Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
The text that serves as the basis for this sermon this afternoon is from the 122nd Psalm:
I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord!” Our feet have been standing within your gates, O Jerusalem! Jerusalem—built as a city that is bound firmly together, to which the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, as was decreed for Israel, to give thanks to the name of the Lord. There thrones for judgment were set, the thrones of the house of David. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem! “May they be secure who love you! Peace be within your walls and security within your towers!” For my brothers and companions’ sake I will say, “Peace be within you!” For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek your good.
Thus far the text.
Dear Liz, Ellen, Su, Tim, Marty, Norman, Vicky’s grandkids, great-grandkids, other family and all dear friends in Christ,
We all know why we are here this day, and of course, it is not for the happiest occasions. We know, dear friends, that this day God’s own child, Vicky, has left us and we are left here, stuck with our grief, stuck with our sorrow, stuck with the memories of her life here.
Having just arrived at this congregation last August, Vicky was one of the first people of the congregation I met outside the walls of this church. Her first words to me were, “I was supposed to be gone by now, and now I have a new pastor.” Her second were these, “I wish I could’ve come to church to meet you first.” I can’t say that it was the primary desire of Vicky’s, to walk back in the door of this church (I think her primary concern was to continue to love you, her family and friends), but this desire to be back in the house of the Lord was a big one.
As a child of Christ, washed in the baptismal waters that took away her sin and gave to her the faith she had in Jesus Christ unto her dying day, this child desired to be in the presence of Christ’s Word and Sacraments. She relished them. She truly loved them. And this is no surprise to me. She always was waiting to see me, to bring to her a word of peace, a word of comfort, but most of all the very precious body and blood of our Lord and Savior.
She would reach out her hands for His body, taking it with the bread. And she would open her mouth for His blood, drinking it with the wine. And she would incline her ear to hear the Word of the Lord.
This was sometimes hard for her to do. She was weak, because her body, infected not only with the diseases of this world, but moreover, infected with the disease of sin, her body was breaking down. She was sick. She was tired. And she was dying. In fact, the reality is that we are all dying, just as Vicky was. We are all infected with sin, and the wages of sin is death. We shall die, lest our Lord returns first.
But we do not think of such things as people with no hope. Rather, our hope is the very Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who took upon our flesh for us. Our hope is in the Jesus Christ who lived for our perfection, died for our punishment over sin, and was resurrected for our justification toward eternity. Our hope is in the Lord who has ascended to the right hand of God to prepare a place for us. Our hope is in Him who has promised to be with us even unto the end of the age. Our hope is in the one who has died a sinner’s death and has been raised to new life, a new life that He promises to each and every one of us. For if we are baptized into His death, which indeed Vicky and we all are, then we, like Him shall be raised into His life.
And Vicky, she knew this. This was her faith. You know that she has been ready to go to be with her Lord for a long little while. Her doctors gave her a few months to live, but the Lord gave her over 80 baptized years. This baptism of Vicky’s held her in the one true faith, that even though she could not step through these doors, she knew that she would be in this church again, and so she is today.
This is her body before us, as ashes, yes, but this is her body. Though she has not been able to come the last few months, she was glad when they said let us go to the house of the Lord, for this is where she wanted to be. It is this place, and it is every place where God’s Word is preached in its full truth and the Sacraments are rightly administered. The House of the Lord, it is in this church, and it was in her room across the street. For the Lord came to Vicky in Word and Sacrament, just as He did 85 years ago and just as He has continued to do throughout all these years. Vicky was glad to be in the house of the Lord, for there, she found peace. There, she found the city of God, which is in every place that Jesus is. There, she found the right judgment of God, in that what is true was preached to her. She was secure here in this world in that hope for she was bound firmly with her Lord.
But now, now that Vicky has died here in this sin-filled world, she is even more firmly bound to her Lord, for she sees Him face to face. Now, the right judgment of God is carried out, for all those who are in His Son, Jesus Christ, the way, the truth, and the life, they are in that place with Him. Now, she is in the City of God, the City that will someday descend with Jesus from heaven and rest upon this recreated earth. She is in the house of the Lord, the temple of God, for Jesus Christ is the true manifestation of the Temple. In Him, the sacrifices of praise are offered. In Him, the sacrifice for sin was given to His Father. In Him, the penitent sinners, like Vicky, find their eternal rest.
For Vicky is indeed in the House of the Lord, she is in Christ. She is before us today, surely, but she is also at home with her Savior. She is glad. She is rejoicing. She is resting. And she will, someday soon, return with her Lord to be reunited with this body, and to be reunited with us who are in Christ. For, like Vicky, we have hope.
We have the hope of the Resurrection, and it is surely coming soon. We shall be raised in new bodies, as will Vicky, and we shall see Jesus. And we shall see each other. And we shall see all who have died in Christ.
For this is the ultimate hope, the hope of every Christian, the hope of Vicky: that this life is not the end, but merely the beginning of a future eternity where we shall be always with Jesus in His House and we shall worship Him always in peace and rest. And so, Vicky is. She has beat us all there. But, just as anxious as she was to be in this house, this church, again, and so she is as she is before us today, she is in a better house, the House of Christ, and she is waiting to see us all again soon. She is living, for Christ is living, and thus He has promised her so to do. This is most certainly true. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord! Amen.
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