Funeral Sermon for Brian Patterson / Friday June 21st 2013

Mount Olive Lutheran Church / Rev. Ted A. Giese / Friday June 21^st 2013: Season of Pentecost, Funeral Sermon for Brian Patterson.

Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when He finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” And [Jesus] said to them, “When you pray, say:

          “Father, hallowed be your name.

          Your kingdom come.

          Give us each day our daily bread,

          and forgive us our sins,

                   for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.

          And lead us not into temptation.”

          And He said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; and he will answer from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything’? I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence[1] he will rise and give him whatever he needs. And I tell you, 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. What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”

(Luke 11:1-13 ESV)

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. Angelina, this is a hard day. You’ve lost both your mom Mary and now your dad Brian, but there is good news for you, and not just for you Angelina, there’s good news for all of us.

Here’s the first bit of the good news for you today, good news on a hard day. When you pray, Jesus invites you to pray to God by saying “Our Father.” Even though you’ve lost Brian, your dad, right now, you haven’t lost your heavenly Father, who is God. The heavenly Father, who so loved the world that He gave His only Son Jesus,[2] is your heavenly Father: You can ask Him for anything, and He gives you Jesus as a Brother and all of us who are baptised into Jesus as your brothers and sisters. You have a big family, as a Christian you never need to be without one, you have friends and people who love you in this family of Christians, people like Kathy Sefaniuk and Susan Vopni and Nathan Hubick, and Wanda Hampel and Gordon Lissel and Howard and Nanita Hautz pastor Terry and Me and many others, so even though your mom and dad have gone on ahead of you, your heavenly Father, Jesus’ Dad, hasn’t left you all alone here. He gives you a nice big family who loves you very much. He gives you Mount Olive as the Family Home to come and visit with the family every week. We’ll always be here for you when you need us.

Now Brian didn’t have much but he always had your best interests at heart and provided for you as best as he could. Your heavenly Father provides for you even better by giving you the Holy Spirit, you can point to your baptism with confidence knowing that the Holy Spirit is yours and you are His, and that Faith in Jesus was given to you in the waters of baptism. Now you might not remember the day Brian and Mary had you baptised but you’ll be able to remember the day that they were here at Mount Olive when you had your baptism confirmed. That was a happy and special day. It shows to you again how much your heavenly Father loves you.

This love that God has for you, He has for your Dad Brian and your mom Mary. Now it’s because of this same kind of love that we love others, the Bible says, “We love because [God] first loved us.”[3] In this love Jesus says to you and to all of us, “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.”[4] That’s where your dad is now. Brian’s soul is with Jesus in the spirit and on the last day Brian will be raised up from the dead, along with you and me and everyone, and all of us who believe in Jesus will go with our perfect Bodies (body and soul back together) into heaven forever,[5] and there will never be any trouble or difficulties or hard times ever again. Jesus promises us that “He will wipe away every tear from [our] eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”[6] Jesus promises this with His very Blood which He shed upon the cross to wash away all your sins.

So while your dad Brian can’t take care of you anymore, you can trust that God the Father will always take care of you. You can ask Him for anything in Jesus’ name. He loves you, because He loves Jesus and Jesus and you are family, and we are all family together. The last thing Jesus said after He was risen from the dead that first Easter Sunday Morning just before He ascended into heaven was that He would be “with you always, to the end of the age.”[7] He said that first to the twelve disciples, but it wasn’t just for them, it is for you and for all of us. This promise is for Brian, Jesus was with him always, even at the end, and now Brian is with Jesus. I know this is true because Saint Paul tells us that “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”[8] Take comfort in this and be encouraged in your faith, God the Father loves you in Christ Jesus. 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 Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.