Elmer Clarence Ermel Funeral Sermon – Psalm 34:1-9; James 4:13–15; John 14:1–7, 25–27 June 21st 2023 / Peace in Christ

Elmer Clarence Ermel Funeral Sermon - Mount Olive Lutheran Church / Pr. Ted A. Giese / Wednesday June 21st 2023: Season of Pentecost / Psalm 34:1-9; James 4:13–15; John 14:1–7, 25–27 "Peace in Christ"

“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. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also. From now on you do know Him and have seen Him.” ...

“These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. Not as the World gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

Let us pray: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in Your sight O Lord. Amen.

Grace peace and mercy to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Good Christian Friends and family of Elmer Ermel these days you will have bumped into the saying, “I’m spiritual but not religious,” this suggests that you must pick one, it pits these two things against each other, this is false: the truth is, that as a Christian, it is not an ‘either or,’ but rather a ‘both and.’ Elmer was old school so this will reveal itself along the way.

Elmer was Religious and he was Spiritual. Now the Religious part may have been more obvious at first glance Elmer was faithful in his church attendance and reception of the Lord’s Supper, as he was able, and overall he was a very active member of the church here at Mount Olive serving in many ways over the years, not least of which has been his service with the board of church properties ensuring the continued maintenance of the very building you are sitting in right now. In religiously attending church over the years, and in his living out of his Christian life in faith, Elmer embodied the first line of the Psalm we heard this morning “I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth,”[1] spiritually speaking Elmer’s faith is likewise embodied in verse nine of this same Psalm, “Oh, fear the LORD, you His saints, for those who fear Him have no lack!”[2] In our modern world we often bristle at the idea of living life in the “fear of the LORD,” but I want you to consider something very pragmatic and practical. A healthy fear of extreme cold weather makes a person put on the proper clothing for a Saskatchewan winter, doing so saves life and limb when the weather is at its most severe; and a healthy fear of electricity makes a person take the right safety percussions to prevent injury or death when working on wiring or fuse boxes: Is not Almighty God, who is all present, all powerful, all knowing, who is holy perfection and who Scripture describes as “a consuming fire,”[3] not worthy of a proper respectful fear? If a proper healthy fear of electricity and extreme cold weather preserves life and avoids physical electrocution, hyperthermia and death then might we not want to take serious the belief that a proper and healthy fear of the LORD avoids spiritual injury and death? And more than that, as Elmer experienced in life, such an attitude gave what that Psalm verse says, “Oh, fear the LORD, you His saints, for those who fear Him have no lack!” And in an unexpected twist this healthy and proper fear of the LORD also turns the Lord into our Father, Friend and Helper in time of need. No longer distant but near to us.    

“No lack,” a lack of nothing, contentment, peace with God and peace with our place in the World and what we have in this life. “Lacking nothing,” being content, having peace in the face of hardships and troubles is deeply spiritual: so again I say Elmer was Religious and he was Spiritual. Dear ones Jesus teaches, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.”[4] And in the Old Testament we hear Isaiah, inspired by the Holy Spirit, teach us saying, “Seek the LORD while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near;”[5] Elmer sought after peace and the Lord gave him peace. As an example when Elmer’s dear wife Ruth and their dear daughter Rhonda went to their eternal rest Elmer sought peace and in that peace continued purpose and the Lord who works though means provided the peace and purpose that Elmer was seeking in his grandchildren Kristin and Kennedy and Layne and Jacob and in his great-grandson Sunny. Caring for them and instilling in them life lessons brought Elmer peace and contentment. Elmer was rich in family.      

Because Elmer had that proper and healthy fear of the LORD, Elmer could face hardships and challenges in life trusting that he was firmly held in the palm of the Lord’s hand. And so the words of our Epistle this morning likewise ring true, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” In the last conversation with Elmer I had before his surgery last week he said a phrase I’d often heard from him before or when danger or trouble was coming near, “we’ll take it one day at a time,” to which I said “and all those days are in God’s hands, just as we are in God’s hands.” Each day is a gift, we don’t know for certain what tomorrow will bring, for the Christian we are invited to throw all of our uncertainties and anxieties to God and He won’t fumble,[6] He will receive them and in return grant us peace. Warren, after the snap, after the quarterback successfully makes the pass what do they have left in their hands? Nothing, so too for the Christian we are called to keep passing our anxieties and uncertainties to the Lord, we’re called to do this play after play after play each and every time we find our hands, our hearts our minds full of them. Any quarterback knows this takes practice, that when you get sacked by the World—who wants you to have no peace—you need to get up over and over again to make the pass. Hang onto the ball too long and your odds of getting sacked increase by the second. Be encouraged don’t hold onto your worries in life; pass them off to the Lord. Elmer was learning this along the way; this is something we would all be blessed to learn too.    

In our Gospel reading this morning Jesus first says to His disciples, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in Me.” And at the end of our Gospel Reading this morning Jesus says, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. Not as the World gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” Dear ones when Jesus said these words to His disciples He knew He was about to go to His Good Friday cross and crucifixion. He was talking about peace to them when He knew they were about to have their darkest days. Jesus went to the cross trusting that He was in His Father’s hands and trusting that His disciples were in His hands and in His heavenly Father’s hands too.[7] Elmer religiously hearing God’s Word year in and year out through his life and practically applying it to all the days that God gave him, by the grace of God, brought forth the fruit of peace which is a fruit of the Spirit. Saint Paul teaches, “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”[8]

When Nanette saw him come out to the car last Friday morning as they were preparing to go to the hospital Elmer was so sharply dressed she said, “you look like you’re going to a party,” to which he replied, “I sure am,” and when he was heading in for surgery he made the peace sign. Elmer knew and believed that Jesus didn’t just die on the cross, Jesus died there for him and for you and for me, and more than that Elmer trusted that Jesus didn’t stay dead, on the third day this Jesus who says “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. Not as the World gives do I give to you,” walked out of the tomb alive on that first Easter Sunday morning, risen from the dead. This brought Elmer peace in the face of death, it is the heart and soul of what Jesus promises us when the night before His death Jesus says “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.” Rooms filled with the faithfully departed, where a great and eternal party is underway with those who have been brought there by the grace of God in Christ Jesus.

In our Epistle Reading Saint James says, “You do not know what tomorrow will bring,” and he asks, “What is your life?” Days like today are good days to contemplate this remembering that our dear Elmer over the years did this looking to Jesus first,[9] reflecting that light of Christ to you as he was able.[10] The practical wisdom of being Religious is not unhinged from the Spiritual gift of peace, in Elmer we see how Christ Jesus, the carpenter, dovetails these two things together and how they quietly benefit everyone around him in ways that are not showy of flashy but grounded and down to earth both in the good times when it was easy and in the hard times when we’ve needed it most. At the cross of His crucifixion Jesus put everyone else before Himself; He took the lowest place so we could have a high seat with Him in paradise. We as Christians are likewise to put others ahead of ourselves and have their best interests at heart,[11] to be kind with our words and deeds; dear ones seek after such a life,[12] and when you fail at this—as we all do—seek forgiveness in Christ Jesus and His righteousness. From His nail pierced hands He gives you His peace, not as the World gives, but as He gives. Amen.    

Let us pray:

Lord have mercy on us, Christ have mercy on us, Lord have mercy on us, “take our minds and think through them, take our lips and speak through them, take our hearts and set them on fire; for the sake of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Amen.

[1] Psalm 34:1
[2] Psalm 34:9
[3] Hebrews 12:29
[4] Matthew  7:7–8
[5] Isaiah 55:6
[6] Matthew 6:25-34
[7] John 10:28-29
[8] Galatians 5:22–24
[9] Hebrews 12:2
[10] Matthew 5:14-16; John 8:12; 2 Corinthians 4:6
[11] Philippians 2:3–5, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,”
[12] Hebrews 13:7–8, “Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the Word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”

Photo Credits: main photo provided by family and Mount Olive; photo of Mount Olive Lutheran Church at dawn from Pr. Ted Giese; detail of electrician from pexels; detail of man at prayer from pexels; detail of quarterback from pexels; photo of Elmer provided by family; detail of carving Jesus' hand from pexels.