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Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!
Dear Mavis, Marilyn, Dennis, members of Arlowene’s family, friends, neighbors, and members of St. Paul’s congregation,
At times like this, we are reminded of two days that are particularly and especially before us. One of those two days is the day of the funeral—today. As you well know, there have certainly been many things to do and decisions to make since the Lord took Arlowene to Himself in heaven. There have been numerous preparations for this funeral service.
Fortunately, Arlowene had been preparing for this day and service. She wrote most of her own obituary (several editions of it, actually). She wrote down a few things about her life that she specifically wanted you to know:
The highlight of my life is being together with my families—children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.
I enjoyed my friends, crafting, sewing, and gardening, which I shared with family and friends.
Arlowene selected the hymns she wanted us to sing and the readings that you have just heard. She wanted all this worship service to focus on Jesus Christ—Christ crucified for our sins and raised for our justification. Though it is never easy to plan a service for a loved one, this certainly made it much easier for you to get prepared for this day.
The second day we all face is much more difficult to prepare for. In fact, it is an impossible day, and to make it even more frightening, no one can tell you what day it is. It is likely a different day for each of us here. For Arlowene, it was Sunday, August 17th, the day of her death.
The preparations for the funeral service are easy when compared with the preparations for the day of death. Truly, not one of us here can prepare for the day of death. Those preparations must be made for you by God. Indeed, without God, there is only eternal destruction and condemnation on the other side. That’s why, on this day, Arlowene wanted you to hear a sermon based on John 14:1-6, and to do so that you may know of the preparations that the Lord has brought about for your death day. Please listen to the words of Jesus once again:
Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to Myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going. Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to Him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
Each of us is a sinful human being who daily sins much in thought, word, and deed … by what we do and by what we don’t do. The burden of sin builds and there is terror as we consider what we deserve from the holy, just, righteous God. For those who take their sin seriously, to say that our hearts are troubled is an understatement. If left to ourselves, our outlook would be hopeless. The Lord God must make all the preparations if we are to be with Him forever.
The Good News to you this day is this: God has done it. To accomplish your salvation, God the Father sent God the Son into this world to take your place by enduring the penalty for your sinfulness and for all your sins … every one of them. Jesus paid the debt that was yours. Listen to Jesus, “Let not your hearts be troubled; believe in God; believe also in Me.”
Jesus is God, just as the Father is God. God prepared your redemption when He died on the cross. His words, “It is finished!” indicate a complete payment and accomplished salvation for you. Truly, truly, I say to you, Jesus is our Redeemer and He has made all the preparations for us to be with Him in Paradise.
Arlowene was an active lifelong member of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Ferney. During all that time, God was preparing Arlowene for her place in His Kingdom. God baptized Arlowene into Christ’s death here on November 14, 1926. Her death became His death, and His death became her death. Arlowene was crucified with Christ and from that moment on, it was no longer she who lived but Christ living in her; and the life which she then lived in the flesh, she lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved her and gave Himself for her (Galatians 2:20). On the day of her Baptism, the Lord was not only preparing Arlowene for when she entered Paradise; in that first resurrection of Baptism, the Lord was also preparing Arlowene for the Last Day and the resurrection of her body to live everlasting.
The Lord worked faith in Arlowene’s heart in Holy Baptism. Attending worship regularly, she heard the proclamation of the Gospel, and God granted her faith to continue to believe in Him and His promises. She confessed her Christian faith publicly in the Rite of Confirmation here at St. Paul on October 20, 1940. Her confirmation verse from Genesis 15:1 provided her great comfort: “Fear not; I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.”
Through His Word and Sacrament, the Lord sustained and strengthened the faith that He created in Arlowene throughout her life. You need only look at one of Arlowene’s journals to see how much she treasured the Word of God—there you will see evidence of how she prayed for her family each day.
As Arlowene received the Lord’s Supper regularly, she received forgiveness of her sins and the strengthening of her body and soul unto life everlasting. In July, Arlowene partook of Christ’s body and blood in the Lord’s Supper for the last time here on this earth. Though confined to her chair in her room, Arlowene joined with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven and all Christians of all times in preparation for the Marriage Feast of the Lamb that has no end. On August 17th, the Lord, who had prepared a place for her at His banqueting table in Paradise, received her unto Himself, that where He is, there she is also now. Therefore, let not your heart be troubled.
In the sermon text, Jesus was preparing His followers for what was ahead for Him—for His awful suffering and His cursed death on the cross. He knew that His disciples would need hope in the days that followed. Therefore, He tells them about His ascension … about not only dying and rising from the dead, but also for His ascension into heaven. Thus, Jesus speaks to you and thus did Arlowene want you, this day, to hear these words of hope and comfort.
Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to Myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.
But you know something: On the day when Jesus spoke these words, not everyone knew what He meant. At least one person among those hearing the Word that day did not know what Jesus meant. At least one person in the congregation did not know what was being said, did not understand, and was not at all certain what this meant. Thomas said to Jesus, “Lord, we do not know where You are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to Him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
“No one comes to the Father except through Me.” That is neither threat nor law. It is a promise. That, dear people, is pure Gospel … pure Good News. Everything of God has its source in Christ and is reached through Christ. Jesus is the Way, the only Way to the Father. Jesus is the Truth. We can trust Jesus because all that is real and true is found in Him. He is God the Word, and through His Word He reveals His salvation. Jesus is the Life, the source of physical and spiritual life. Whoever believes in Him has eternal life.
The Son of God, in His becoming one of us, in His sinless life, in His sin-atoning death on the cross, in His victorious resurrection, in His majestic ascension and in His life-giving and sustaining Word, has made all the preparations for you to be with Him in Paradise. Live in His Word and grace each day. Amen
Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Ferney, SD 
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