Funeral Services
|
|
2 Corinthians 5:1-2, 8 "For we
know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have
a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
[2] For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with
our house which is from heaven. [8] We are confident, I say, and
willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
"
|
Address |
| There was a little girl who walked to her house through
the cemetery every day after school. She loved to feel the breeze
in her hair and to watch the birds. Sometimes she just threw herself on
the rich, green grass, and watched the clouds turn into castles and angels
and great white stallions. She loved hearing the birds singing. As she
skipped around gravestones, she whistled her favorite tunes and sang songs.
At times she knelt down, and read the names and dates on the tombstones,
and slid her fingers over the beautiful pieces of granite.
Her friends asked her, "Why do you walk through the cemetery every day?" She always answered, "Because, it's the way home". |
To the world, death is a travesty, a cessation of life, a time of ending. For this reason the world fears death, fears that unknown time when time ceases, and all things appear to come to an end. But is it an end?
When we come to the funeral of a loved one, one question seems to run through our minds, the question of "Why?". "Why did Hilda have to die, why did she have to leave this life at all, much less the way that she did?" God wants you to understand the "whys" today, to explain so that you can put your mind at rest.
Why did Hilda have to leave this life? The Lord God tells
us that we can be certain that death is not an ending, but a beginning
for those who know Him. Consider the words of the Apostle Paul. He did
not fear his impending death, but quite the opposite: he "groan{ed},
earnestly desiring" that he be with the Lord - and Paul knew
that the only way he could be reunited with his Saviour was to pass from
this life an into the next. He had to take off this cloak, this flesh,
so that he could pass from the mortal to the immortal, from the lesser
to the greater. Such thinking is alien to the world, but not to the Christian
who has accepted Christ as his Saviour.
|
We are gathered together today to honor the memory of Hilda Lee Jordan, the daughter of Charles Eulie and Addie Bass Fordham. The newspaper tells me that she is survived by two grandchildren, Michael and Ryan, one great grandson, Avery, a son-in-law Michael, three sisters, Hazel, Ann, and Dolly, and her brother Eugene. The newspaper tells us that she was preceded in death by her husband, S.N. Jordan, and her daughter Patricia. These are the words that the newspaper uses, that worldly thought uses. I tell you, as the Apostle tells you, that Hilda is not "survived" nor "preceded in death". |
These words imply a finality, an end, a cessation. Dear family, for Hilda, a believer in our Saviour Jesus Christ, has not ended or ceased. Instead, she has stepped out of her mortal house, that earthly tabernacle of flesh, and at the very moment stands in the Heavens with S.N. and her daughter Patricia, with all the saints of all the ages who accepted Jesus Christ as their Saviour.
Though we will miss Hilda, and grieve because she is no longer with us, we who believe do not grieve "as others which have no hope." {1 Thessalonians 4:13-14}. Life is full of decisions. What job should I take? Should I marry this man, or this woman? What should we name our children? Should we buy a house? Decisions upon decisions. Yet there is one decision that people often leave until it is too late - the decision to accept Jesus Christ as Saviour. While Hilda was in this life, in her mortality, one day she made the most important decision of her life: to accept Jesus Christ to be her Saviour.
One day Jesus told another woman, Martha, this:
John 11:25-27 "I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: [26] And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? [27] She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world."
Hilda accepted Jesus Christ as her Saviour, and because of this she is still very much alive, just as our Lord Jesus is alive, and still very much in the plan of God. Why did Hilda have to leave this life? So that she could move into immortality, for she believed in Him and shall never die. When Jesus asked Martha "Believest thou this?", she answered "Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world". Hilda, like Martha answered "Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ", and today she stands in the Heavens because of that decision. Today I ask each and every one of you: "Believest thou this?". Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the "resurrection, and the life", and that whosoever believes in Him shall "never die"? If your answer is emphatically "Yes", you will one day be with Hilda in Heaven, reunited for all eternity. If your answer is "no" or "maybe", then I grieve not for Hilda, but for you - for you will never see her again.
Do not grieve as those without hope. Grieve because you
know you will not see Hilda again in this life, though you will have her
in your hearts and memories. Grieve because you miss her smile, her gentle
nature. But do not grieve because you will never see her again. Hilda made
a decision for Jesus, and now stands with Jesus in eternity. Make the same
decision, the right decision, and stand united with her again one day soon.
|
|
The services are now concluded. Let us go to the cemetery,
where we will inter the earthly house of Sister Hilda Jordan.
|
|
1 Corinthians 15:50-57 "Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. [51] Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, [52] In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. [53] For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. [54] So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. [55] O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? [56] The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. [57] But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."
As our sister Hilda Jordan now walks and talks with our Lord in the Heavens, we now commend her earthly house to this hallowed ground. Though this is an ending, it is not the end, but the beginning of her immortality in Christ. Make ready your hearts, so that you will reunite with her in eternity, for our Sister Hilda is home!
Philippians 4:20 "Now unto God and our Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen."
Return
to the Main Menu/ Bible Studies!