Pious Lutheran

The Burial,  Carl Bloch, 1873 Dear family and friends of Kathy, may God’s peace be upon you today as you grieve and mourn the death of a dear woman. King David sang in the 23rd Psalm: “ Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me. ” Even though we are today walking through the dark valley shrouded in death, the Lord is with us, and this evil of death needn’t frighten us. Our Good Shepherd’s rod and staff, His cross upon which He was crucified, guards us against the wolfish devil’s threat of death growling at us. Like king David, Kathy shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever, and no evil thing will ever harm her again. It was just over a year ago that we gathered here for Wayne’s funeral, laying him to rest and await the resurrection of the dead. His death weighed heavily on Kathy the past year. We often talked about him and her desire to be with him again. Over the past number o...

Jesus Resurrected and Mary Magdalene , cira 1923 Dear Lowel, children, grandchildren, relatives and friends of Marlys, may God give you peace today, and comfort you with the glorious promise of the resurrection of the dead through Christ Jesus our Lord. St. Paul writes: “ For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. ” Yes, even Marlys’ death which we must now face does not separate her from her Lord Jesus. He was crucified and died for the forgiveness of her sins, so that when the Lord returns on the final day He shall raise her from the dead and bring her into paradise. I regret that I didn’t have a greater opportunity to get to know Marlys. I give thanks to God that when I visited her in the hospital last week she was alert and able to talk with me very clearly. From just that brief ...

Agnus Dei, Stained Glass at Church of St John the Baptist, Stockton Dear children and grandchildren, family and friends of Belle, according to the great mercy of our God and Father, 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. In holy baptism, on January 24th, 1926, Belle was born again through those waters into that hope which filled her life of 99 years. On May 28th, 1939, Belle was confirmed in that same faith, given the instruction: Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. So as we mourn our loss of her from our lives today, we grieve with hope, for Belle shall rise from the dead with Jesus Christ on the final day and inherit a kingdom in the heavens with all the saints in splendor. A lot can happen in a short amount of time, and when you live nearly 100 years, there is a lot of life to have lived, and a lo...

Agnus Dei, Stained Glass at Saint Columbkille Church, Wilmindton, Ohio Dear Ruth, children, grandchildren, brothers, family, and friends of Norm; Norm has died with Christ, and since he has, he also lives with Christ even now, and shall riase again with Christ on the final day. As you mourn and grieve today and in the days to come, remind yourself of that fact. Norm, your husband, father, grandpa, friend, will rise from the grave to live with all the saints in the kingdom of light. God has promised it, so trust His sure and certain word, dear people of God. Let your grief be tempered by hope. I’ve only known Norm for a year, but I see his daughter Sue most days of the week since she’s our talented secretary at church here, so I’ve heard countless stories about Norm. I’ll spare telling you any of the stories now, since I want you to tell your own stories of Norm with each other during lunch. Ruth has the stories from their past 69 years together; decades of rich stories of a powerful ma...

The Burial  Carl Heinrich Bloch, 1873 Hark, a loud voice from the throne of heaven declares: “ Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God. 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. ” Dear Lois, Anne, John, siblings, relatives, friends, and brothers and sisters in Christ, death shall be no more! Our God and Lord, Jesus the Christ, has destroyed death. In dying He has atoned for sins, and in rising again He has opened the gates of paradise. What joy to know that this man whom we remember today has been forgiven all of his sins by the blood of Jesus, and shall follow his Master from the grave to the holy city of the New Jerusalem! Death, Merle’s death, shall be no more. His tears and yours shall be wiped away by the hand of God. Today, however, tear...

Dear Lori, family and friends of Joyce, may God’s peace be yours in Christ Jesus our Lord who was raised from the dead to life everlasting. “ Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. ” Indeed, Joyce made the good confession of faith in Jesus, and now already her soul is with the Lord. Joyce has the victory over death and the grave! Lori, I must say it was really a neat privilege getting to look through your mom’s Bible the other day. She had bookmarks all over the place in it and some notes and prayers she had written down on pieces of paper. Her notes there gave us our readings for today, actually. On one of the notes she had written her confirmation verse: “ Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life. ” We read some of the preceding verses to give us greater context so that we might figure out how the heart has life. Namely: “ be attentive to my words…keep them within your heart… for they are life to those who find them, ...

Dear Cleo, children and grandchildren, family and friends of Bob, may God’s peace be yours in our Savior Jesus the Christ. The Lord is the everlasting God, and He is God of the living not of the dead. Since He is Bob’s God, therefore Bob is not dead but he is living, even now. Though we may mourn and weep, we do not weep without hope, since we trust our Lord’s promises to raise His Christians from the grave to life immortal. I had mentioned this story with Bob to the family the other day, and Cleo will just have to forgive me if it embarrasses her. But Bob gave me some preaching advice one day some years ago, using the KISS acronym: Keep It Simple, Stupid, and if he ever blew me a kiss before the sermon it was to remind me to keep it simple, stupid. So, I’ll try my best to heed his advice and keep this simple. I think Bob gave me that off-color advice a few years back at the nursing home, where he’d help get things set up for me to bring communion to all of the members who were in the ...