It is a great honour and joy for me to speak on behalf of my cousins and pay tribute to Grandpa. I have tried to prepare thoughts that reflect our common love and respect for Grandpa, and these reflections are not at all unique to myself. My hope and prayer leading up to this opportunity has been that God
would be glorified, Grandpa would be honoured, and his friends and family would be encouraged and strengthened by the hope of the gospel. To that end, i want to read to you a portion of scripture that is, I
Hebrews 13:7-8
“7 Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. 1”
Grandpa was, without a doubt, a leader in his family, his church, his community, and beyond. He was a leader even to multiple generations of people, including his grandchildren. Because of this, I would like to remember him, consider the outcome of his way of life, and by God's grace, imitate his Faith in Jesus, who is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Remember your leaders:
Since we are so numerous, our memories of Grandpa are many. We remember his love for growing things, and his willingness to share any wisdom he had. It may have been simple, like making the distinction between different kinds of plants or birds, or teaching us how to use a knife. It was sometimes more profound, like discussing the nature of the church as 'nothing more than the redeemed'. Grandpa was eager to share what he had learned with us. We remember his joking and laughing, especially around a meal. I don't think any grandchild will ever forget the reality that horse radish WILL put hair on your chest. We remember his thriftiness, as he would stop to pick up pennies on his walks while chuckling to himself 'every penny counts'. As we have all taken this little time to remember Grandpa and all the many memories we have of him, I have seen a clear pattern. I would like to point out this common thread that ran through Grandpas life, and wove all of it together.
Without a doubt, this thread was Grandpa's faith. His faith, as we will see, impacted every single sphere of his life, as true faith does. “You will know them by their fruit”. This faith was not simply a religious disposition. It was not a vague spirituality that he 'practised' when he felt like it. It was not a result of tradition and culture, or just common moral values. It was a deep trust and belief in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. His faith in Christ permeated his soul and his bones, and his dirt covered hands. He really believed that Jesus was the Son of God. He really believed Jesus lived the sinless life we all should have. He really believed Jesus died, in our place, for our sins. And he really did believe Jesus rose from the dead, conquering satan, sin, and death. Like Jesus, Grandpa's faith was and is alive. This faith in Christ worked it's way out in many ways we can remember.
Grandpa loved. He loved his wife and children. He loved one woman faithfully, as Christ is faithful to his church. He cared for his children, pointing them all to the Father, as Jesus did for us. He loved his friends. He loved the church, as Jesus did, and gave his life to serving her, as Jesus did. But unless you think that this was easy, and merely a product of a traditional way of life, I want to remind you of other ways Grandpa loved. He loved the broken and the downtrodden. He loved the stranger. He didn't just love his own, he loved
those who were not. He would stop to talk to anybody. He would take time to get to know his servers in restaurants. He would get to know strangers on his walks with Rev. He went to the homeless shelter during his brief break at lunch during seminary to, in his words, 'wrestle drunks' and serve the
homeless. How much would we benefit if this kind of training was mandatory in all seminaries! Yes, Grandpa loved and served many people well.
But grandpas race, as we also remember, was not always a flat one. No, there were many hills and valleys. There were many scars. There was real pain, and real questions. While we were all blessed to know Grandpa in health and happiness, I believe some of our greatest lessons were learned from
Grandpa in his trials.
1 Peter 1:6-7 “6 - In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 - so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
Grandpa's faith was tested through trials of many kinds. We all saw our great patriarch slowly lose his ability to serve in the capacity he once did so willingly. For a man who owned his own farm by the time he was 20, it must have been hard to slow down. Grandpa wondered, sometimes asking us, why God had steered his path in this direction. At the moment it was harder to see how, but we know that God was working in Grandpa's life to build his faith, not take it. Jesus is not only the founder of our faith, but also the perfecter. Trials are means God uses to grow us, to prune us. God promises to not only begin a good work in us, but to finish it, and he did finish his work in
Grandpa. We were blessed to witness this process being brought to completion, as hard as it was.
Consider the outcome of their way of life:
The outcome of Grandpa's way of life is best seen in retrospect. Perhaps Grandpa's greatest hour was his last. I can't help but deeply feel that the outcome of Grandpa's life was made visible in his last moments, as his family gathered around him to sing praises to His God, to their God. These praises
rang through the hospital, not from those who were naive or sheltered from life, from the children of a man who had suffered much. From people who had suffered much. What could glorify God more than those who, despite their sadness, declare his goodness and worth? What points more clearly to the
living nature of Grandpa's God, our God, than praises in his dying hour? “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness”. God had not abandoned Grandpa. God was not deaf to his prayers. God was preparing Grandpa's heart, and ours, for a deeper joy and love. He was
preparing a symphony of praise,that would ring through the hospital rooms and halls and into our hearts. So beautiful and filled with hope. “O death where is your victory? O death where is your sting?”
Imitate their faith:
Grandpa put his faith in a real God. He put his faith in a living God. There can be no greater way to honour our Grandpa than to do the same. I close with an encouragement from scripture to us all, especially my fellow cousins. After a lengthy and glorious survey of many faithful saints throughout the history of the world, the writer of Hebrews concluded with this:
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 - looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him
endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”
By God's grace we will.
Amen.
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