for her, “I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in Him will I trust.”1 Her faith was not misplaced. She has not been forsaken. The One who has traversed death and opened heaven, even Jesus Christ, our Lord, said, “In My Father’ house are many mansions…I go to prepare a place for you…I will come back and take you to be with Me,”2 This He has done for June Vasey. She is in His presence. Freed from all sin, released from all struggle, the profundity of her peace is beyond our knowing. She is at rest. Thanks be to God for His immeasurable love!

Dear friends, gathering to reflect on the death of a loved one is sobering business. It rightly draws our attention to critical truths. Mortality is not an imaginary threat. Death reveals the ultimate vulnerability of the human condition. The Bible says when sin matures it leads to death. To ignore the consequences of sin is the greatest foolishness. Our false sense of security will soon come to grief if the final implication of lacking the righteousness God requires- a problem shared by all people- is not resolved before we take our last breath.

Then we are like children building castles in the sand while ignorant of the rising tide. Children may pick up their gear and in turn be lifted by their parents to safety. The fun is over. The game is finished. No harm is done. But death allows no such childish indulgences. It is not make-believe. The quicksand of sin prevents our movement. We face the punishing surf unable to retreat. Rescue from mortality requires divine intervention. We cannot save ourselves. Christ rescues the believer from the horrifying prospect of eternal separation from God. This rescue is the only true foundation for joy.

And joy is the truth that prevails in our gathering today. June was God’s baptized child. To remember that June is baptized is to remember that God made an irrevocable promise to her. The Bible says, “According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”3 June had that faith nourished in this congregation. She attended regularly, hearing the Scriptures proclaimed, receiving the body and blood of Jesus in Holy Communion, and rejoicing in the forgiveness He secured for her on the cross.

June’s faith wasn’t a matter of lip service either. She had more than her share of challenges in life and through them learned to take refuge in the mercy of God. June understood hardship. Her early life was not a picture of stability. Moving frequently, she had to adjust to ever-changing circumstances. She endured the deaths of two husbands, and, more sadly, two children. That kind of heartache leaves scars that are carried to the grave. But there wasn’t really time to pause, she had to press on with the necessities of life. Yet, God was faithful to her and she trusted, even in the dark times, that He would not forsake her.

She understood this life is temporary. She didn’t cling to false hopes here because she knew a new creation awaits us there. What accompanies the believer across the threshold of death? What integral, essential part of us makes the transition? Not our accomplishments. Not our failures. Not our embarrassments or fears. Certainly not any material possessions we've accumulated. The only thing that does is the only thing that matters: Our identity in Christ. Baptism opens the door to heaven through which the believer passes at death and awaits the bodily resurrection. It all happens through His grace.

In the end every attempt to commend ourselves, to justify ourselves, to put forward even a lifetime of evidence; including our self-deprecations or false humilities is an offence to the irreproachable holiness of the Almighty God. In the end it's all about Christ, or all of our efforts are an exercise in futility. It's not Christ in addition to us. It's Christ alone. We are saved by grace, through faith, by Jesus' sacrifice for our sins. There is no other Saviour. There is no other way. In Him death is defeated, Satan is silenced, the gates of hell are barred shut.

Why did June, a faithful and considerate person suffer so much hardship, endure so much grief, undergo so much mistreatment? We limit our speculation and we look to the cross. In the death of Christ all injustices are righted, all brokenness is mended, and all alienation is reconciled. Jesus died and rose again that all who believe in Him might have life. We cling to the promise that says, “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."4

June’s journey of faith has ended. The most important evidence of faith is not the exceptional act of service, but the daily commitment to live in one’s vocation in a faithful and godly manner. To be a faithful wife and mother. To strive at loving God and neighbour, knowing that we fail, but believing that Christ succeeded. June persevered through many dark times and now she enjoys eternal light. The race of faith has ended for her.

Of course, we who remain still grieve. The primary venue for the grieving Christian is not the cemetery, but the church. The cemetery contains the material remains of the deceased. It is a place of remembrance; a place of focus. And I imagine, Wendy, that you’ll be making a few trips to Loxton for that reason. But the church is the assembly of the faithful, the cloud of witnesses. The church is a living reality transcending time and space. Here is where sorrow transitions to acceptance, then to hope, then to gratitude. In God’s house is where we have the continuity of God’s love across the generations.

June Vasey took refuge in the only One who could deliver, protect, and redeemer her. She is in His presence, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, and all the hosts of heaven. In this we rejoice. Amen.

+ In nomine Jesu +

Christian burial of June Vasey
17 February, 2020
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt


1 Psalm 91:2
2 John 14:2-3
3 1 Peter 1:5
4 Revelation 21:4